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Gold Run

Past Producer in Alaska, United States with commodities Gold, Mercury, PGE, 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 10309024
MRDS ID M045403
Record type Site
Current site name Gold Run
Related records 10103635

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -166.20034, 65.06628 (WGS84)
Relative position Gold Run is a major south tributary to the Bluestone River and the location of the most extensive placer mining operations in the Teller A-3 quadrangle. Gold Run Creek and North Fork Bluestone River come together to form the north-flowing Bluestone River at a surface elevation of 190 feet. Sainsbury and others (1969) mapped the location of placer mining operations to include the first half mile of the Bluestone River below the mouth of Gold Run and over 4 miles of the main drainage of Gold Run upstream from its mouth. These operations were at surface elevations between about 190 and 345 feet. This is locality 81 of Cobb and Sainsbury (1972). Cobb (1975) summarized relevant references under the name 'Gold Run'.

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
Tungsten Critical Secondary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Cinnabar Ore
Gold Ore
Scheelite 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) -166.20034, 65.06628
ListMap

Economic information

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = Bedrock in this drainage and its headwater tributaries is dominately a chlorite-bearing schist and amphibolite assemblage (Sainsbury, 1972). The lower 1.25 miles of the stream drains across a metapelitic schist assemblage. Both of these assemblages have local metamorphosed mafic intrusive bodies and both are of unknown but probable Paleozoic age. Sainsbury and others (1969) mapped the location of placer mining operations to include the first half mile of the Bluestone River below the mouth of Gold Run and over 4 miles of the main drainage of Gold Run upstream from its mouth. These operations, which involved extensive dredging, were at surface elevations between about 190 and 345 feet. Mining took place at various times between 1900 and 1946 but much of the dredging was between 1935 and 1940 (Cobb, 1975). Gold is present on benches, old channels, and the present drainage. Some pay, particularly near the mouth of Alder Creek, was very rich containing $50 (1908) per cubic yard (Collier and others, 1908). The pay was in the lower gravels on bedrock and included some bedrock. A yellow clay was present at the base of the pay in some places. The gravels are at least in part coarse and locally include large greenstone boulders. Granitic boulders, exotic to the area, are present in some gravels. Some of the gold is coarse with a nugget as large as 22.25 ounces having been recovered (Smith, 1938). Anderson (1947) reported that scheelite was present in heavy mineral concentrates and Sainsbury and others (1969) reported that cinnabar and platinum-group metals were also present.
  • 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 = Yes, considerable from 1900 to at least 1946

Comments on the reserve resource information

  • Reserves = Not defined; a prospect shaft at the pass between Gold Run and McAdam Creek encountered bedrock at 115 feet and some coarse gold. This is an area mapped as being mantled by moraine by Sainsbury (1972).

Comments on the workings information

  • Workings / Exploration = Sainsbury and others (1969) mapped the location of placer mining operations to include the first half mile of the Bluestone River below the mouth of Gold Run and over 4 miles of the main drainage of Gold Run upstream from its mouth. These operations, which involved extensive dredging, were at surface elevations between about 190 and 345 feet along the main drainage. Various open-cut and hydraulicking methods have also been used. A prospect shaft at the pass between Gold Run and McAdam Creek encountered bedrock at 115 feet and some coarse gold.

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.