Alaska Resource Data File, Middleton 

Island quadrangle, Alaska 

By Travis L. Hudson1

Open-File Report 02–114 

2002 

This report is preliminary and has not been reviewed for conformity with U.S. Geological 

Survey editorial standards or with the North American Stratigraphic Code. Any use of trade, 

firm, or product names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the 

U.S. Government. 

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

 

1

 Sequim, Washington 
Alaska Resource Data File 

This report is preliminary and has not been reviewed for conformity with U.S. Geological Survey editorial standards or with the North American Stratigraphic code. Any use 

of trade, product, or firm names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply 

endorsement by the U.S. Government. 

OPEN-FILE REPORT 02-114 

Middleton Island

Kayak Island

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Distribution of mineral occurrences in the Middleton Island

1:250,000-scale quadrangle, Alaska

 This and related reports are accessible through the USGS World Wide Web site 

http://ardf.wr.usgs.gov. Comments or information regarding corrections or missing 

data, or requests for digital retrievals should be directed to: Frederic Wilson, USGS, 4200 

University Dr., Anchorage, AK 99508-4667, e-mail fwilson@usgs.gov, telephone (907) 

786-7448. This compilation is authored by:

 Travis L. Hudson

 Sequim, WA

 

Middleton Island quadrangle

 Descriptions of the mineral occurrences shown on the accompanying figure follow. 

See U.S. Geological Survey (1996) for a description of the information content of each field 

in the records. The data presented here are maintained as part of a statewide database 

on mines, prospects and mineral occurrences throughout Alaska.
Alaska Resource Data File 

Page 2 

Site name(s): Middleton Island 

Site type: Mine 

ARDF no.: MI001 

Latitude: 59.4082 Quadrangle: MI B-7 

Longitude: 146.3647 

Location description and accuracy:

 The beach along the bluffs at the southwest end of Middleton Island was the site of 

small-scale placer gold mining as early as 1901. This is locality 1 of Cobb (1972 [MF 

380]; 1979 [OF 79-1246]). It is accurately located. 

Commodities: 

 Main: Au 

 Other: 

Ore minerals: Gold 

Gangue minerals: Garnet 

Geologic description:

 Storm waves concentrate garnet-rich heavy mineral sands that contain small amounts of 

placer gold along the southwest headland of Middleton Island (Brooks, 1913; Reimnitz 

and Plafker, 1976). Other beaches around the island may also contain small amounts of 

placer gold. Some mining occurred as early as 1901, and by 1913, about 400 ounces of 

gold were estimated to have been produced (Brooks, 1913). The recovered gold was fine 

and flat; the coarsest grain weighed about 0.05 ounce (Brooks, 1913). Later residents of 

the Middleton Island military facilities conducted recreational placer gold mining on the 

island beaches (George Plafker, oral commun., 2001). The gold is derived from the reworking of the marine glacial deposits of the upper Cenozoic Yakataga Formation. These 

rocks make up the bedrock of Middleton Island and much of the surrounding continental 

shelf (Reimnitz and Plafker, 1976). 

Alteration:

 

Age of mineralization:

 Holocene. 

Deposit model:

Placer Au (beach) (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 39a) 

MI001 
Alaska Resource Data File 

Page 3 

Deposit model number (After Cox and Singer, 1986 or Bliss, 1992):

39a 

Production Status: Yes; small 

Site Status: Inactive 

Workings/exploration:

 Very small scale hand mining recovered a few hundred ounces of gold. 

Production notes:

 About 400 hundred ounces of gold were estimated to have been recovered between 

1901 and 1913 (Brooks, 1913). 

Reserves:

 

Additional comments:

 

References:

Brooks, 1913; Cobb, 1972 (MF 380); Cobb, 1979 (OF 79-1246); Reimnitz and Plafker, 

1976. 

Primary reference: Brooks, 1913 

Reporter(s): Travis L. Hudson 

Last report date: 12/12/01 

MI001 
Alaska Resource Data File 

Page 4 

Site name(s): Kayak Island 

Site type: Occurrence 

ARDF no.: MI002 

Latitude: 59.9009 Quadrangle: MI D-1 

Longitude: 144.4204 

Location description and accuracy:

 This occurrence is near the mouth of a small creek on the east side of Kayak Island. 

The map site is at an elevation of about 100 feet, 2.2 miles southwest of Pyramid Peak, on 

the south boundary of section 6, T 23 S, R 6 E, of the Copper River Meridian. The occurrence is sample locality 021 of Goldfarb and others (1989), and it is accurately located. 

Commodities: 

 Main: Cu, Pb, Zn 

 Other: Ag, Ba, Mo, Ni 

Ore minerals: Barite, chalcopyrite, galena, pyrite, sphalerite 

Gangue minerals: 

Geologic description:

 This occurrence is representative of several localities on Kayak Island where stream 

sediments and heavy-mineral concentrates contain highly anomalous amounts of barium 

and zinc and less anomalous amounts of silver, copper, lead, molybdenum, and nickel 

(Goldfarb and others, 1989). At this locality, stream sediments contain 0.5 ppm silver, 

150 ppm boron, 5,000 ppm barium, 20 ppm molybdenum, 150 ppm nickel, and weakly 

anomalous levels of cobalt, copper, scandium, and zinc. The heavy-mineral concentrates 

from these stream sediments contain 10,000 ppm strontium and 2,000 ppm zinc. Barite is 

abundant in heavy-mineral concentrates from stream sediments on Kayak Island, and it is 

generally accompanied by pyrite, sphalerite (zinc concentrations to 20,000 ppm), 10 to 30 

percent iron, and 150 to 700 ppm nickel (Goldfarb and others, 1989; Pickthorn and others, 1985). Concentrates with anomalous copper and lead contain microscopic chalcopyite and galena. The barite and base metals are derived from weathering of Tertiary sandstone, siltstone, and glacial-marine deposits of the Poul Creek and Yakataga Formations 

(Plafker, 1974). The Eocene to Miocene Poul Creek Formation contains interbedded mafic pyroclastic and flow rocks in its upper part and is locally intruded by mafic dikes and 

sills. Soil sampling on Kayak Island suggests that many of the stream-sediment and 

heavy-mineral concentrate anomalies are spatially associated with the upper Poul Creek 

Formation, which contains mafic igneous rocks (Pickthorn and others, 1985). 

MI002 
Alaska Resource Data File 

Page 5 

Alteration:

 

Age of mineralization:

 Probably late Tertiary, the age of the upper Poul Creek and Yakataga Formations. 

Deposit model:

Sedimentary-exhalative Zn-Pb ? (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 31a) 

Deposit model number (After Cox and Singer, 1986 or Bliss, 1992):

31a ? 

Production Status: None 

Site Status: Inactive 

Workings/exploration:

 A reconnaissance stream-sediment and heavy-mineral concentrate geochemical survey 

(Goldfarb and others, 1989) and follow-up soil geochemical survey (Pickthorn and others, 

1985) have been completed on Kayak Island. 

Production notes:

 

Reserves:

 

Additional comments:

 

References:

Plafker, 1974; Pickthorn and others, 1985; Goldfarb and others, 1989. 

Primary reference: Goldfarb and others, 1989 

Reporter(s): Travis L. Hudson 

Last report date: 12/12/01 

MI002 
Alaska Resource Data File 

Page 6 

 References 

Brooks, A.H., 1913, The mining industry in 1912: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 542-A, p. 18-51. 

Cobb, E.H., 1972, Metallic resources map of the Middleton Island quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey 

Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-380, 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, 40 p. 

Goldfarb, R.J., O’Leary, R.M., Sutley, S.J., and Trip, R.B., 1989, Geochemical survey of the Cordova and Middleton Island quadrangles, southcentral Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 1865, 32 p. 

Pickthorn, W.J., Goldfarb, R.J., O’Leary, R.M., Sutley, S.J., and Weaver, Sarah, 1985, Kayak Island-- Analysis 

of a geochemical anomaly, IN Bartsch-Winkler, Susan, and Reed, K. M, eds., The United States Geological Survey in Alaska -- Accomplishments during 1983: U.S. Geological Survey Circular 945, p. 82-

83. 

Plafker, George, 1974, Preliminary geologic map of Kayak and Wingham Islands, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 74-82, 1 sheet, scale 1:31,680. 

Reimnitz, Erk, and Plafker, George, 1976, Marine gold placers along the Gulf of Alaska margin: U.S. Geological 

Survey Bulletin 1415, 16 p. 

References