Snow Gulch

The Snow Gulch 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: Snow Gulch

Commodity

Primary: Gold
Secondary: Platinum

Location

State: Alaska
District: Bethel

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

Comments

Comment (Geology): Age = Quaternary.

Comment (Exploration): Status = Probably inactive

Comment (Reference): Primary Reference = Hoare and Cobb, 1977

Comment (Workings): Workings / Exploration = Open-cut placer tailings are present along about one mile of Snow Creek upstream from its mouth. The creek was prospected for platinum in the 1960s by the Goodnews Bay Mining Company (Merite, 1969).

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

Comment (Geology): Geologic Description = Placer gold mining occurred on Snow Gulch in 1913 or earlier and in 1938 to 1940 (Harrington, 1921; Hoare and Cobb, 1977); it may also have occurred at other times between 1913 and 1940. Open-cut placer tailings are present along about one mile of the creek upstream from its mouth. Information about the deposit is not available, other than that some platinum was recovered along with the gold. The creek was prospected for platinum in the 1960s by the Goodnews Bay Mining Company. A sample of platinum from Snow Gulch contained 76.32 percent Pt, 8.34 percent Ir, 8.34 percent Os, 5.05 percent Ru, 1.26 percent Rh, and 0.69 percent Pd (Mertie, 1969, table 38). Snow Gulch flows along a large, vertical, notheast-trending fault in Precambrian crystalline rocks (Hoare and Coonrad, 1978).

Comment (Production): Production Notes = The small amout of platinum recovered from Snow Gulch was included with the production reported by the Goodnews Bay Mining Company from the Salmon River area in the Hagemeister Island quadrangle (Mertie, 1969, pg. 89).

Comment (Commodity): Ore Material = PGE

References

Reference (Deposit): Hoare, J.M., and Coonrad, W.L., 1978, Geologic map of the Goodnews and Hagemeister Island quadrangles region, southwestern Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 78-9-B, two sheets, scale 1:250,000.

Reference (Deposit): Cobb, E.H., and Condon, W.H., 1972, Metallic mineral resources map of the Goodnews quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-447, scale 1:250,000.

Reference (Deposit): Mertie, J.B., Jr., 1969, Economic geology of platinum minerals: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 630, 120 p.

Reference (Deposit): Hoare, J.M., and Cobb, E.H., 1977, Mineral occurrences (other than mineral fuels and construction materials) in the Bethel, Goodnews, and Russian Mission quadrangles, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 77-156, 98 p.

Reference (Deposit): Harrington, G.L., 1921, Mineral resources of the Goodnews Bay region: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 714-E, p. 207-228.

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