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Bonanza Creek

Past Producer in Alaska, United States with commodities Gold, Antimony, Tungsten
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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. 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 10308971
MRDS ID A015701
Record type Site
Current site name Bonanza Creek
Related records 10003167

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -160.7428, 64.54418 (WGS84)
Relative position Placer mining took place near the mouth of locally-named Bonanza Creek, a short, west-flowing tributary of the Ungalik River approximately 4.5 miles east of the abandoned town of Ungalik. Mining also took place on the Ungalik River (NR009) near the mouth of Bonanza Creek, and nearby at Hopeful Gulch (NR010). The coordinates are for the approximate center of mine tailings marked on the Norton Bay C-4 topographic map. These tailings are in the SE1/4 sec. 7, T. 11 S., R. 10 W. , Kateel River Meridian. Bonanza Creek is location 2 of Cobb (1972 [MF 381]).

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
Antimony Critical Secondary
Tungsten Critical Secondary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Gold Ore
Ilmenite Ore
Magnetite Ore
Pyrite Ore
Scheelite Ore
Stibnite Ore
Garnet Gangue
Quartz Gangue

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) -160.7428, 64.54418
ListMap

Economic information

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = The country rocks in the vicinity of Bonanza Creek include black shale or slate that is cut by Cretaceous granitic dikes. The igneous rock contains sulfides (Smith and Eakin, 1911). The contact zone between the igneous rock and the sedimentary rocks is epidotized and contains fine-grained calcite, chlorite, quartz, amphiboles, pyrite, and magnetite (Anderson, 1944). Gold occurs both in creek and bench placers; water was pumped from the Ungalik River to facilitate mining. The gold is described as moderately coarse to coarse, and commonly attached to pieces of quartz vein material (Smith and Eakin, 1911). Abundant stibnite and scheelite are also present; during 1918 a few pounds of scheelite were produced (Cobb, 1973 [B 1374]). Other minerals associated with the gold at Bonanza Creek include magnetite, epidote, garnet, apatite, zircon, hornblende, hematite, and augite (Anderson, 1944). Brooks (1911) indicates that the likely source of gold is the contact zone between the igneous and sedimentary rocks. Gold was discovered near the mouth of Bonanza Creek in 1899, and mining continued until at least 1918 (Smith and Eakin, 1911). Also see NR009 and 010.
  • Age = Quaternary. The source of the placer gold may be the contact zone between the Cretaceous granitic dikes and the sedimentary rocks (Brooks, 1911).

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 production information

  • Production Notes = Some gold was produced from Bonanza Creek from 1899 until about 1918. Intermittent gold production continued from the nearby Ungalik River (NR009) until 1987 or 1988 (Bundtzen and others, 1992).

Comments on the workings information

  • Workings / Exploration = Gold was discovered near the mouth of Bonanza Creek in 1899 (Smith and Eakin, 1911) and mined until at least 1918. The mouth of Bonanza Creek empties into the Ungalik River (NR009), where intermittent dredge mining took place until 1987 or 1988 (Bundtzen and others, 1992).

Reference information

Bibliographic references

Comments on the references

  • Primary Reference = Smith and Eakin, 1911

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit Model Name = Placer Au; stream, bench (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.

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.