Cooper Gulch (placer and M. Charles lode occurrence)

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

Satelite View

MRDS mine locations are often very general, and in some cases are incorrect. Some mine remains have been covered or removed by modern industrial activity or by development of things like housing. The satellite view offers a quick glimpse as to whether the MRDS location corresponds to visible mine remains.

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.

The Top Ten Gold Producing States

These ten states contributed the most to the gold production that built the West from 1848 through the 1930s. The Top Ten Gold Producing States.