Mining districts in Alaska: a geographically diversified economic base.

• Author: Bradner, Mike
• Position: MINING

Alaska's oil and gas resources seem to be concentrated on the North Slope and Cook Inlet, at least those discovered so far. But the state's rich mineral endowment is spread statewide, which holds the promise of a geographically diversified economic base as mineral discoveries are made and mines are developed over time.

There are discovered minerals and mines at the advanced exploration stage in different parts of the state, but there are also producing mines, so that the effect of mining in diversifying the state's economy is a fact, not just potential. Mining created about five thousand Alaska jobs in 2013 and $630 million in annual payroll. A job in Alaska mining pays over $100,000 a year on average.

Southeast

Southeast Alaska is the state's oldest minerals producing district. The discovery of gold at Juneau led to that city being established and eventually wrestling away the honor of being the capital of the then-territory from Sitka, the capital in Russian days and the early years of Alaska's being a part of the United States.

Today there are significant operating mines near Juneau: the Greens Creek Mine on Admiralty Island and the Kensington Mine at Berner's Bay, north of the capital city. Both are underground mines, Greens Creek producing a mix of silver, gold, and zinc and Kensington being a gold mine like the first mines developed in Juneau.

There are also two mine development projects farther to the south, at the southern tip of Prince of Wales Island near Ketchikan. The Niblack and Bokan Mountain-Dotsen Ridge projects are both underground mine projects in advanced stages of exploration and development planning, and if the stars align both could be producing in a few years.

Bokan Mountain is unique because it would be a rare earths project, producing an unusual and scarce set of minerals that are used in high-technology manufacturing. As the demand for high-tech expands, particularly for military uses, the need for these minerals will grow. There are strategic security issues as well because China now supplies much of the world's rare earth minerals and the United States is considered too dependent on Chinese production.

Ucore Rare Metals, Inc., the company developing the Bokan Mountain deposit about forty miles from Ketchikan, has been exploring the deposit for several years. In 2014 a 5,500-meter drilling program was completed. The bulk of the 2014 drilling was for "infill" test holes drilled between previous test holes on a more widely-spaced grid. This is needed to better model the ore body and increase the company's confidence that the mineable ore believed to be present is actually there.

There was also deep drilling aimed at expanding the known resource at deeper levels and geotechnical and groundwater drilling that was needed to provide information for development permit applications.

Ucore issued a Request for Proposals in mid-October for a consulting firm to prepare a Bankable Feasibility Study, or BFS...