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

Third Beach

Producer in Alaska, United States with commodities Gold, Silver
Map
XML
JSON
KML
B
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 10002094
MRDS ID A012955
Record type Site
Current site name Third Beach
Related records 10112057

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -165.36799, 64.53956 (WGS84)
Relative position Third Beach is a buried strandline placer in the inner part of the Nome coastal plain. Near Irene Creek in the Nome B-1 quadrangle, the beach is about 1.5 miles from the coast; at Otter Creek it is about 2.5 miles from the coast, and in the Nome Placer Field (NM251) it is about 3 miles from the coast. The map location is near the north end of the boundary between section 13, T. 11 S., R. 34 W., and section 18, T. 11 S., R. 33 W., Kateel River Meridian. A placer gold deposit on Sunset Creek (NM173) is also on the Third Beach. Third Beach is locality 137 of Cobb (1972 [MF 463], 1978 [OFR 78-93]).

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Nome(Census area)

Alaska(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Nome C-1(quadrangle 1:63,360 scale)

Solomon NW(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Nome(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Nome(hydrologic unit)

Norton Sound(hydrologic accounting unit)

Northwest(hydrologic subregion)

Alaska(hydrologic region)

Geographic areas

Country State
United States Alaska

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Gold Primary
Silver Secondary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Gold Ore
Garnet Gangue

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 Unconsolidated Deposit > Sand and Gravel
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Pleistocene

Nearby scientific data

(1) -165.36799, 64.53956
ListMap

Economic information

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = The Third Beach buried beach placer was discovered in 1904 in exploration shafts. It lies on bedrock at an elevation of about 79 or 80 feet near Little Creek (Moffit, 1907). Exploration and development were rapid, and by 1908 most of the deposit that could be drift mined was exhausted. The beach proved ultimately to be much larger and richer than Present and Second Beaches.? the trace of the beach forms an arch nearly touching Present Beach near Cape Nome and Cripple River, but it is almost 3.5 miles from shore at its central point near Little Creek (outlined by Collier and others, 1908, p. 161). Except for gaps near Snake River and Nome River, Third Beach is nearly continuous, but it is not everywhere rich enough to mine. The richest part is between Little Creek and McDonald Creek, a distance of about 4.5 miles. Third Beach varies in its character, but it is extensively gold-bearing, especially east of Snake River. Near Hastings Creek (Nome B-1 quadrangle), Third Beach is a wide, but low-grade placer deposit that extends as far north as Edna Creek. It appears to have developed on a shifting shore line, barrier bars, and lagoons. About 2.5 miles to the northwest, near Irene Creek and extending to Cunningham Creek, the shoreline abutted against a gravel headland; the beach there is narrow and well defined (Metcalfe and Tuck, 1942, p. 31-32). The beach probably did not form in the vicinity of the ancestral Nome River. A weak strandline on the east side of Nome River, at the elevation of Third Beach, trends south-southeast through Stevens (NM274), Moss (NM275), and Laurada (NM276) Creeks. From upper McDonald to Little Creeks on the west side of Nome River, the beach was confined by schist bedrock and developed a narrow but very rich series of deposits. Overburden above the beach was mainly frozen and ranged from a few feet thick in lower McDonald Creek to about 120 feet thick between Otter and Little Creeks.? Sediments of Third Beach are more angular than those of Present and Second Beaches; they also contain less garnet. Locally, the deposit was mined over a width of more than 300 feet, partly along the true strandline ?An outer--seaward--zone was called the 'slough over'; it formed offshore as the strandline beach was being formed. The slough over commonly was separated from the strandline beach by a line of quartz cobbles and small boulders (Gibson, 1911; Moffit, 1913, p. 114). It was not as rich as the strandline beach. The slope of the slough over zone is similar to that of Present Beach, about 1 foot in 10, increasing in the off-shore part of the zone. Moffit (1913, p. 114) recognized three main deposits of mixed alluvial and marine sediments. These deposits were near Little Creek at the mouth of ancestral Anvil Creek; at Bourbon Creek, the mouth of ancestral Dry Creek; and at Irene Creek, the postulated ancient mouth of Osborne Creek. The gold was relatively coarse near Little Creek; in areas of beach deposits farther from alluvial placers, it was similar in size to that found on Present and Second Beaches.? Some of the deposits along Third Beach were extremely rich. On the May Fraction a streak 100 feet long, 15 feet wide, and only a few inches thick yielded 330,000 dollars worth of gold (in dolars of about 1910), some pans exceeding 500 dollars in value.
  • Age = Quaternary.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Producer
Commodity type Metallic

Comments on exploration

  • Status = Active?

Mining district

District name Nome

Comments on the production information

  • Production Notes = Extensive production took place but estimates of the amount of recovered gold are not available.

Comments on the workings information

  • Workings / Exploration = Third Beach was discovered in 1904 in exploration shafts near Little Creek. Most of the deposits rich enough to drift mine were exhausted by 1908. Some deposits then were mined in hydraulic open-pits using hydraulic lifts. Starting in the 1920's, with the development of cold-water thawing, several areas were dredged. Dredging started again in the 1970's and lasted until about 1994.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    Moffit, F.H., 1907, The Nome region, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 314-G, p. 126-145.

  • Deposit

    Collier, A. J., Hess, F.L., Smith, P.S., and Brooks, A.H., 1908, The gold placers of parts of Seward Peninsula, Alaska, including the Nome, Council, Kougarok, Port Clarence, and Goodhope precincts: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 328, 343 p.

  • Deposit

    Gibson, T.M., 1911, Pay streaks at Nome: Mining and Scientific Press, v. 102, p. 424-427, 462-467.

  • Deposit

    Moffit, F.H., 1913, Geology of the Nome and Grand Central quadrangles, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 533, 140 p.

  • Deposit

    Metcalfe, J.B., and Tuck, Ralph, 1942, Placer gold deposits of the Nome district, Alaska: Report for U.S. Smelting, Refining, and Mining Co., 175 p.

  • Deposit

    Cobb, E.H., 1972, Metallic mineral resources map of the Nome quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-463, 2 sheets, scale 1:250,000.

Comments on the references

  • Primary Reference = Metcalfe and Tuck, 1942

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit Model Name = Placer; buried beach (Cox and Singer, 1986; part of model 39a).

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 10-JUL-00 Hawley, C.C. Hawley Resource Group
Reporter 10-JUL-00 Travis L. Hudson Hawley Resource Group

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.