Mining brings cash and jobs to Fairbanks.

• Author: Stricker, Julie
• Position: Alaska

It's been said that if you want to go elephant hunting, go where the elephants live. If gold is your elephant, then head for Alaska's Interior.

Mining exploration and development means money to Interior businesses

It's elephant season in Alaska's Interior. Mining corporations are hunting for large gold deposits hidden beneath the hills of the Interior, and some have struck pay dirt.

So far, the largest haul is the Fort Knox Gold Mine, a lode mine 25 road miles northeast of Fairbanks, owned by Fairbanks Gold Mining Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Amax Gold of Colorado. Scheduled to go into production later this year, Fort Knox is designed to produce 330,000 ounces of gold annually and employ 250 workers full time year-round. It will be the largest gold mine in Alaska.

Other Interior prospects include True North, eight miles northwest of Fort Knox; Illinois Creek; Ganes Creek; Nixon Fork; Gil East; Juniper Creek; Marshall Dome; Ryan Lode Mine and Gold Dust Creek. Of those, Nixon Fork near McGrath is already producing gold and copper, while Fort Knox is completing its construction phase and other sites are being drilled or are in the preliminary exploration stage.

Many of the new sites have been worked for decades as placer mines.

There are a lot of placer mining districts in Alaska, and placer mines must have a hard-rock base, says Richard Hughes, project manager for Ryan Lode Mines in Fairbanks, a hard rock gold mine near Ester Dome. "There's already elephants in this country, and if you want to shoot elephants you have to go hunt in elephant country."

Although government, the military and tourism are the bedrock of today's economy, mining is making a comeback. It's not a gold rush, but a rebirth of mining is fueling economic growth in the Interior.

From 1994 to 1995, statewide mining development expenditures increased 234 percent to $147.8 million, according to the Alaska Department of Natural Resources. The bulk of that came from an expansion of the giant Red Dog zinc, lead and silver mine in northwestern Alaska and development of Fort Knox.

Statewide in 1995, the mineral industry produced 3,405 full-time equivalent jobs, the DNR says, a 10 percent increase over 1994. Much of this growth was concentrated in the eastern Interior, which includes the Fairbanks North Star Borough.

According to the Alaska Department of Labor, the FNSB is leading the state in economic growth, with a 2 percent increase in June 1996, compared to 1.1 percent...