Coffee Creek Mine (the upper portion), Kougarok District, Nome Borough, Alaska, USA

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Location: Coffee Creek crosses the Nome-Taylor road at about mile 74 and again at about almost mile 75. The upper part of Coffee Creek that has been placer mined is 5,000 feet upstream from the road crossing at mile 74. About 1,500 feet of the drainage was open-cut mined at this location (Sainsbury and others, 1969). This is locality 43 of Cobb (1972; MF 417).
Geology: This small area of placer workings is primarily known from the mapping of Sainsbury and others (1969). Early references to a residual gold placer near the head of Coffee Creek (Collier and others, 1908; Cobb, 1975, OFR 75-429) are for the Wonder Gulch tributary (BN005) and not this location. Thick muck deposits are present on Coffee Creek and bedrock is not exposed in this area. Bedrock here is expected to be low grade, Lower Paleozoic metasedimentary rocks like those exposed on lower parts of Coffee Creek and nearby uplands (Till and others, 1986).
Workings: Open-cut placer mining, probably dozer and sluice operations, took place along 1,500 feet of the active drainage.
Age: Quaternary

Commodities (Major) - Au
Development Status: Yes; small
Deposit Model: Placer Au-PGE (Cox and Singer; model 39a)

References

Cobb, E.H., 1972, Metallic mineral resources map of the Bendeleben quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-417, 1 sheet, scale 1:250,000. Cobb, E.H., 1975, Summary of references to mineral occurrences (other than mineral fuels and construction materials) in the Bendeleben quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 75-429, 123 p. Collier, A.J., Hess, F.L., Smith, P.S., and Brooks, A.H., 1908, The gold placers of parts of Seward Peninsula, Alaska, including the Nome, Council, Kougarok, Port Clarence, and Goodhope precincts: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 328, 343 p. Sainsbury, C.L., Kachadoorian, Reuben, Hudson, Travis, Smith, T.E., Richards, T.R., and Todd, W.E., 1969, Reconnaissance geologic maps and sample data, Teller A-1, A-2, A-3, B-1, B-2, B-3, C-1, and Bendeleben A-6, B-6, C-6, D-5, and D-6 quadrangles. Seward Peninsula, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 377, 49 p., 12 sheets, scale 1:63,360. Till, A.B., Dumoulin, J.A., Gamble, B. ., Kaufman, D.S., and Carroll, P.I., 1986, Preliminary geologic map and fossil data, Soloman, Bendeleben, and southern Kotzebue quadrangles, Seward Peninsula, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 86-276, 10 p., 3 plates, scale 1:250,000.

Mineral List

Gold

1 entry listed. 1 valid mineral.