The beach placer is developed on unconsolidated marine and terrestrial deposits of Holocene age and mainly consists of medium coarse sands with pebbly and rocky layers (Reimnitz and Plafker, 1976). When sampled by Foley and others (1995), there were transient layers as much as 0.3 meters thick that were rich in heavy minerals.

The Situk beach was explored by auger holes and grab samples of heavy concentrate layers in the modern beach. An auger hole reported by Thomas and Berryhill (1962, sample number 25) contained 0.5 ppm gold, 53.9 pounds/cubic yard titanium and 150.3 pounds/cubic yard iron. Three samples, localities 266, 267, and 268, were collected by Foley and others (1995, figure 16, Appendix A). A sample of a modern heavy mineral concentrate layer (no. 267 - 0.3 meters) contained 1.298 grams/ton gold in head split along with 4.05 percent titanium and 2534 ppm zirconium. A spiral concentrate of the same sample contained 0.113 grams/ton gold, 4.86 percent titanium, and 3032 ppm zirconium. Four samples (series no. 266 of a total of 5.5 meters) were collected from the tidal beach; five samples (series no 267 of 9.4 meters) were taken of back beach material near a lagoon. Spiral concentrates of tidal flat samples contained up to 4.72 percent titanium and 0.198 grams/ton gold in the same interval. Back beach samples contained as much as 3.34 percent titanium and a trace of gold over 1.8 meters. One other head sample of the back beach had a trace of gold. There are no workings, but the beach is accessible from the village of Yakutat.