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  2. Online Spatial Data
  3. Mineral Resource Data System (MRDS)

Lucky Gulch

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 10000710
MRDS ID A011347
Record type Site
Current site name Lucky Gulch

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -147.27665, 63.19852 (WGS84)
Relative position This placer gold mine is in Lucky Gulch, a north-flowing tributary to Valdez Creek between White Creek and Roosevelt Creek. The map site is in sec. 12, R. 2 E., T 20 S., of the Fairbanks Meridian. This creek is located about 9 miles up Valdez Creek from Denali. The location is accurate to within 500 feet. The mine is shown as site 17 in Smith (1981).

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Matanuska-Susitna(Borough)

Alaska(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

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

Mount Hayes SW(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Healy(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Upper Susitna River(hydrologic unit)

Susitna River(hydrologic accounting unit)

South Central Alaska(hydrologic subregion)

Alaska(hydrologic region)

Federal lands

BLM(Federal land areas administered by BLM)

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 Host
    Rock type Metamorphic Rock > Metasedimentary Rock > Slate

Nearby scientific data

(1) -147.27665, 63.19852
ListMap

Economic information

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = Lucky Gulch drains an area of variably metamorphosed, pre-Upper Triassic, clastic and carbonate strata that are intruded by Upper Jurassic gabbro and by diorite plutons of Late Cretaceous and Early Tertiary age (Smith, 1981).? the pay gravels of Lucky Gulch consist mainly of poorly sorted, angular, slate fragments. Lucky Gulch contains the largest gold nuggets found in the district; nuggets up to 52 ounces have been recovered. The auriferous creek gravels are up to 25 feet deep in a very steep, narrow drainage. Most of the gold was concentrated on bedrock and most of present channel has been worked out. A large alluvial fan has been formed where Lucky Gulch exits its narrow valley enters Valdez Creek. This alluvial fan may contain significant quantities of finer gold, but probably at a lower overall grade than in the gulch (D.L. Stevens, personal observation). The source of the gold may be auriferous qurtz veins at the Lucky Top prospect (HE210).
  • Age = Probably formed in Holocene time.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Producer
Commodity type Metallic

Comments on exploration

  • Status = Active

Mining district

District name Valdez Creek

Comments on the production information

  • Production Notes = Total recorded production through 1925 was about 3,000 ounces. Since that date, cumulative production is probably about equal to that amount. (D. L. Stevens, personal observation, 1999).

Comments on the workings information

  • Workings / Exploration = Lucky Gulch has been mined from the upper extremity of paying gravels in the headwaters down to the upper portion of the alluvial fan by both underground and surface placer mining methods. The alluvial fan has been sporadically mined in several locations.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

Comments on the references

  • Primary Reference = Moffit, 1912

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit Model Name = Placer Au-PGE (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 39a)
Deposit Other Comments = Lucky Gulch has produced the coarsest placer gold in the district.

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 07-APR-2000 D.L. Stevens Stevens Exploration Management Corporation

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.