The country rocks in the Nome mining district as defined by Bundtzen and others (1994) consist of three main lithostratigraphic units: an upper unit of chlorite- and albite-rich mafic schist, local marble, and calc-schist; a middle unit of massive and platy marble, graphitic mica and quartz schist, felsic schist, and chlorite-rich metaturbidite schist; and a lower unit of garnet and graphitic schist, albite-chlorite schist, quartz schist, paragneiss, and iron-rich biotite schist. These three units are correlated, from the top down, with the Casadepaga Schist of Smith (1910) and Moffit (1913), the 'mixed unit 'of Till and others (1986), and the Solomon Schist of Smith (1910) and Moffitt (1913). The relations of the three units are complex; locally they appear to be in thrust contact with each other; elsewhere, apparently different units may be metamorphic equivalents. In general, however, they form a mappable, apparently stratigraphic, sequence of rocks. For the purpose of describing the dominant type of lode deposit, the apparent stratigraphic sequence can be used. The principal lode gold deposits have a ductile-brittle structural history. The oldest lodes are rich in arsenopyrite and albite; they occur in ductilly deformed, concordant and fold-controlled deposits. These deposits appear to grade into the sheeted-vein deposits that sharply cut metamorphic rocks and that contain most of the lode gold in the district.

Structurally, the district is divided into two provinces. The southern and most important province has an antiformal structure modified by relatively late faults that strike north-northeast to northeast. From east to west, the main northeast faults are the composite Anvil Creek fault, the Rodine fault, the Penny River fault, and the Aurora Creek fault (Bundzten and others, 1994). The core of the antiformal structure lies west of Snake River; it trends generally north. As mapped in a more detailed industry study (1:12,000 to 1:24,000 scale), the antiformal axis is displaced by the Rodine and other faults. The apparently oldest rocks are exposed at lower elevations in Boulder Creek, along lower Twin Mountain Creek, and in Bangor Creek. Bundtzen and others (1994) mapped a slightly foliated metadiorite or metagabbro in or near the core of the antiform in Bangor Creek. The northern province includes the Mount Distin area and the area north of Stewart River. There the major structures are aligned more nearly east-west, subparallel to the uplift axis of the arch of the Kigluaik Mountains to the north (see Hummel, 1962 [MF 247]).

The main belt of lode deposits extends north-northwest for about 5 miles from Bonanza Hill through Glacier and Rock Creeks to the Goodluck Gulch deposit (NM202). Within the belt, most of the mineralized structures strike northeast.

Major alluvial placer gold deposits in the Nome mining district were discovered in September and October of 1898 by John Brynteson, Jafet Lindeberg, and Erik O. Lindblom. The men were supported by an active Scandinavian community based at Golovin, who mainly came to the region for the Swedish Covenant Church, and by several Eskimos, including Gabriel Adams and Constantine Uparazuck. A mining district was formed in October, 1898, by Brynteson, Lindeberg, Lindblom, A.N. Kittlesen, Johan Tornensis, a Saami, and Gabe Price, who represented Charles D. Lane, an experienced mining man. Many of the best alluvial placers were located in 1898. In 1899, gold was discovered on Present Beach (NM255) at Nome. A.H. Brooks of the U.S. Geological Survey then predicted that buried beach placer deposits would be found, a prediction that proved accurate when Second Beach (NM256) was discovered in 1902. The Third beach (NM258) was discovered in 1904. The placers were first exploited mainly by hydraulic methods, and major ditches were constructed to support these operations. Some shallow thawed deposits were mined successfully by small dredges. In the 1920s, after invention of the cold-water thawing process, large dredges were brought into the country by Wendell P. Hammon, whose interests were later consolidated by the U.S. Smelting, Refining, and Mining Company. The more important references for the early history of the Nome mining district are Brooks and others, (1901), Collier and others (1908), Moffit (1913), Metcalfe and Tuck (1942), and Spence (1996).