The Cooper Gulch (placer and M. Charles lode occurrence) 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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Cooper Gulch (placer and M. Charles lode occurrence) MRDS details
Site Name
Primary: Cooper Gulch (placer and M. Charles lode occurrence)
Commodity
Primary: Gold
Location
State: Alaska
District: Nome
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: Gold
Ore: Limonite
Gangue: Calcite
Comments
Comment (Geology): Age = Quaternary.
Comment (Exploration): Status = Inactive
Comment (Reference): Primary Reference = Collier and others, 1908
Comment (Deposit): Model Name = Alluvial placer Au (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 39a).
Comment (Workings): Workings / Exploration = One hydraulic pit was 100 by 300 feet in size in 1903 (Collier and others, 1908). An attempt was made to mine the lower Cooper Creek deposit by dredging (Moffit, 1913). Upper Cooper Gulch was mined by hand methods.
Comment (Geology): Geologic Description = Upper Cooper Gulch was placer mined by rocker and hydraulic methods and produced a small amount of gold between 1900 and 1916 (Cobb, 1978 [OFR 78-93]). A small area near a bench where the gulch merges with the coastal plain apparently yielded good returns in gold (Moffit, 1913). Unconsolidated materials included 8 to 10 feet of low-grade gravel below 1 to 4 feet of overburden. Boulders in hydraulic tailings were mostly marble along with some greenstone and granite (Collier and others, 1908). Bedrock is mostly marble and schist that probably are of early Paleozoic protolith age (Hummel, 1962 [MF 247]; Till and Dumoulin, 1984; Bundtzen and others, 1994).? An ancestral Cooper Gulch may have been the source of gold on Fourth Beach (NM249) into shallow alluvial deposits on the coastal plain. Moffit (1913, p. 123-124) thought the lower Cooper Gulch deposit unusual enough to classify it as a 'gravel-plain placer'. The gold on lower Cooper Gulch mainly lay on clay streaks but also was distributed throughout the section. The deposit may have been a fan or delta from ancestral Cooper Gulch into the Third Beach sea.? the M. Charles lode was also reported from near the head of Cooper Gulch on the west side (Cathcart, 1922, figure 18, location 1). A short tunnel on the west bank of Cooper Gulch follows a fault zone about 4 feet wide containing brecciated schist replaced by ferruginous calcite; there is abundant limonite but no evidence of gold. Cathcart (1922) inferred the former existence of sulfide minerals from the limonite.
References
Reference (Deposit): Collier, A. J., Hess, F.L., Smith, P.S., and Brooks, A.H., 1908, The gold placers of parts of Seward Peninsula, Alaska, including the Nome, Council, Kougarok, Port Clarence, and Goodhope precincts: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 328, 343 p.
Reference (Deposit): Bundtzen, T.K., Reger, R.D., Laird, G.M., Pinney, D.S., Clautice, K.H., Liss, S.A., and Cruse, G.R., 1994, Progress report on the geology and mineral resources of the Nome mining district: Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys, Public Data-File 94-39, 21 p., 2 sheets, scale 1:63,360.
Reference (Deposit): Till, A.B., and Dumoulin, J.A, 1994, Geology of Seward Peninsula and St. Lawrence Island, in Plafker, G., and Berg, H.C., eds., The Geology of Alaska: Geological Society of America, The Geology of North America, DNAG, v. G-1, p. 141-152.
Reference (Deposit): Cobb, E.H., 1978, Summary of references to mineral occurrences (other than mineral fuels and construction materials) in the Nome quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File report 78-93, 213 p.
Reference (Deposit): Moffit, F.H., 1913, Geology of the Nome and Grand Central quadrangles, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 533, 140 p.
Reference (Deposit): Cathcart, S.H., 1922, Metalliferous lodes in southern Seward Peninsula: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 722, p. 163-261.
Reference (Deposit): Hummel, C.L., 1962, Preliminary geologic map of the Nome C-1 quadrangle, Seward Peninsula, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-247, 1 sheet, scale 1:63,360.
Reference (Deposit): Cobb, E.H., 1972, Metallic mineral resources map of the Nome quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-463, 2 sheets, scale 1:250,000.
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