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California

Past Producer in Alaska, United States with commodities Gold, Silver, Molybdenum, Antimony, Tungsten
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Sections on this page
  1. Identification information
  2. Geographic coordinates
  3. Site location context
  4. Geographic areas
  5. Commodities
  6. Materials information
  7. Alteration
  8. Mineral occurrence model information
  9. Nearby scientific data
  10. Economic information about the deposit and operations
  11. Mining district
  12. Links to other databases
  13. Bibliographic references
  14. General comments
  15. Reporter information

Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10308931
MRDS ID D002568
Record type Site
Current site name California
Alternate or previous names Connolly and Jensen (or Jannsen)
Related records 10009527

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -165.4524, 64.76909 (WGS84)
Relative position The California mine is in the headwaters of Goldbottom Creek. The main workings are in and near a west-flowing unnamed tributary at the end of the jeep trail at the north end of the Snake River road. This tributary was called Henry Gulch by Cathcart (1922, p. 253). The mine is on the boundary between section 25, T. 8 S., R. 34 W., and section 30, T. 8 S., R. 33 W., Kateel River Meridian. The mine is located within about 500 feet of the coordinates. It is locality 3 of Hummel (1962 [MF 248]) and locality 22 of Cobb (1972 [MF 46], 1978 [OFR 78-93]).

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Nome(Census area)

Alaska(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Nome D-1(quadrangle 1:63,360 scale)

Solomon NW(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Nome(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Nome(hydrologic unit)

Norton Sound(hydrologic accounting unit)

Northwest(hydrologic subregion)

Alaska(hydrologic region)

Geographic areas

Country State
United States Alaska

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Gold Primary
Silver Secondary
Molybdenum Secondary
Antimony Critical Secondary
Tungsten Critical Secondary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Arsenopyrite Ore
Gold Ore
Molybdenite Ore
Scheelite Ore
Stibnite Ore
Quartz Gangue

Alteration

  • Extensive iron-staining of the host schist reflects oxidized pyrite or arsenopyrite.

Mineral occurrence model information

Model code 273
USGS model code 36a
Deposit model name Low-sulfide Au-quartz vein
Mark3 model number 27

Nearby scientific data

(1) DOnx
ListMap

Economic information

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = The California vein was discovered and developed before 1908 (Smith, 1908; Chapin, 1914 [B 592-L, p. 397-407]; Mertie, 1918 [B 451-458]). It is localized in a subsidiary shear zone to a north- to northeast-striking regional fault. The lode is exposed in shallow cuts in a west-draining side canyon to upper Goldbottom Creek. It consists of contorted, sheared, and slickensided schist and quartz masses as much as 3 feet across in a zone that strikes about N 10 W and dips 80 to 85 degrees east. The quartz masses reportedly assayed as much as about 2.5 ounces of gold per ton, but only about 0.4 or 0.5 ounce of gold per ton were recovered by processing. Mr. Jensen, an owner at one time, retained specimens from the California lode of very rich gold ore (Pearse Walsh, oral communication, 1995). Small amounts of pyrite, arsenopyrite, and stibnite accompany the gold, and some molybdenun and tungsten values have been reported (Mertie, 1918 [B 662-I, p. 451-458]; Wedow and others, 1952, p. 35). Higher grade ore may be confined to lenticular ladder zones within the major shear zone. The California lode was developed by a 70-foot decline that was reported to be in vein material to a depth of 33 feet. The ore was processed by a jaw crusher and stamp mill that may not have crushed ore fine enough to liberate all the gold. Some development was reported in 1932; in 1938 about 100 feet of drift was driven, and some ore was milled (Smith, 1934 [B 857-A]; 1939). Kennecott Exploration Company explored the property with trenches and three diamond drill holes in 1995 and found mineralized rocks with low gold grades. The structure that localizes the California lode is subsidiary to a regional fault that strikes north- to north-northeast and can be traced southerly to at least Bangor Creek. The regional fault zone is hundreds of feet wide, and rock within the zone is highly contorted, graphitic mica schist (C.C. Hawley, written communication, 1995). The fault probably continues to the north-northeast into lower Fred Creek and the Stewart River valley, where it is covered by alluvium. South-southwest of the California lode, massive quartz boulders as much as several feet across occur as surface float along the fault as far as Goldbottom Creek. In addition, highly graphitic quartz veins, which resemble the main lode, occur in an east-draining side canyon to Goldbottom Creek about 1,200 feet southwest of the main California incline. At this point, the main, north- to north-northeast-trending shear zone is about 1,000 feet across. Gold-bearing veins, such as the California lode, are possibly ladder structures within the main shear zone. Hummel (1962 [MF 248]), Sainsbury, Hummel, and Hudson (1972), and Bundtzen and others (1994) mapped the major Penny River fault of north-east strike about one-half mile west of the California lode. On the basis of mapping by one of the compiler's (C.C. Hawley), the fault exposed at the California lode is a major
  • Geologic Description = branch of the Penny River fault ,or it is the main Penny River fault and the fault mapped by others is a subsidiary structure. About 250 feet east of the main California decline, non-contorted quartz-mica schist is overlain by the main marble unit of the Mount Distin area. This is the massive marble unit of Bundtzen and others (1994); it may have a Paleozoic protolith, but most of the metasedimentary rocks in this area are part of the Nome Group derived from Proterozoic to early Paleozoic protoliths (Till and Dumoulin, 1994). At this location, the marble is folded into an open, north-trending syncline at a high angle to the main, east-west Mount Distin syncline. The Nome Group underwent regional blueschist facies metamorphism in the Late Jurassic or Early Cretaceous (Sainsbury, Coleman and Kachadoorian, 1970; Forbes and others, 1984; Thurston, 1985; Armstrong and others, 1986; Hannula and McWilliams, 1995). The blueschist facies rocks were recrystallized to greenschist facies or higher metamorphic grades in conjunction with regional extension, crustal melting, and magmatism in the mid-Cretaceous (Hudson and Arth, 1983; Miller and Hudson, 1991; Miller and others, 1992; Dumitru and others, 1995; Hannula and others, 1995; Hudson, 1994; Amato and others, 1994; Amato and Wright, 1997, 1998). Lode gold mineralization on Seward Peninsula is mostly related to the higher temperature metamorphism in the mid-Cretaceous (Apodoca, 1994; Ford, 1993 [thesis]; Ford and Snee, 1996; Goldfarb and others, 1997).
  • Age = Mid-Cretaceous; structures controlling deposits post-date regional metamorphism - mineralization could be similar in age to other lode gold deposits of Seward Peninsula.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Past Producer
Commodity type Metallic

Comments on exploration

  • Status = Probably inactive

Mining district

District name Nome

Comments on the production information

  • Production Notes = Small production in early 1900's, also some probably about 1937-38.

Comments on the workings information

  • Workings / Exploration = The California lode was developed by a 70-foot decline that was reported to be in vein material to a depth of 33 feet. There are shallow pits, including a pit on the marble-schist contact about 250 feet east of the California incline. This pit has abundant bluish quartz. Another pit is about 1,200 feet southwest of the incline in a side canyon on the west side of Goldbottom Creek. The ore was processed by a jaw crusher and stamp mill that may not have crushed ore fine enough to liberate all the gold. Some development was reported in 1932; in 1938 about 100 feet of drift was driven and some ore was milled (Smith, 1934 [B 857-A], 1939 [B 917-A]). Kennecott Exploration Company explored the property with trenches and three diamond drill holes in 1995 and found mineralized rocks with low gold grades.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

Comments on the references

  • Primary Reference = Mertie, 1918

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit Model Name = Low sulfide Au-quartz veins (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 36a).
Deposit Other Comments = Complex target within major shear zone.

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 22-OCT-99 Hawley, C.C. and Hudson, Travis L. Hawley Resource Group

Beyond USGS

Supplemental information added by qvyshift.com. Not part of the original USGS MRDS record.

Maps centered on this site

Authoritative Alaska resources

These are landing pages for further research — the state agencies don't currently expose per-mine deep links.