Bangor Creek

The Bangor Creek 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: Bangor Creek

Commodity

Primary: Gold
Secondary: Tungsten
Secondary: Silver

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: Hematite
Ore: Scheelite

Comments

Comment (Geology): Age = Quaternary.

Comment (Reference): Primary Reference = Moffit, 1913

Comment (Exploration): Status = Inactive

Comment (Workings): Workings / Exploration = Bangor Creek was worked by surface or by shallow underground methods from at least 1910 until 1914, when a bucketline dredge was erected on the creek. The grade of the placer reported in Moffit (1913) was 0.12 ounce of gold per cubic yard. The main period of mining apparently was from 1914 until 1918 (Mertie, 1918 [B 622-I, p. 425-449]); Cathcart, 1920). The dredge made at least two parallel passes. The lower limit of pay was just above the point where Bangor Creek enters the Snake River plain.

Comment (Deposit): Model Name = Alluvial placer Au (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 39a).

Comment (Geology): Geologic Description = Bangor Creek was placer mined for about 1,500 feet above its confluence with Butterfield Creek and for more than a mile below the confluence. Mining probably began in Bangor Creek as early as 1906 (Brooks, 1911) and continued to 1914 when a 3.5 foot bucket line dredge was built (Eakin, 1915 [B 622-I, p. 367]). The dredge had a design capacity of 2,000 cubic yards of material per day and reportedly dug down for about 18 feet. Dredge tailings on Bangor Creek contain abundant large cobbles and small boulders of quartz. Before the dredge was constructed, most of the mining was near the confluence of Butterfield Creek. In this area, the grade of the placer was reported to be about 0.12 ounce of gold per cubic yard in a deposit about 14 feet deep. Most of the gold reportedly was fine-grained but some nuggets weighed about 0.75 ounce. Hematite and scheelite were present; some scheelite occurred in pieces weighing one-half pound (Moffit, 1913). Scheelite was also reported by Coats (1944) and Thorne and others (1948). Potential lode sources for the gold and scheelite in Bangor Creek include the mineralized zone on the southeast flank of Butterfield Creek (NM191), possibly the Twin Mountain zone (NM186), and the Jarosa Ridge prospect (NM193). Bangor Creek cuts through rocks tentatively correlated with the Solomon Schist which forms the core of the Twin Mountain anticline (Bundtzen and others, 1994).

References

Reference (Deposit): Coats, R.R., 1944, Lode scheelite occurrences of the Nome area: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 17, 6 p.

Reference (Deposit): Thorne, R.L., Muir, N.M., Erickson, A.W., Thomas, B. I., Hedie, H. E., and Wright, W. S., 1948, Tungsten deposits of Alaska: U.S. Bureau of Mines Report of Investigation 4174, 51 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): Eakin, H.M., 1915, Placer mining in Seward Peninsula: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 622-I, p. 366-373.

Reference (Deposit): Cathcart, S.H., 1920, Mining in northwestern Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 712, p. 185-198.

Reference (Deposit): Thorne, R.L., Muir, N.M., Erickson, A.W., Thomas, B. I., Hedie, H. E., and Wright, W. S., 1948, Tungsten deposits of Alaska: U.S. Bureau of Mines Report of Investigation 4174, 22 p.

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.

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): 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.

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