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  3. Mineral Resource Data System (MRDS)

Hopeful Gulch

Prospect in Alaska, United States with commodities Gold, Bismuth, 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 10308972
MRDS ID A015702
Record type Site
Current site name Hopeful Gulch
Related records 10003168

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -160.7622, 64.54948 (WGS84)
Relative position Hopeful Gulch is a short, west tributary to the Ungalik River that is not named on U.S. Geological Survey topographic maps. It is opposite the mouth of Bonanza Creek (NR008). The coordinates are for the abandoned mine camp marked on the Norton River C-4 topographic map (1950). Hopeful Gulch is locality 2 of Cobb (1972 [MF 381]). The location is accurate within 500 feet.

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
Bismuth Critical Primary
Tungsten Critical Primary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Amalgam Ore
Bismuthinite Ore
Gold Ore
Pyrite Ore
Scheelite Ore
Wolframite 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) -160.7622, 64.54948
ListMap

Economic information

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = The country rocks in the vicinity of Hopeful Gulch consist of Cretaceous, medium to fine-grained, mottled, dark gray diorite composed mostly of quartz, feldspar, and biotite. Disseminated pyrite is also present (Anderson, 1944). Anderson (1944) lists the following minerals in concentrates from Hopeful Gulch (in order of abundance): magnetite, epidote, apatite, scheelite, bismuthinite, wolframite, garnet, hornblende, zircon, feldspars, chlorite, augite, gold, amalgam, and calcite. Gold was discovered nearby on Bonanza Creek (NR008) in 1889 and that area was mined until at least 1918. The Ungalik River (NR008) was mined intermittently until 1987 or 1988 (Bundtzen and others, 1992). Although there is no record of mining at Hopeful Gulch, some probably took place in the early 1900s.
  • Age = Quaternary. The source of the gold, bismuthinite, scheelite, and wolframite in the concentrates may be the contact zone of the diorite (Cobb, 1973 [B 1374]).

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Prospect
Commodity type Metallic

Comments on exploration

  • Status = Probably inactive

Mining district

District name Koyuk

Comments on the production information

  • Production Notes = Although there is no record of mining at Hopeful Gulch, some probably took place in the early 1900s.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

Comments on the references

  • Primary Reference = Anderson, 1944

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit Model Name = Placer Bi-W-Au (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.