Lower Sweepstakes Creek; Eagle; Circle; Rampart and Fairbanks claims; A. Johnson; Moon; W. Porter; J. Winder Mine, Koyuk Mining District, Nome Census Area, Alaska, USAi
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Latitude & Longitude (WGS84):
65° 20' 24'' North , 161° 18' 36'' West
Latitude & Longitude (decimal):
Type:
Köppen climate type:
Nearest Settlements:
Place | Population | Distance |
---|---|---|
Koyuk | 342 (2017) | 45.9km |
Mindat Locality ID:
198636
Long-form identifier:
mindat:1:2:198636:8
GUID (UUID V4):
6ac461c7-390f-42e7-9742-3d4454c69c1f
Stream gradient approximately 50 feet per mile.
Location: The lower Sweepstakes Creek placer mine is along Sweepstakes Creek at Bear Gulch, an eastward-flowing, informally named tributary which drains Bear Mountain. The mine is in section 3, T. 2 S., R. 13 W., of the Kateel River Meridian. At various times, the claims at this site also have been referred to as Eagle, Circle, Rampart, and Fairbanks; A. Johnson; Moon; W. Porter; and J. Winder. Cobb, 1972 (MF-389), location 41.
Geology: Placer mining at this site was mainly in low bench deposits along the east side of Sweepstakes Creek. On these benches 2 to 6 feet of muck overlies 3 to 6 feet of gravel. Gravels in the creek bed are 6 to 14 feet deep. On lower claims depth to bedrock is 15 feet. Partially decomposed bedrock was excavated during mining to a depth of a few inches. Mining was mainly for gold, but a little platinum was recovered near the mouth of Bear Gulch. Sweepstakes Creek drains the southwestern part of the Cretaceous Granite Mountain monzonite pluton. Samples of concentrates or syenite-rich stream gravels contained chrome spinel, garnet, hematite, hydrothorianite, ilmenite, magnetite, uranothorianite, and zircon (Gault and others, 1953).
Workings: Small-scale gold placer mining took place at this site from the 1900's until the 1950's. Some activity was reported in the area in 1989-1991 (Bundtzen and others, 1990; Bundtzen and others, 1992). In 1947 the U.S. Geological Survey sampled the placer to evaluate its radioactive mineral potential.
Age: Quaternary.
Production: Gold worth $10,000 and an ounce of platinum reportedly were mined in 1917 (gold at $20.67/ounce) (Harrington, 1919). On Moon's claims 9 and 10, a placered area of 1,500 square feet consisted of 6 feet of gravel overlain by 6 feet of tundra. The paystreak was in a half-foot of gravel and 1 foot of bedrock. Moon recovered 9 ounces of gold at $28.50 per ounce (Gault and others, 1953).
Commodities (Major) - Au; (Minor) - Pt, radioactive minerals
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
3 valid minerals.
Gallery:
List of minerals arranged by Strunz 10th Edition classification
Group 1 - Elements | |||
---|---|---|---|
ⓘ | Gold | 1.AA.05 | Au |
ⓘ | Platinum | 1.AF.10 | Pt |
Group 2 - Sulphides and Sulfosalts | |||
ⓘ | Pyrite | 2.EB.05a | FeS2 |
List of minerals for each chemical element
S | Sulfur | |
---|---|---|
S | ⓘ Pyrite | FeS2 |
Fe | Iron | |
Fe | ⓘ Pyrite | FeS2 |
Pt | Platinum | |
Pt | ⓘ Platinum | Pt |
Au | Gold | |
Au | ⓘ Gold | Au |
Other Databases
Link to USGS - Alaska: | CA005 |
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Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality
North America PlateTectonic Plate
- Koyukuk-Selawik DomainDomain
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