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Bonanza Hill

Prospect in Alaska, United States with commodity Gold
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Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10308958
MRDS ID A012841
Record type Site
Current site name Bonanza Hill
Alternate or previous names Gold Bug, Golden Eagle
Related records 10001997

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -165.41777, 64.58978 (WGS84)
Relative position The Gold Bug and Golden Eagle prospects reportedly are at an elevation of about 400 feet, halfway between Mountain Creek and Snow Gulch. This prospect, about 2,200 feet northwest of the top of Bonanza Hill, was shown as locality 3 by Hummel (1962 [MF 247]). The locality is included with the Jorgensen and other nearby claims in locality 47 of Cobb (1972 [MF 463], 1978 [OFR 78-9). The map location is just south of the center of section 26, T. 10 S., R. 34 W., Kateel River Meridian.
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Geographic areas

Country State
United States Alaska

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Gold Primary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Arsenopyrite Ore
Gold Ore
Hematite Ore
Limonite Ore
Pyrite Ore
Quartz Gangue

Mineral occurrence model information

Model code 273
USGS model code 36a
Deposit model name Low-sulfide Au-quartz vein
Mark3 model number 27

Nearby scientific data

(1) -165.41777, 64.58978
ListMap

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = Mertie (1918, p. 434) reported that country rock schist at the locality strikes N 32 W and dips 25 S. At the time of Mertie's visit, a 125-foot tunnel had been driven on a 6-foot vein of iron-stained quartz that contained iron sulfides. The vein strikes N 70 E and dips 45 S. According to Mertie, the assays taken at the breast indicated rather high-grade ore. Cathcart (1922, p. 241) reported an 8-inch vertical quartz-feldspar vein at the tunnel face in soft, highly altered schist, free gold in hematitic schist, and small amounts of pyrite and arsenopyrite. The location of the tunnel was not found in 1994, but a quartz-rubble field near a sloughed trench is present at this location (C.C. Hawley, unpublished data, 1994). The quartz rubble appears to lie on schist between two horizontal marble layers. Newmont Mining Company drilled one hole in this area (BR92-010) with unknown results. About 800 feet to the west, schist and marble are moderately dipping, possibly dragged by a nearby fault. Bedrock in the general area is mostly graphitic schist, probably of early Paleozoic protolith age (Hummel, 1962 [MF-247]; Sainsbury, Hummel, and Hudson, 1972 [OFR 72-326]; Till and Dumoulin, 1994; Bundtzen and others, 1994).
  • Age = Mid-Cretaceous or younger; vein cuts schist metamorphosed during the mid-Cretaceous.

Economic information

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Prospect
Commodity type Metallic

Comments on exploration

  • Status = Inactive

Mining district

District name Nome

Comments on the workings information

  • Workings / Exploration = An adit, variously reported as 120- or 125-feet long, was reported by Mertie (1918 [B 662-I, p. 425-449]) and Cathcart (1922); there are two sloughed trenches and a recent drill hole (Newmont Mining Company, unpublished report, 1992) in the area. The area is near the head of Bonanza Gulch, a narrow paystreak, which appears to have supplied placer gold to lower Glacier Creek (NM220).

Reference information

Links to other databases

Agency Database name Acronym Record ID Notes
USGS Alaska Resource Data File ARDF NM228
USGS Mineral Resources Data System MRDS A012841
USGS Mineral Resources Data System MRDS A012905

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    Cathcart, S.H., 1922, Metalliferous lodes in southern Seward Peninsula: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 722, p. 163-261.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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

    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.

  • 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.

Comments on the references

  • Primary Reference = Cathcart, 1922

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit Model Name = Low-sulfide Au-quartz veins (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 36a).
Deposit Other Comments = Chapin (1914, p. 401) proposed that the vein exposed on the Gold Bug and Golden Eagle claims is the same as the vein at the New Era tunnel. This assertion is doubtful, because extensive trenching and some drilling indicate that veins in this area are discontinuous.

Reporter information

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