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Bluestone River

Past Producer in Alaska, United States with commodities Gold, Mercury, PGE
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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 10309023
MRDS ID A045404
Record type Site
Current site name Bluestone River

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -166.19535, 65.11228 (WGS84)
Relative position Bluestone River is a north-flowing stream whose mouth is on the south shore of Tuksuk Channel, 11 miles southeast of Teller. Sainsbury and others (1969) mapped placer mining operations along 1.25 miles of the main drainage at surface elevations between 95 and 145 feet. Cobb and Sainsbury (1972) show another area of operations 0.5 miles north of those mapped by Sainsbury and others (1969). These are localities 83 and 84 of Cobb and Sainsbury (1972). Other locations of placer mining further upstream on Bluestone River are parts of tributary mining locations (Gold Run, TE094 and Skookum Creeks, TE093; Sainsbury and others, 1969). Cobb (1975) summarized relevant references under the name 'Bluestone R.'.

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Nome(Census area)

Alaska(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Teller A-3(quadrangle 1:63,360 scale)

Teller SE(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Teller C(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Imuruk Basin(hydrologic unit)

Norton Sound(hydrologic accounting unit)

Northwest(hydrologic subregion)

Alaska(hydrologic region)

Federal lands

Teller 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
Mercury Secondary
PGE Critical Secondary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Cinnabar Ore
Gold Ore

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) -166.19535, 65.11228
ListMap

Economic information

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = Bedrock in the Bluestone River drainage is mostly a metapelitic sequence with local metamorphosed mafic intrusive bodies (Sainsbury, 1972). South and east tributaries to the Bluestone River, such as Gold Run Creek, have bedrock assemblages that include chlorite schist, some amphibolite, and metamorphosed mafic intrusive bodies. In places, the retrograded greenschist facies mafic bodies preserve remnant blueschist facies minerals. The ages of these assemblages are not known but they are probably Paleozoic. Sainsbury and others (1969) mapped placer mining operations along 1.25 miles of the main drainage at surface elevations between 95 and 145 feet. Cobb and Sainsbury (1972) show another area of operations 0.5 miles north (downstream) of those mapped by Sainsbury and others (1969). Other locations of placer mining further upstream on Bluestone River are parts of tributary mining locations (Gold Run and Skookum Creeks; Sainsbury and others, 1969). The placer deposits below elevations of 145 feet are low enough to have potentially been affected by shoreline marine trangressions at times of Quaternary high sea level stands. Gold occurs on benches as well as the main drainage. Most of the gold is fine but some nuggets were present (Collier and others, 1908). Smith (1909) reports that one nugget worth $72 (1908) was recovered. The upper one foot of bedrock contributed to pay. Sainsbury (1972, p. 3) reports that cinnabar and some platinum-group metals are present in auriferous gravels of the Bluestone River.
  • Age = Quaternary

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Past Producer
Commodity type Metallic

Comments on exploration

  • Status = Probably inactive

Mining district

District name Port Clarence

Comments on the production information

  • Production Notes = Not known

Comments on the reserve resource information

  • Reserves = Not defined

Comments on the workings information

  • Workings / Exploration = Sainsbury and others (1969) mapped placer mining operations along 1.25 miles of the main drainage at surface elevations between 95 and 145 feet. Cobb and Sainsbury (1972) show another area of operations 0.5 miles north (downstream) of those mapped by Sainsbury and others (1969). Other locations of placer mining further upstream on Bluestone River are parts of tributary mining locations (Gold Run and Skookum Creeks; Sainsbury and others, 1969).

Reference information

Bibliographic references

Comments on the references

  • Primary Reference = Collier and others, 1908; Sainsbury and others, 1969; Cobb, 1975

General comments

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

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 10-MAY-1998 Travis L. Hudson Applied Geology

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.