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Alder Creek

Past Producer in Alaska, United States with commodity Gold
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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 10003162
MRDS ID A015696
Record type Site
Current site name Alder Creek
Related records 10184824

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -162.20453, 66.0555 (WGS84)
Relative position The Alder Creek beach placer mine is at the mouth of Alder Creek on Kotzebue Sound. This site is in the NW1/4 of section 35, T. 8 N., R. 17 W., of the Kateel River Meridian.

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Northwest Arctic(Borough)

Alaska(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Kotzebue A-1(quadrangle 1:63,360 scale)

Kotzebue SE(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Kotzebue(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Goodhope-Spafarief Bay(hydrologic unit)

Northern Seward Peninsula(hydrologic accounting unit)

Northwest(hydrologic subregion)

Alaska(hydrologic region)

Federal lands

NANA Regional Corporation, Incorporated(ANCSA Region)

ANCSA Region UND(Type of land area)

UND(Federal land areas administered by UND)

Geographic areas

Country State
United States Alaska

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Gold Primary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
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) -162.20453, 66.0555
ListMap

Economic information

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = The Alder Creek beach placer gold deposit consists of about one foot of beach gravel on eroded, dark gray, schist bedrock of early Paleozoic age. Fine, bright gold and some wire gold was found on the bedrock surface. Beach diggings of limited extent were reported to produce $8 to $10 per man in 1901 (Moffit, 1905).
  • 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 Fairhaven

Comments on the production information

  • Production Notes = A few hundred ounces of gold was recovered in 1902 and 1903 or about $12,000 (gold at $20.67/ounce) (Moffit, 1904). A little gold was reportedly mined from Alder Creek in 1927 (Cobb and Miller, 1981).

Comments on the workings information

  • Workings / Exploration = Small-scale hand mining took place at the turn of the century and reportedly in 1927. The area was sampled by the U.S. Bureau of Mines in the early 1960's. At that time 7 pan concentrates were taken at the stream mouth.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    Mendenhall, W.C., 1902, Reconnaissance from Fort Hamlin to Kotzebue Sound, Alaska, by way of Dall, Kanuti, Allen, and Kowak Rivers: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 10, 68 p.

  • Deposit

    Moffit, F.H., 1904, The Kotzebue placer gold field of Seward Peninsula, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 225, p. 74-80.

  • Deposit

    Berryhill, R.V., 1962, Reconnaissance sampling of beach and rivermouth deposits, Norton Bay and Kotzebue Sound, Seward Peninsula, Alaska: U.S. Bureau of Mines Open-File Report 1, 13 p.

  • Deposit

    Cobb, E.H., 1972, Metallic resources of the Kotzebue quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-421, 1 sheet, scale 1:250,000.

  • Deposit

    Cobb, E.H., 1973, Placer deposits of Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 1374, 213 p.

  • Deposit

    Cobb, E.H., 1975, Summary of references to mineral occurrences (other than mineral fuels and construction materials) in five quadrangles in west central Alaska (Hughes, Kotzebue, Melozitna, Selawik and Shungnak): U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 75-627, 58 p.

  • Deposit

    Hudson, T.L., Miller, M. L., and Pickthorn, W. J., 1977, Map showing metalliferous and selected nonmetalliferous mineral deposits, Seward Peninsula, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 77-796-B, 46 p., one sheet, scale 1:1,000,000.

  • Deposit

    Cobb, E.H., and Miller, T.P., 1981, Summaries of data on and lists of references to metallic and selected nonmetallic mineral occurrences in the Hughes, Kotzebue, Melozitna, Selawik and Shungnak quadrangles, west-central Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 81-847-A, 14 p.

  • Deposit

    Moffit, F.H., 1905, The Fairhaven gold placers, Seward Peninsula, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 247, 85 p.

  • Deposit

    Cobb, E.H., 1975, Summary of references to mineral occurrences (other than mineral fuels and construction materials) in five quadrangles in west central Alaska (Hughes, Kotzebue, Melozitna, Selawik, Shungnak): U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 75-627, 58 p.

Comments on the references

  • Primary Reference = Moffit, 1905

General comments

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

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 30-NOV-99 Williams, Anita U.S. Geological Survey

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.