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  3. Mineral Resource Data System (MRDS)

Bonanza 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 10002485
MRDS ID A013422
Record type Site
Current site name Bonanza Creek

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -159.75394, 61.06739 (WGS84)
Relative position Bonanza Creek is a north tributary to Bear Creek. The map site is along lower Bonanza Creek near the east boundary of the Russian Mission A-3 quadrangle. It is in the SE1/4 sec. 4, T. 11 N., R. 59 W., of the Seward Meridian. Bonanza Creek is included in locality 20 of Hoare and Cobb (1972 1977).

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Bethel(Census area)

Alaska(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Russian Mission A-3(quadrangle 1:63,360 scale)

Russian Mission SE(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

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

Nearby scientific data

(1) -159.75394, 61.06739
ListMap

Economic information

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = Most of the placer gold in Bonanza Creek occurs near the mouth of the creek, where it cuts through bench and flood-plain deposits of Bear Creek. The Bonanza Creek deposit is essentially part of the Bear Creek flood plain (RM032). Maddren (1915) reports that bedrock on Bonanza Creek includes granitic rock with malchite-bearing quartz stringers, but most of the bedrock in the Bonanza Creek drainage is Jurassic volcanic rocks locally intruded and thermally metamorphosed by mid-Cretaceous granitic rocks (Box and others, 1993).
  • Age = Quaternary.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Past Producer
Commodity type Metallic

Mining district

District name Aniak

Comments on the workings information

  • Workings / Exploration = The U.S. Geological Survey topographic map (1954 edition) shows about 0.5 mile of dredge tailings near the mouth of Bonanza Creek. Mining took place as early as 1913.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    Maddren, A.G., 1915, Gold placers of the lower Kuskokwim with a note on copper in the Russian Mountains: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 622-H, p. 292-360.

  • Deposit

    Hoare, J M., and Cobb, E.H., 1972, Metallic mineral resources map of the Russian Mission quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-444, 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

    Box, S.E, Moll-Stalcup, E.J., Frost, T.P., and Murphy, J.M., 1993, Preliminary geologic map of the Bethel and southern Russian Mission quadrangles, southwestern Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-2226-A, 20 p., scale 1:250,000.

  • Deposit

    Hoare, J M., and Cobb, E.H., 1972, Metallic mineral resources map of the Russian Mission quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-444, 1 sheet, scale 1:250,000.

Comments on the references

  • Primary Reference = Maddren, 1915

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit Model Name = Placer Au (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 39a)

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 10-JUN-01 Travis L. Hudson Applied Geology
Reporter 10-JUN-01 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.