Ungalik River

Past Producer in Alaska, United States with commodity Gold
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. 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 10003169
MRDS ID A015703
Record type Site
Current site name Ungalik River
Related records 10257966

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -160.75403, 64.5466 (WGS84)
Relative position Placer mining took place along the Ungalik River at two locations: near the mouth of Bonanza Creek (NR008) and 4 miles downstream from the mouth of Bonanza Creek. The coordinates mark the location of most of the mining, near the mouth of Bonanza Creek, in the SW1/4 sec. 7, T. 11 S., R. 9 N, Kateel River Meridian. The Ungalik River is locality 2 of Cobb (1972 [MF 308]).

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Nome(Census area)

Alaska(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Norton Bay C-4(quadrangle 1:63,360 scale)

Norton Bay N(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Norton Bay C(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Norton Bay(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

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Amalgam Ore
Cinnabar Ore
Gold Ore
Hematite Ore
Limonite Ore
Magnetite Ore
Pyrite Ore
Scheelite Ore

Mineral occurrence model information

Model code 119
USGS model code 39a
Deposit model name Placer Au-PGE
Mark3 model number 54

Nearby scientific data

(1) -160.75403, 64.5466

Economic information

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = The country rocks in the vicinity of the Ungalik River are sedimentary rocks cut by Cretaceous granite or granodiorite dikes (Cobb, 1973 [B 1374]). The dikes are described by Anderson (1944) as light green, fine grained, and composed almost entirely of altered feldspars and quartz, along with disseminated pyrite.? the gold placers along the Ungalik River were reported by Smith and Eakin (1911) to be irregularly distributed and of low grade. Anderson (1944) reports the following minerals in the concentrates (in order of abundance): magnetite, andradite, pyrite, hematite, zircon, pyroxenes, cinnabar, quartz, apatite, limonite, feldspar, ilmenite, scheelite, gold, and amalgam.? Gold was discovered on Ungalik River, both at the mouth of Bonanza Creek and farther downstream, in 1889 (Smith and Eakin, 1911). From 1938 until 1987 or 1988 a dredge operated intermittently along the Ungalik River (Shallit, 1938; Bundtzen and others, 1991). A second dredge also operated for several years around 1938 (Shallit, 1938).? Also see NR008 and 010.
  • 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 Koyuk

Comments on the workings information

  • Workings / Exploration = Gold was discovered on Ungalik River, both at the mouth of Bonanza Creek and farther downstream, in 1889 (Smith and Eakin, 1911). Shallit (1938) reports that after spending $15,000 to $16,000 on prospect drilling, the Ungalik Syndicate built a dredge on the Ungalik River at the mouth of Bonanza Creek. This dredge operated from 1938 until at least 1942. The next report of mining along Ungalik Creek is the cessation of dredging in 1987 or 1988 (Shallit, 1938; Smith, 1939; Smith, 1941; Smith, 1942; Bundtzen and others, 1991). A second dredge, owned by the Shaw and Cook Company, also began operating in 1938, and probably continued for several years (Shallit, 1938). Intermittent mining occurred along the Ungalik River until 1987 or 1988 (Bundtzen and others, 1991).

Reference information

Bibliographic references

Comments on the references

  • Primary Reference = Cobb, 1976 (OFR 76-866)

General comments

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

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 07-AUG-01 Cameron, C.E. Northern Associates Inc.

Beyond USGS

Supplemental information added by qvyshift.com. Not part of the original USGS MRDS record.

Authoritative Alaska resources

These are landing pages for further research — the state agencies don't currently expose per-mine deep links.