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Snow Gulch

Past Producer in Alaska, United States with commodities Gold, Platinum
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Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10038099
MRDS ID M045378
Record type Site
Current site name Snow Gulch
Related records 10137150

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -161.42273, 59.54927 (WGS84)
Relative position Snow Gulch is a small north tributary to Arolik River (GO036). The mouth of Snow Gulch is 2 miles upstream of the mouth of Faro Creek. Placer mining has taken place along the lower mile of Snow Gulch. The map site is at the approximate midpoint of the placer workings, in the N1/2 of section 30, T 7 S, R 71 W, of the Seward Meridian. It is locality 8 of Hoare and Cobb (1977) and of Cobb and Condon (1972).
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Geographic areas

Country State
United States Alaska

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Gold Primary
Platinum Secondary

Comments on the commodity information

  • Ore Material = PGE

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Gold Ore

Mineral occurrence model information

Model code 119
USGS model code 39a
BC deposit profile C01. C02
Deposit model name Placer Au-PGE
Mark3 model number 54

Nearby scientific data

(1) -161.42273, 59.54927
ListMap

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = Placer gold mining occurred on Snow Gulch in 1913 or earlier and in 1938 to 1940 (Harrington, 1921; Hoare and Cobb, 1977); it may also have occurred at other times between 1913 and 1940. Open-cut placer tailings are present along about one mile of the creek upstream from its mouth. Information about the deposit is not available, other than that some platinum was recovered along with the gold. The creek was prospected for platinum in the 1960s by the Goodnews Bay Mining Company. A sample of platinum from Snow Gulch contained 76.32 percent Pt, 8.34 percent Ir, 8.34 percent Os, 5.05 percent Ru, 1.26 percent Rh, and 0.69 percent Pd (Mertie, 1969, table 38). Snow Gulch flows along a large, vertical, notheast-trending fault in Precambrian crystalline rocks (Hoare and Coonrad, 1978).
  • Age = Quaternary.

Economic information

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Past Producer
Commodity type Metallic

Comments on exploration

  • Status = Probably inactive

Mining district

District name Bethel

Comments on the production information

  • Production Notes = The small amout of platinum recovered from Snow Gulch was included with the production reported by the Goodnews Bay Mining Company from the Salmon River area in the Hagemeister Island quadrangle (Mertie, 1969, pg. 89).

Comments on the workings information

  • Workings / Exploration = Open-cut placer tailings are present along about one mile of Snow Creek upstream from its mouth. The creek was prospected for platinum in the 1960s by the Goodnews Bay Mining Company (Merite, 1969).

Reference information

Links to other databases

Agency Database name Acronym Record ID Notes
USGS Mineral Resources Data System MRDS M045378
USGS Alaska Resource Data File ARDF GO034

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    Mertie, J.B., Jr., 1969, Economic geology of platinum minerals: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 630, 120 p.

  • Deposit

    Cobb, E.H., and Condon, W.H., 1972, Metallic mineral resources map of the Goodnews quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-447, scale 1:250,000.

  • Deposit

    Hoare, J.M., and Cobb, E.H., 1977, Mineral occurrences (other than mineral fuels and construction materials) in the Bethel, Goodnews, and Russian Mission quadrangles, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 77-156, 98 p.

  • 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.

  • Deposit

    Harrington, G.L., 1921, Mineral resources of the Goodnews Bay region: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 714-E, p. 207-228.

Comments on the references

  • Primary Reference = Hoare and Cobb, 1977

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit Model Name = Placer Au-PGE (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 39a)

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 20-MAR-01 Travis L. Hudson Applied Geology