Dry Gulch

The Dry Gulch is a 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: Dry Gulch

Commodity

Secondary: Gold

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: Producer
Operation Type: Unknown
Years of Production:
Organization:
Significant:

Physiography

Not available

Mineral Deposit Model

Model Name: Placer PGE-Au

Orebody

Not available

Structure

Not available

Alterations

Not available

Rocks

Not available

Analytical Data

Not available

Materials

Ore: Chromite
Ore: Gold
Ore: Ilmenite
Ore: Magnetite

Comments

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

Comment (Geology): Geologic Description = The headwaters of Dry Gulch are in the southeast border zone of the Red Mountain ultramafic pluton, where clinopyroxenite and hornblende-bearing rocks are dominant (Alaska Earth Sciences, 2000). Dry Gulch is only about 1/2 mile long, and placer tailings are present along about 1/4 mile of its lower length. Small-scale mining took place as early as 1927 or 1928, and continued intermittently until 1934, when the Goodnews Bay Mining Company started larger-scale dragline operations in the area (Mertie, 1940; 1976). The placer deposit probably has general characteristics like those on nearby Platinum Creek (HG014) and Fox Gulch (HG028). Locally derived gravels were coarse and bouldery, up to 12 feet thick but thinning upstream; PGMs were concentrated on or near bedrock. Bedrock along the mined part of Dry Gulch is part of an assemblage that includes sheared argillite, graywacke, and mafic to intermediate, fine-grained igneous rocks that are difficult to identify because of their decomposed character where exposed in mining cuts (Mertie, 1940). These rocks are included in a regional sedimentary and volcanic assemblage that ranges in age from Paleozoic to Mesozoic (Hoare and Coonrad, 1978). Platinum in Dry Gulch was probably discovered at about the same time that mining started on Platinum Creek (1928, Mertie, 1940). Dry Gulch was probably worked out by 1941.

Comment (Exploration): Status = Active?

Comment (Reference): Primary Reference = Mertie, 1940

Comment (Workings): Workings / Exploration = Placer tailings are present along about 1/4 mile of lower Dry Gulch. Small-scale mining took place as early as 1927 or 1928 and continued intermittently until 1934, when the Goodnews Bay Mining Company started larger-scale dragline operations in the area (Mertie, 1940). Dry Gulch was probably worked out by 1941.

Comment (Geology): Age = Quaternary.

References

Reference (Deposit): Alaska Earth Sciences, 2000, The Goodnews Bay ultramafic complexes: Unpublished data, http://aes.alaska.com/UMAF/FIGURES/page4.html
URL: http://aes.alaska.com/UMAF/FIGURES/page4.html

Reference (Deposit): Cobb, E.H., 1972, Metallic mineral resources map of the Hagemeister Island quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-362, 1 sheet, scale 1:250,000.

Reference (Deposit): Mertie, J.B., Jr., 1976, Platinum deposits in the Goodnews Bay district, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 938, 42 p.

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., 1980, Summaries of data and lists of references to metallic and selected nonmetallic mineral deposits in fifteen quadrangles in southwestern and west-central Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 80-909, 103 p.

Reference (Deposit): Mertie, J.B., Jr., 1940, The Goodnews platinum deposits, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 918, 97 p.

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