The United States Geological Survey has begun a state-wide study of Alaskan gold deposits. The immediate goals are to determine the relationship of gold in placer deposits to possible primary sources, to determine how nuggets form, to contribute to existing knowledge of principles for prospecting for placer deposits, and determine if minerals associated with placer deposits might suggest important deposits of other metals. The project started in 1982 with a study of placer mines in the Brooks Range.