Kugruk River Mine, Fairhaven Mining District, Northwest Arctic Borough, Alaska, USAi
Regional Level Types | |
---|---|
Kugruk River Mine | Mine |
Fairhaven Mining District | Mining District |
Northwest Arctic Borough | Borough |
Alaska | State |
USA | Country |
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Latitude & Longitude (WGS84):
65° 52' 22'' North , 162° 27' 3'' West
Latitude & Longitude (decimal):
Type:
Köppen climate type:
Nearest Settlements:
Place | Population | Distance |
---|---|---|
Deering | 127 (2017) | 25.6km |
Mindat Locality ID:
198414
Long-form identifier:
mindat:1:2:198414:2
GUID (UUID V4):
3a3a758e-87f8-4154-b6ba-8c62b7c6a1bb
Location: Kugruk River is a major north-flowing drainage in the northeast Bendeleben quadrangle. The mouth of Kugruk River is east of Deering on Kotzebue Sound. This mine is approximately located as on Kugruk River, 1 to 3 miles upstream of Chicago Creek, (BN068), an east tributary. This is locality 63 of Cobb (1972; MF 417; 1975; OFR 75-429).
Geology: At this location, Kugruk River is a meandering stream in a 3,000 to 4,000 foot-wide floodplain. The elevation of the floodplain is less than 100 feet but some river terraces are present locally. A 30-foot high bench just above the mouth of Chicago Creek is reported to be auriferous (Roehm, 1941, p. 111). Placer mining for gold began as early as 1903 and initially included drift operations. Mining was variably located to be 1 to 3 miles upstream of Chicago Creek (BN068), an east tributary. Some dredging took place and an abandoned dredge was reported to be present by Cobb (1975). Between 1903 and 1905, gold production worth $150,000 (over 8,000 ounces) was reported from a crescent-shaped paystreak on Discovery claim (Henshaw, 1909). The gold was finer at the ends of the paystreak than in the middle. The depth to bedrock on Discovery claim was 12 to 14 feet including overburden. Henshaw (1909) descibes a section 0.75 mile from Kugruk River near Discovery claim that included two gravel intervals. This section (from top down) was: 25 feet of clear ice, 60 feet of muck, 8 feet of reddish gravel, 3 feet of muck, and 10 feet of blueish gravel on schist bedrock. One mile above Chicago Creek, gravels were 8 to 10 feet thick on schist and marble bedrock; overburden was 5 to 7 feet thick (Henshaw, 1910). Bedrock in the area is mostly covered by tundra but it is probably part of a Lower Paleozoic metasedimentary assemblage (Till and others, 1986). Tertiary coal-bearing sediments are locally exposed along Kugruk River upstream from Chicago Creek.
Workings: Both drift mining and dredging have take place here.
Age: Quaternary; two or more cycles of placer deposit development are indicated. The low elevation of the Kugruk River floodplain here indicates that Quaternary sea level fluctuations may have influenced the character of the placer deposits.
Production: Between 1903 and 1905, gold production worth $150,000 (over 8,000 ounces) was reported (Henshaw, 1909). This production was probably from drift mining.
Commodities (Major) - Au
Development Status: Yes; small
Deposit Model: Placer Au-PGE (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 39a)
Select Mineral List Type
Standard Detailed Gallery Strunz Chemical ElementsCommodity List
This is a list of exploitable or exploited mineral commodities recorded at this locality.Mineral List
1 valid mineral.
Gallery:
Other Databases
Link to USGS - Alaska: | BN069 |
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Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality
North America PlateTectonic Plate
- Brooks-Seward DomainDomain
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