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Nugget Gulch

Past Producer in Alaska, United States with commodities Gold, Bismuth, 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. Mineral occurrence model information
  8. Nearby scientific data
  9. Economic information about the deposit and operations
  10. Mining district
  11. Links to other databases
  12. Bibliographic references
  13. General comments
  14. Reporter information

Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10308938
MRDS ID A012872
Record type Site
Current site name Nugget Gulch
Related records 10209084, 10002026

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -165.65529, 64.67898 (WGS84)
Relative position Nugget Gulch is an east tributary to Oregon Creek in section 27, T. 9 S., R. 35 W., Kateel River Meridian. The mouth of Oregon Creek is where the Nome-Teller road crosses Cripple River. The gulch was mined about due south of the former village of Oregon; some mining was also done about 1 mile upstream. The location given is in the mined segment southeast of Oregon. Nugget Gulch is localities 73 and 74 of Cobb (1972 [MF 463], 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 C-2(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)

Federal lands

Sitnasuak Native Corporation(ANCSA Village)

ANCSA Village NTVPIC(Type of land area)

NTVPIC(Federal land areas administered by NTVPIC)

Geographic areas

Country State
United States Alaska

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Gold Primary
Bismuth Critical Secondary
Tungsten Critical Secondary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Bismuth Ore
Gold Ore
Hematite Ore
Magnetite Ore
Pyrite Ore
Rutile Ore
Scheelite Ore
Garnet Gangue

Mineral occurrence model information

Model code 119
USGS model code 39a
Deposit model name Placer Au-PGE
Mark3 model number 54

Nearby scientific data

(1) -165.65529, 64.67898
ListMap

Economic information

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = Nugget Gulch was discovered and worked before 1901 (Brooks and others, 1901, p. 92, 95; Moffit, 1906, p. 136; Eakin, 1915, p. 369-370). A short distance above the junction of Nugget Gulch and Oregon Creek, a 25-foot-wide paystreak was discovered at a depth of 6 to 20 feet on a yellow clay, false bedrock on marble. The gold was relatively fine grained; most of the nuggets weighed less than 0.05 ounce. The gold occurred in a heavy mineral sand consisting mostly of fine octahedral magnetite. The concentrates also contained garnet, specular hematite, rutile, scheelite, native bismuth and pyrite, partly oxidized to hematite. Gold was also found intergrown with native bismuth (Collier and others, 1908, p. 213-214). A small deposit containing a similar suite of heavy minerals was mined in the 1903 season at a location about 1 mile above the mouth of the creek. The paystreak in upper Nugget Creek was 3 to 6 feet deep and from 30 to 50 feet wide. The upper paystreak was worked out in one season. Bedrock in this area is primarily marble, but it locally includes partly oxidized pyritic greenstone. The marble unit exposed near the mouth of Nugget Gulch is the massive marble unit of Bundtzen and others (1994). About 1 mile above the mouth of the creek, marble is succeeded by a calc-schist unit.
  • Age = Quaternary.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Past Producer
Commodity type Metallic

Comments on exploration

  • Status = Inactive

Mining district

District name Nome

Comments on the workings information

  • Workings / Exploration = A placer discovery was made, probably by shafting, before 1901 (Brooks and others, 1901) and the deposit was mainly mined out before about 1906 (Collier and others, 1908). Two claims, reportedly for gold and bismuth, were active in 1958 (Heiner and Porter, 1972, Kardex site Kx 52-98; Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys, 1982).

Reference information

Bibliographic references

Comments on the references

  • Primary Reference = Collier and others, 1908

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit Model Name = Alluvial placer Au (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 39a).

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 12-MAR-00 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.