Bear Creek Placer Gold Mine

Site Name

Primary: Bear Creek Placer Gold Mine

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Commodity

Primary: Gold
Tertiary: Mercury

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Location

State: Alaska
District: Aniak

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Land Status

Not available

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Holdings

Not available

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Workings

Not available

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Ownership

Not available

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Production

Not available

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Deposit

Record Type: Site
Operation Category: Past Producer
Operation Type: Unknown
Year First Production: 1909
Year Last Production: 1964
Discovery Year: 1907
Years of Production:
Organization:
Significant: N
Deposit Size: S

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Physiography

Not available

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Mineral Deposit Model

Not available

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Orebody

Not available

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Structure

Not available

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Alterations

Not available

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Rocks

Name: Silt
Role: Host
Age Type: Host Rock
Age Young: Holocene

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Analytical Data

Not available

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Materials

Not available

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Comments

Comment (Deposit): STREAM GRADIENT ABOUT 50 FT/MI. ; INFO.SRC : 1 PUB LIT

Comment (Deposit): THIS SITE NAME WAS CREATED BY THE REPORTER OR OTHER USGS EMPLOYEE BASED ON PROXIMITY TO SOME MAJOR GEOGRAPHIC FEATURE.

Comment (Deposit): Discovery Year: 1907-08

Comment (Commodity): CINNABAR CONSTITUTED LARGE PART OF DREDGE CONCENTRATES BELOW BONANZA CREEK.

Comment (Location): USGS MF-444, LOC. 20. LOCATION IS IN AREA OF TAILINGS SHOWN ON TOPO MAP. LAND STATUS VALUE CALCULATED 6-94 USING GIS OVERLAY ANALYSIS WITH BLM 1:2,500,000 SCALE OWNERSHIP STATUS MAP (1991).

Comment (Workings): DEPOSITS WORKED BY HAND METHODS, OPEN CUTS, AND DREDGING. SEVERAL MILES OF DREDGE TAILINGS VISIBLE ON TOPO MAP. ROAD AND ELECTRIC TRANSMISSION LINES PARALLEL BEAR CREEK UP TO BONANZA CREEK.

Comment (Geology): FINER SEDIMENTS IN FLOODPLAIN DEPOSITS PROBABLY WERE LAID DOWN, AND GOLD RECONCENTRATED, DURING FIRST PERIOD OF DRAINAGE DEVELOPMENT BEFORE BENCH GRAVELS WERE DEPOSITED BY GLACIAL OUTWASH. ; MAJOR.UNITS: BEDROCK IS CRETACEOUS ANDESITIC VOLCANIC AND SEDIMENTARY ROCKS OF KUSKOKWIM GROUP ALTERED TO HORNFELS ALONG CONTACT WITH GRANITIC INTRUSIVES, AND TERTIARY JOINTED GRANITE PLUTON INTRUDED BY DIABASE DIKES. ; REG.COM: SOURCE OF PLACER GOLD IS PROBABLY LOCALLY MINERALIZED BEDROCK FLOOR OF BEAR CREEK ITSELF, SINCE GOLD IS NOT FOUND IN MOST OF IT'S TRIBUTARIES. GOLD WAS CONCENTRATED DURING FIRST PERIOD OF DRAINAGE DEVELOPMENT, AND IS NOT CURRENTLY BEING CONCENTRATED BECAUSE BEDROCK IS BURIED AND NOT BEING ERODED. SOURCE OF PLACER CINNABAR IS UNKNOWN.

Comment (Development): DISCOVERED 1907 OR 1908, MINING BEGAN 1909. FIRST DREDGE INSTALLED IN 1925-26, LAST DREDGE IN AREA SHUT DOWN IN 1964.

Comment (Deposit): PLACER DEPOSIT CONSISTS OF GRAVEL AND SILT IN FORM OF GENTLY SLOPING, ALMOST CONTINUOUS BENCHES EXTENDING ALONG ENTIRE LENGTH OF STREAM (ABOUT 15 MI.) AND THROUGHT LOWER AREA OF CENTRAL BASIN. DEPOSITS ARE ENTRENCHED BY BEAR CREEK AND TRIBUTARIES FROM 10-100 FT. FLOODPLAIN GRAVELS IN STREAMBED OF BEAR CREEK ARE 3-8 FT. DEEP AND 0.25-0.5 MI. WIDE. FLOODPLAIN DEPOSITS CONSIST OF COARSE GRAVELS, COBBLES, AND BOULDERS, SECONDARILY CONCENTRATED FROM BENCH DEPOSITS, IN PRESENT STREAMBED. AWAY FROM PRESENT STREAMBED, FLOODPLAIN DEPOSITS CONSIST OF FINER GRAVEL, SAND, AND SILT NOT RECONCENTRATED BY PRESENT STREAM. MOST PLACER GOLD OCCURS IN FLOODPLAIN GRAVELS NOT WASHED RECENTLY BY PRESENT STREAM AND IN CREVICES OF SHATTERED AND DECOMPOSED BEDROCK ON WHICH GRAVELS REST. MOST GOLD WAS MINED IN PORTION OF BEAR CREEK ABOVE MOUTH OF EAST FORK. BELOW EAST FORK, BENCH GRAVELS HAVE POOR GOLD CONTENT, EXCEPT FOR TRIBUTARY OF TINY GULCH.

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References

Reference (Deposit): USGS MF-444, LOC. 16 (1972)

Reference (Deposit): USGS B 622, P. 300, 303-304, 309-321, 324-325, 327-330 (1915)

Reference (Deposit): USGS OF 77-156, P. 56-57 (1977)

Reference (Deposit): USGS I-292 (1959)

Reference (Deposit): ADGGS SR 39, P. 49, NO. 84 (1986)

Reference (Other Database): BAG-MF-444-20

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