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Khantaak Beach

Past Producer in Alaska, United States with commodities Gold, Iron, Titanium
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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. Host and associated rocks
  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 10002468
MRDS ID A013399
Record type Site
Current site name Khantaak Beach
Related records 10160853

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -139.76114, 59.6108 (WGS84)
Relative position The auriferous Khantaak beach trends north-northeast (on the northwest shore) of a low island northwest of Yakutat. The location given is the approximate midpoint of the beach, about 0.7 mile southwest of triangulation station Arest. The placer deposit is number 4 of Cobb (1972).

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Yakutat(Borough)

Alaska(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Yakutat C-5(quadrangle 1:63,360 scale)

Yakutat NW(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Yakutat C(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Dezadeash River(hydrologic unit)

Gulf of Alaska(hydrologic accounting unit)

Southeast Alaska(hydrologic subregion)

Alaska(hydrologic region)

Federal lands

Yak-Tat-Kwaan Village Corporation(ANCSA Village)

ANCSA Village UND(Type of land area)

UND(Federal land areas administered by UND)

Geographic areas

Country State
United States Alaska

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Gold Primary
Iron Secondary
Titanium Critical Secondary

Comments on the commodity information

  • Ore Material = Gold (native)

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Gold Ore
Ilmenite Ore
Magnetite Ore
Garnet Gangue

Host and associated rocks

  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Unconsolidated Deposit > Sand and Gravel
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Holocene

Nearby scientific data

(1) Qs
ListMap

Economic information

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = The Khantaak Island placer is cut into and largely derived from glacial gravel that forms the island. Winnowing from wave action on very low grade glacial gravel has resulted in transient ruby-black sand layers 0.1 to 0.2 feet thick dispersed along the beach. These layers contain trace amounts of gold and subeconomic amounts of magnetite and ilmenite. Locally the heavy sand layers were rich enough to mine (Tarr, 1906; Tarr, 1909, Tarr and Butler, 1909).? Brooks (1918) reported the existence of gold, but absence of platinum in placer material from the north part of the island.? In addition to the placer gold occurrences on the west facing part of island, Reimnitz and Plafker (1976) reported one sample from the Yakutat side of the island with 0.006 ppm gold.
  • Age = Holocene

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Past Producer
Commodity type Metallic

Comments on exploration

  • Status = Inactive

Mining district

District name Yakutat

Comments on the production information

  • Production Notes = Total maximum is a few hundred ounces of native gold.

Comments on the workings information

  • Workings / Exploration = Tarr and Butler (1909, p. 165, 167) reported $3000 in gold produced in 1891, and a probable total of a few hundred ounces of gold from this historic beach placer in 1892, and as late as 1905. Thomas and Berryhill (1962) collected some samples from Khantaak beach in a Bureau of Mines beach sand investigation.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    Tarr, R.S., 1906, The Yakutat Bay region: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 284, p. 61-64.

  • Deposit

    Tarr, R.S., 1909, Physiography and glacial geology, in Tarr, R. S. and Butler, B. S, The Yakutat Bay region, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 64, p. 11-144.

  • Deposit

    Tarr, R.S., and Butler, B.S., 1909, Area geology, in Tarr, R. S. and Butler, B. S, The Yakutat Bay region, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 64, p. 145-178.

  • Deposit

    Brooks, A.H., 1918, Mineral resources of Alaska, 1916: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 662, 469 p.

  • Deposit

    Thomas, B.I., and Berryhill, R. V., 1962, Reconnaissance studies of Alaskan beach sands, eastern Gulf of Alaska: U.S. Bureau of Mines Report of Investigations 5986, 40 p.

  • Deposit

    Reimnitz, Erk, and Plafker, George, 1976, Marine gold placers along the Gulf of Alaska margin: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 1415, 16 p.

  • Deposit

    Hudson, T.L., Plafker, George, and Turner, D. L., 1977, Metamorphic rocks of the Yakutat-St. Elias Area, South-central Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Journal of Research, v. 5, no. 2, p. 173-184.

  • Deposit

    Cobb, E.H., 1972, Metallic mineral resources map of the Yakutat quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-408, 1 sheet, scale 1:250,000.

Comments on the references

  • Primary Reference = Tarr and Butler, 1909.

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit Model Name = Beach placer: concentration by winnowing of low-grade glacial gravels.
Deposit Other Comments = Glacial gravels derived from metamorphic rocks in the Chugach terrane (Hudson, Plafker, and Turner, 1977).

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 07-DEC-98 Hawley, C.C. 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

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