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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Snow Gulch MRDS details
Site Name
Primary: Snow Gulch
Commodity
Primary: Gold
Secondary: Silver
Secondary: Tungsten
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: Scheelite
Gangue: Garnet
Comments
Comment (Exploration): Status = Inactive
Comment (Geology): Age = Quaternary.
Comment (Workings): Workings / Exploration = Largely worked out by 1903, but some small-scale mining continues to the present. It was a shallow placer amenable to hand and simple hydraulic mining.
Comment (Geology): Geologic Description = This small south tributary to Glacier Creek (NM220), only about three quarters of a mile long, contained one of the richest gold placers on Seward Peninsula and produced more than 48,000 ounces of gold around 1900; the first claims on the creek were staked in 1898 (Schrader and Brooks, 1900; Brooks and others, 1901). It was mined and remined between 1899 and 1903 and still is mined on a small scale. The gold was distributed throughout 3- to 4-foot-thick gravels. In many places, the deposit was cleaned to bedrock and in 1903, when visited by the U.S. Geological Survey, there was little potential for further mining (Collier and others, 1908, p. 195). Snow Gulch contains significant amounts of placer scheelite, and some has been recovered (Coats, 1944). Coats (1944) considered Snow Gulch one of the more important tungsten localities in the Nome district. The source of the placer deposits is mainly lodes near the head of the gulch. The upper south fork of Snow Gulch heads in an area where lode prospects were found as early as 1899 (U.S. Mineral Survey No. 775); the upper north fork heads easterly into a complex sheeted vein zone (Saddle zone, NM233). Bedrock in the area is schist and some marble that probably has an early Paleozoic protolith age (Hummel, 1962 [MF 247]; Sainsbury, Hummel, and Hudson, 1972 [OFR 72-326]; Till and Dumoulin, 1994; Bundtzen and others, 1994).
Comment (Deposit): Model Name = Alluvial placer Au (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 39a).
Comment (Production): Production Notes = Snow Gulch was one of the richest gold placers on Seward Peninsula. More than 48,000 ounces of gold were produced around 1900, and there has been minor unrecorded production to the present.
Comment (Reference): Primary Reference = Brooks, Richardson and Collier, 1901
References
Reference (Deposit): Till, A.B., and Dumoulin, J.A, 1994, Geology of Seward Peninsula and St. Lawrence Island, in Plafker, G., and Berg, H.C., eds., The Geology of Alaska: Geological Society of America, The Geology of North America, DNAG, v. G-1, p. 141-152.
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): Coats, R.R., 1944, Lode scheelite occurrences of the Nome area: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 17, 6 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.
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): Schrader, F.C., and Brooks, A.H., 1900, Preliminary report on the Cape Nome gold region, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Special Publication, 56 p.
Reference (Deposit): Brooks, A.H., Richardson, G. B., and Collier, A. J., 1901, Reconnaissance in the Cape Nome and Norton Bay regions, Alaska, in 1900: U.S. Geological Survey Special Publication, p. 1-180.
Reference (Deposit): Collier, A. J., Hess, F.L., Smith, P.S., and Brooks, A.H., 1908, The gold placers of parts of Seward Peninsula, Alaska, including the Nome, Council, Kougarok, Port Clarence, and Goodhope precincts: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 328, 343 p.
Reference (Deposit): Hummel, C.L., 1962, Preliminary geologic map of the Nome C-1 quadrangle, Seward Peninsula, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-247, 1 sheet, scale 1:63,360.
Reference (Deposit): Sainsbury, C.L., Hummel, C.L., and Hudson, Travis, 1972, Reconnaissance geologic map of the Nome quadrangle, Seward Peninsula, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 72-326, 28 p., 1 sheet, scale 1:250,000.
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