Location: The Granite Pup Mine is along a short, unnamed, 1.5-mile-long tributary to upper Granite Creek. The coordinates are for the midpoint of the placer which is about 0.2 mile north-northeast of hill 917 and about 0.2 mile south of the center of section 12, T. 26N., R. 42 W., of the Seward Meridian. The location is accurate.
Geology: The Granite Pup placer is a shallow fluvial deposit in an unnamed tributary of Granite Creek. The paystreak which is about 1 miles long, occurs in gravel 3 to 6 feet thick that is overlain by 6 to 12 feet of organic muck (Bundtzen, Miller, and Laird, 1986). The paystreak ranges from at least 32 to 130 feet wide. The source of some of the placer gold and associated heavy minerals is an east-west-trending, granite porphyry dike swarm that cuts shale and sandstone of the Upper Cretaceous, Kuskokwim Group. The Wyrick Sb-Au lode (ID133) is adjacent to this placer deposit and may be the source of the gold in the placer (Bundtzen, Miller, and Laird, 1986). The average grade of the placer placer was about 0.024 ounce of gold per cubic yard (L.E. Wyrick, oral communication, 1987). The principal heavy minerals identified in concentrates include ilmenite, zircon, cinnabar, garnet, cassiterite, stibnite, and pyrite (Bundtzen, Cox, and Veach, 1987). The gold fineness ranges from 838 to 871; there are at least two distinct populations of gold suggesting that there is more than one lode source for the placer deposit. The Granite Pup placer was found in 1924 by William Duffy. By 1925, Duffy and others drift-mined along the lower end of the paystreak for a distance of about 1,300 feet. Small scale underground mining took place into the 1930s but ceased by 1935. In 1979, Jack Hayden produced small quantities of placer gold using a suction dredge. From 1984 to 1990, L. E. Wyrick assembled a mechanized mining plant; he sluiced the deposit and produced most of the gold credited to Granite Pup. JR Mining Corporation explored the placer deposit with heavy equipment in 1994. Thirty-two pits were dug along ten lines. This work indicates that an estimated 1,600 ounces of placer gold is contained in approximately 41,212 cubic yards of gravel, mainly at the lower end of the creek (Glavinovich and Morgan, 1994). Miller, Bundtzen, and Gray (2005) estimated that 3,250 ounces of gold and 400 ounces of silver were produced from 1924 to 1990.
Workings: The Granite Pup deposit was discovered by William Duffy in 1924. By 1925, Duffy and others drift-mined along the lower end of the paystreak for a distance of about 1,300 feet. Small scale underground mining took place into the 1930s but ceased by 1935. Unpublished mint records indicate that 156 oz gold and 21 oz silver were produced on Granite Pup prior to 1935; these are probably conservative estimates (Bundtzen and others, 1986). In 1979, Jack Hayden a small quantity of placer gold using a suction dredge. From 1984 to 1990, L. E. Wyrick assembled a mechanized mining plant; he sluiced the deposit and produced most of the gold credited to Granite Pup. Morgan (1992) and Glavinovich and Morgan (1994) conducted exploration and mine feasibility analyses for Granite Pup and the Granite Creek placer system.
Age: Probably Quaternary.
Production: Miller, Bundtzen, and Gray (2005) estimated that 3,250 ounces of gold and 400 ounces of silver were produced from 1924 to 1990.
Reserves: JR Mining Corporation explored the placer deposit with heavy equipment in 1994. Thirty-two pits were dug along ten lines. This work indicates that an estimated 1,600 ounces of placer gold is contained in approximately 41,212 cubic yards of gravel, mainly at the lower end of the creek (Glavinovich and Morgan, 1994).

Commodities (Major) - Au; (Minor) - Ag, Hg, Sb, Sn
Development Status: Yes
Deposit Model: Placer Au deposit (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 39a).

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Mineral List

7 valid minerals.