Point Riou Occurrence (near Icy Bay), Yakataga District, Valdez-Cordova Borough, Alaska, USA

Location: This occurrence is on the present Gulf of Alaska shoreline, 1.2 miles southeast of Point Riou and the mouth of Icy Bay. The occurrence, in section 2, T. 24 S., R. 23 E., of the Copper River Meridian, is locality 6 of Cobb (1972 [MF 411]; 1979 [OF 79-1246]).
Geology: Thomas and Berryhill (1962) collected reconnaissance beach samples (IB004, IB006-010) from the Icy Bay area that contained trace to small amounts of magnetite, ilmenite, chromite, zircon, rutile, garnet, sphene, xenotime, and gold. The magnetic fraction of their samples contained as much as 6.2 pounds of iron and 1 pound of titanium oxide per cubic yard. The non-magnetic fraction contained as much as 6.4 pounds, but mostly less than 2 pounds, of titanium oxide per cubic yard. An auger sample of beach material collected by Thomas and Berryhill (1962) at this location contained 0.2 pound of titanium oxide per cubic yard in the magnetic fraction (which also contained 1.4 pounds of iron per cubic yard) and 1.5 pounds of titanium oxide per cubic yard in the non-magnetic fraction.
Workings: Reconnaissance characterization of beach samples has been completed in this area.
Age: Holocene.

Commodities (Major) - Au, Ti; (Minor) - Cr
Development Status: None
Deposit Model: Placer Au (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 39a - beach)

References:
Cobb, E.H., 1972, Metallic mineral resources map of the Icy Bay quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-411, 1 sheet, scale 1:250,000. Cobb, E.H., 1979, Summary of references to mineral occurrences (other than mineral fuels and construction materials) in the Bering Glacier, Icy Bay, Middleton Island, and Yakutat quadrangles, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 79-1246, 41 p. Thomas, B.I., and Berryhill, R. V., 1962, Reconnaissance studies of Alaskan beach sands, eastern Gulf of Alaska: U.S. Bureau of Mines Report of Investigations 5986, 40 p.