Shungnak River

The Shungnak River is a gold mine located in Alaska.

About the MRDS Data:

All mine locations were obtained from the USGS Mineral Resources Data System. The locations and other information in this database have not been verified for accuracy. It should be assumed that all mines are on private property.

Mine Info

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Site Name

Primary: Shungnak River

Commodity

Primary: Gold
Secondary: Jade
Secondary: Copper
Secondary: Silver

Location

State: Alaska
District: Shungnak

Land Status

Not available

Holdings

Not available

Workings

Not available

Ownership

Not available

Production

Not available

Deposit

Record Type: Site
Operation Category: Past Producer
Operation Type: Unknown
Years of Production:
Organization:
Significant:

Physiography

Not available

Mineral Deposit Model

Model Name: Placer Au-PGE

Orebody

Not available

Structure

Not available

Alterations

Not available

Rocks

Not available

Analytical Data

Not available

Materials

Ore: Silver
Ore: Copper
Ore: Gold
Ore: Nephrite

Comments

Comment (Commodity): Ore Material = Silver (native)

Comment (Reference): Primary Reference = Smith, 1913; Reed, 1931

Comment (Deposit): Other Comments = Semiprecious quality nephrite (jade) boulders were found during placer mining and in the stream gravels of the Shungnak River (Bernice Sheldon, oral communication, 1991).

Comment (Workings): Workings / Exploration = Gold was first mined from the Shungnak River in 1898. It was mined continuously through 1913, and intermittently on a small scale into the 1950's.

Comment (Geology): Geologic Description = Placer gold was first mined from the Shungnak River in 1898. It was mined continuously through 1913, and intermittently on a small scale into the 1950's. Bedrock is predominately lower to mid-Paleozoic black shale and schist; some Jurassic-Cretaceous serpentinite also is in the immediate area. The stream gravels are unfrozen. Typically the top 2 feet of gravel was removed as overburden. The gold is mostly on bedrock, particularly in areas of black shale. The gold is reddish with a dull luster, shaped like flattened shot, and usually in small pieces. Assay value was $16.70 per ounce in 1931. The recovery during 1931 was on the order of $0.90 per cubic yard. Pay streaks were irregular and unpredictable. Magnetite is the most abundant mineral in the concentrates. Occasionally small nuggets of copper and silver were found in the sluice box (Smith, 1913). Some boulders of semiprecious nephrite (jade) were recovered during mining.

Comment (Deposit): Model Name = Placer Au-PGE (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 39a).

Comment (Production): Production Notes = Smith (1913) states that a liberal estimate of total production to 1912 would be less than $50,000.

Comment (Exploration): Status = Inactive

Comment (Commodity): Ore Material = Copper (native)

Comment (Geology): Age = Quaternary.

References

Reference (Deposit): Mayfield, C.F. and Grybeck, D., 1978, Mineral occurrences and resource map of the Ambler river quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 78-120I, 1 sheet, scale 1:250,000.

Reference (Deposit): Mayfield, C.F. and Grybeck, D., 1978, Mineral occurrences and resource map of the Ambler river quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 78-120I, 1 sheet, scale 1:250,000.

Reference (Deposit): Cobb, E.H., 1973, Placer deposits of Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 1374, 213 p.

Reference (Deposit): Cobb, E.H., 1977, Placer deposit map of central Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 77-168B, 64 p., 1 map, scale 1:1,000,000.

Reference (Deposit): Smith. P.S., 1913, The Noatak-Kobuk region, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 536, 60 p.

Reference (Deposit): Reed, I.M., 1931, Report on the placer deposits of the upper Kobuk goldfields: Alaska Territorial Department of Mines Miscellaneous Report 37-1, 57 p.

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