Bear Creek (upper)

The Bear Creek (upper) 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: Bear Creek (upper)

Commodity

Primary: Gold
Secondary: Platinum

Location

State: Alaska
District: Goodnews Bay

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

Alteration Type: L
Alteration Text: Iron-staining and cementation.

Rocks

Not available

Analytical Data

Not available

Materials

Ore: Ruthenium
Ore: Rhodium
Ore: Osmium
Ore: Iridium
Ore: Palladium
Ore: Platinum
Ore: Gold

Comments

Comment (Exploration): Status = Probably inactive

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

Comment (Workings): Workings / Exploration = Fechner (1988) described about 1 mile of open-cut workings along this part of Bear Creek and estimated that a total of 12,000 cubic yards of material had been mined.

Comment (Geology): Age = Quaternary.

Comment (Production): Production Notes = Fechner (1988) estimated that a total of 12,000 cubic yards of material had been mined. Pay from various mine pits is reported to have run 0.002 to 0.011 ounce of gold per square foot (Reed, 1931). Production could therefore have ranged from 24 to 132 ounces of gold.

Comment (Reference): Primary Reference = Fechner, 1988

Comment (Geology): Geologic Description = Placer gold was discovered on Bear Creek as early as 1916 and mining was reported intermittently up to 1934 (Hoare and Coonrad, 1978). This site is the upper of two placer mine locations on Bear Creek shown by Cobb and Condon (1972). Harrington (1921) visited Bear Creek in 1919 and reported that initial mining had opened up a 15- by 50-foot pit, in which 2 to 3 feet of black clayey muck overlay 2 to 5 feet of gravel. The gravel was post-glacial, locally iron-stained and cemented, and mostly sedimentary material, all locally derived. Only a few very small colors were obtained in pans taken from the base of the gravels (not necessarily on bedrock). Fechner (1988) described about 1 mile of workings along this part of Bear Creek and estimated that a total of 12,000 cubic yards of material had been mined. Pay from various mine pits is reported to have run 0.002 to 0.011 ounce of gold per square foot (Reed, 1931). Fechner (1988) collected 4 samples of Bear Creek sediments; pan concentrate from these samples contained a trace to 0.624 ounce of gold per ton. A float sample of limonite-stained intrusive rock containing pyrite and arsenopyrite assayed 725 ppb gold (Fechner, 1988, sample 44). One of the sediment samples, from the main west tributary to Bear Creek (locally called Danielson Creek), yielded heavy-mineral concentrate containing more than 10 ppm platinum and anomalous As and Cu values. Minor platinum was recovered with the gold from Bear Creek and some prospecting for platinum was completed here by the Goodnews Bay Mining Company (Mertie, 1969, p. 89). An analysis of PGE material recovered from Bear Creek showed it to contain 72.82 percent platinum, 15.58 percent iridium, 8.17 percent osmium, 2.29 prcent ruthenium, 0.78 percent rhodium, and 0.36 percent palladium (Mertie, 1969, Table 38). Bedrock in the area includes Paleozoic and Mesozoic sedimentary and volcanic rocks locally intruded by Upper Cretaceous to Lower Tertiary granitic rocks and Jurassic mafic/ultramafic plutonic rocks (Hoare and Coonrad, 1978).

References

Reference (Deposit): Fechner, S.A., 1988, Bureau of Mines mineral investigation of the Goodnews Bay mining district, Alaska: U.S. Bureau of Mines Open-File Report 1-88, 230 p.

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

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): Reed, I.M., 1931, Notes on the creeks in the Goodnews River gold area: Alaska Territorial Department of Mines, 3 p.

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

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): 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.

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