1. Mineral Resources
  2. Online Spatial Data
  3. Mineral Resource Data System (MRDS)

Bangor Creek

Past Producer in Alaska, United States with commodities Gold, Silver, Tungsten
Map
XML
JSON
KML
B

Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10308944
MRDS ID A012890
Record type Site
Current site name Bangor Creek
Related records 10002041, 10160483

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -165.46909, 64.68908 (WGS84)
Relative position Bangor Creek is an east-flowing tributary to Snake River; their confluence is about 1.2 miles due west of the Snake River road. About 1.4 miles of Bangor Creek have been placer mined, from an elevation of about 175 feet at the edge of the Snake River flood plain upstream to an elevation of about 300 feet. The map location is at the approximate midpoint of the mined part of Bangor Creek in the southwest corner of section 22, T. 9 S., R. 34 W., Kateel River Meridian. It is included in locality 92 of Cobb (1972 [MF 463], 1978 [OFR 78-93]).
(click for info)

Geographic areas

Country State
United States Alaska

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Gold Primary
Silver Secondary
Tungsten Secondary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Gold Ore
Hematite Ore
Scheelite 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) -165.46909, 64.68908
ListMap

Comments on the geologic information

  • 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).
  • Age = Quaternary.

Economic information

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Past Producer
Commodity type Metallic

Comments on exploration

  • Status = Inactive

Mining district

District name Nome

Comments on the workings information

  • 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.

Reference information

Links to other databases

Agency Database name Acronym Record ID Notes
USGS Alaska Resource Data File ARDF NM192
USGS Mineral Resources Data System MRDS A012890
USGS Mineral Resources Data System MRDS D002574

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    Moffit, F.H., 1913, Geology of the Nome and Grand Central quadrangles, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 533, 140 p.

  • Deposit

    Eakin, H.M., 1915, Placer mining in Seward Peninsula: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 622-I, p. 366-373.

  • Deposit

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

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • Deposit

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

  • 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.

Comments on the references

  • Primary Reference = Moffit, 1913

General comments

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

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 10-JUL-00 Hawley, C.C. and Hudson, Travis L. Hawley Resource Group