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Kowkow Creek Mine, Bethel Mining District, Bethel Census Area, Alaska, USAi
| Regional Level Types | |
|---|---|
| Kowkow Creek Mine | Mine |
| Bethel Mining District | Mining District |
| Bethel Census Area | Census Area |
| Alaska | State |
| USA | Country |
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Latitude & Longitude (WGS84):
59° 28' 11'' North , 161° 26' 23'' West
Latitude & Longitude (decimal):
Type:
Köppen climate type:
Nearest Settlements:
| Place | Population | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Goodnews Bay | 256 (2017) | 39.9km |
| Quinhagak | 706 (2017) | 41.0km |
Location: Kowkow Creek is a south tibutary to Trail Creek, which flows west to Butte Creek in the Faro Creek drainage. The headwaters of Kowkow Creek are on the northwest flank of Island Mountain. This is locality 5 of Hoare and Cobb (1977) and of Cobb and Condon (1972).
Geology: Kowkow Creek is in the non-glaciated part of the Faro Creek drainage. Placer gold mining started there in 1913 and continued through most years to 1940 (Harrington, 1921; Hoare and Cobb, 1977). The pay is 8 to 15 inches of compacted fine gravel on a clay (with some gravel) false bedrock that is overlain by 3 to 4 feet of dark gravel and 1 to 3 feet of muck (Harrington, 1921, p. 227). The depth to bedrock is not known. Kowkow Creek is one of the principal producers in the Arolik River basin. It was estimated to have contributed a large part of the 1,500 ounces of gold recovered from operations in this basin up to 1919 (Harrington, 1921). Some platinum was recovered along with the gold (Hoare and Cobb, 1977). Nearby uplands are underlain by Paleozoic and Mesozoic sedimentary and volcanic rocks intruded by Jurassic mafic and ultramafic plutons (Hoare and Coonrad, 1978). Stream sediments from drainages in these uplands commonly contain anomalous amounts of nickel (Hessin and others, 1978 (OF 78-9-L).
Workings: Open-cut placer mine workings are present along a significant part of Kowkow Creek.
Age: Quaternary.
Production: Kowkow Creek was mined intermittently from 1913 to 1940. A large part of the 1,500 ounces of gold estimated to have been produced from operations in the Arolik River basin by 1919 came from this creek (Harrington, 1921, p. 221). Total production to date (2001) probably is subtantially more than this amount.
Commodities (Major) - Au; (Minor) - Ni, Pt
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
2 valid minerals.
Detailed Mineral List:
| ⓘ Magnetite Formula: Fe2+Fe3+2O4 |
| ⓘ Native Gold Formula: Au |
Gallery:
List of minerals arranged by Strunz 10th Edition classification
| Group 1 - Elements | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| ⓘ | Native Gold | 1.AA.05 | Au |
| Group 4 - Oxides and Hydroxides | |||
| ⓘ | Magnetite | 4.BB.05 | Fe2+Fe3+2O4 |
List of minerals for each chemical element
| O | Oxygen | |
|---|---|---|
| O | ⓘ Magnetite | Fe2+Fe23+O4 |
| Fe | Iron | |
| Fe | ⓘ Magnetite | Fe2+Fe23+O4 |
| Au | Gold | |
| Au | ⓘ Native Gold | Au |
Other Databases
| Link to USGS - Alaska: | GO031 |
|---|
Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality
North AmericaContinent
North America PlateTectonic Plate
- Farewell-Kilbuck DomainDomain
- Koyukuk ArcsVolcanic Arc
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