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Slate 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. Host and associated rocks
  9. Nearby scientific data
  10. Economic information about the deposit and operations
  11. Mining district
  12. Links to other databases
  13. Bibliographic references
  14. General comments
  15. Reporter information

Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10000256
MRDS ID A010298
Record type Site
Current site name Slate Creek
Related records 10258660

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -161.2327, 59.30927 (WGS84)
Relative position Slate Creek is a north tributary to Goodnews River. This location is on Slate Creek just below the mouth of Wattamuse Creek (GO021) and just east of the local airstrip. The location of at least some placer mining on Slate Creek is assumed to be close to and downstream of that on Wattamuse Creek. This mine is included in locality 13 of Hoare and Cobb (1977) and of Cobb and Condon (1972).

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Bethel(Census area)

Alaska(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Goodnews Bay B-6(quadrangle 1:63,360 scale)

Goodnews Bay(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Goodnews Bay(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Kuskokwim Delta(hydrologic unit)

Lower Kuskokwim River(hydrologic accounting unit)

Southwest(hydrologic subregion)

Alaska(hydrologic region)

Federal lands

Calista Corporation(ANCSA Region)

ANCSA Region NTVPIC(Type of land area)

NTVPIC(Federal land areas administered by NTVPIC)

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

Host and associated rocks

  • Host or associated Associated
    Rock type Plutonic Rock > Granitoid > Granite
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Late Cretaceous
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Pliocene
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Volcanic Rock (Aphanitic)
    Rock unit name Gemuk Group
    Rock description Gemuk Group

Nearby scientific data

(1) -161.2327, 59.30927
ListMap

Economic information

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = The principal placer gold producer in the area, Wattamuse Creek (GO021) flows into Slate Creek, a north tributary to Goodnews River. Parts of Slate Creek near Wattamuse Creek have been extensively drilled and explored and apparently placer mined (Hoare and Cobb, 1977). Some of the placer ground near Wattamuse and Slate Creeks includes bench deposits (Smith, 1934, p. 46-47). Between Wattamuse and Fox Creeks, the Slate Creek drainage has about 7 to 8 feet of gravel and has been prospected with encouraging results (Reed, 1931), although mining has apparently not taken place. Fechner (1988) noted that some small-scale mining has taken place on Slate Creek above Fox Creek (GO042). He collected 7 sediment samples along about 6 miles of the drainage above the mouth of Wattamuse Creek. The gold content of these samples ranged from undetectible to 0.0014 ounce per cubic yard. Bedrock in the area includes Paleozoic and Mesozoic sedimentary and volcanic rocks locally intruded by Upper Cretaceous to Lower Tertiary granitic rocks and Jurassic mafic/ultramafic plutonic rocks (Hoare and Coonrad, 1978).
  • 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 Goodnews Bay

Comments on the workings information

  • Workings / Exploration = Exploration, including drilling, has taken place on Slate Creek near Wattamuse Creek.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    Cobb, E.H., and Condon, W.H., 1972, Metallic mineral resources map of the Goodnews quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-447, scale 1:250,000.

  • Deposit

    Hoare, J.M., and Cobb, E.H., 1977, Mineral occurrences (other than mineral fuels and construction materials) in the Bethel, Goodnews, and Russian Mission quadrangles, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 77-156, 98 p.

  • Deposit

    Hoare, J.M., and Coonrad, W.L., 1978, Geologic map of the Goodnews and Hagemeister Island quadrangles region, southwestern Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 78-9-B, two sheets, scale 1:250,000.

  • Deposit

    Fechner, S.A., 1988, Bureau of Mines mineral investigation of the Goodnews Bay mining district, Alaska: U.S. Bureau of Mines Open-File Report 1-88, 230 p.

  • Deposit

    Smith, P.S., 1934, Mineral industry of Alaska in 1933: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 864-A, p. 1-94.

Comments on the references

  • Primary Reference = Hoare and Cobb, 1977

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 20-MAR-2001 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.