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West Coast Kodiak Island

Past Producer in Alaska, United States with commodities Gold, Chromium, 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 10308883
MRDS ID A012463
Record type Site
Current site name West Coast Kodiak Island
Related records 10001682

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -154.52244, 57.13937 (WGS84)
Relative position This site in the Karluk quadrangle represents an 18-mile stretch of beach which has been sporadically mined for placer gold. The beach extends southward to Cape Alitak in the Trinity Islands quadrangle (see Trinity Islands quadrangle, sites ARDF numbers TI001 and TI003) and northward to Red River on the Karluk B-2 quadrangle (Cobb, 1972, MF 459, locality 5; Cobb, 1973, Bulletin 1374, figure 11, locality 1; MacKevett and Holloway, 1977, locality 5).

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Kodiak Island(Borough)

Alaska(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Karluk A-2(quadrangle 1:63,360 scale)

Karluk S(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Karluk(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Kodiak-Afognak Islands(hydrologic unit)

Kodiak-Shelikof(hydrologic accounting unit)

South Central Alaska(hydrologic subregion)

Alaska(hydrologic region)

Geographic areas

Country State
United States Alaska

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Gold Primary
Chromium Critical Secondary
PGE Critical Secondary

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) -154.52244, 57.13937
ListMap

Economic information

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = Placer mining in this area was first reported by Becker (1898) at Portage and Ayakulik Rivers. Maddren (1919) reported that finely divided gold was present along the entire beach. Becker's examination indicated that the gold occurs with other heavy minerals in patches approximately 1 inch thick and extending over a few square yards. The gold was scaly and not easy to amalgamate. The patches were not consistent in thickness or richness and thus did not form paystreaks in the usual sense. These patchy concentrations of heavy minerals consisted mostly of magnetite with lesser amounts of chromite, gold, pyrite, and a little platinum. In some instances good concentrations of gold were found to lie on a layer of compact clay bedrock. No estimates of gold values within these patchy zones of heavy minerals has been reported. Maddren (1919) estimated the total value of production of all the west coast Kodiak Island beaches up to 1917 to be $50,000 to $150,000 (gold at $20.67 per ounce), and an annual production valued at $3,000 to $10,000. Cobb (1973) estimates total production at probably not greater than a few thousand ounces. The immediate source of the gold appears to be nearby bluffs of glacial gravels and tills which are constantly being eroded by wave action. An analysis of placer PGE concentrate from the beach (Maddren, 1919) is as follows: 26.9 percent iridium-osmium, rhodium; 6.1 percent iridium from part of iridium-osmium; 0.1 percent rhodium from part of iridium-osmium; 55.3 percent platinum; 2.4 percent iridium; 6.4 percent iron; 0.3 percent gold; 0.7 percent rhodium; 0.1 percent palladium; 0.6 percent copper; 0.08 percent nickel; trace silver and zinc. This sample recalculated free of impurities and totalled to 100 percent is as follows: 64.8 percent platinum; 10.0 percent iridium; 24.2 percent iridium plus osmium; 0.9 percent rhodium; 0.1 percent palladium (Mertie, 1969).
  • 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 Kodiak

Comments on the workings information

  • Workings / Exploration = Small-scale placer mining has been reported in this area from 1898 to at least 1952. Maddren (1919) reports that in some years up to 100 men were engaged in placer mining. In 1917 twelve men were mining and in 1950-51 two men were mining. Mining was done by rockers and portable sluice boxes. All equipment had to be removed from the beach during high tides.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

Comments on the references

  • Primary Reference = Maddren, 1919

General comments

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

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 11-SEP-1998 S.H. Pilcher 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.