Mining nonmetallic resources: gravel, basalt, coal among most developed.

• Author: Stricker, Julie
• Position: MINING

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A popular bumper sticker seen on well-worn pickup trucks in Alaska reads: "If it can't be grown, it's gotta be mined." And while most people think of gold, silver and other precious metals when they think of mining, it's the more prosaic materials such as gravel, rock and coal that have a more immediate effect on Alaskans' day-to-day lives.

The state has more than 120 active rock quarries and sand and gravel operations, according to the Alaska Miners Association. Although most operations are small, together they pack an economic punch, accounting for approximately $80 million in production in 2011.

The key is location, location, location, says Fairbanks geologist Jeff Rogers.

"There are a lot of gravel pit operations," he says, adding that these are generally one-person operations, which supply gravel for roads, house foundations, septic systems and leachfields.

For products with a low intrinsic value such as gravel, operators have to pay close attention to the details of the business.

"There are a lot of things that kind of play into whether anyone makes any money off of it," he says. The same goes for the buyer.

"There's a very localized demand," he says. "You want to go with a gravel source as close as you can get."

Even with larger projects, location is a key consideration in keeping costs down.

When the Alaska Railroad started looking for a rock source for the construction of a bridge over the Tanana River at Salcha, they had a few options. The railroad has several quarries along the Railbelt, but found their rock source much closer at hand.

The Browns Hill Quarry between Fairbanks and North Pole was established in 1972 when Yutan Construction purchased the site as a local source for rock and aggregate products. Brice Companies bought the quarry in 1999. In 2010, Calista Corp. acquired Brice Inc., but Brice family members still oversee operations at the quarry.

Basalt

Browns Hill is Interior Alaska's only commercial source of basalt. Alaska road crews use it to sand icy roads because it's versatile enough to be manufactured into sand, but tough enough to stand up to traffic. It can also be extracted in 2- to 3-foot chunks, which are ideal to use as riprap.

While basalt, an igneous rock, isn't rare in Interior Alaska, Browns Hill is the only site developed for commercial use, says Luther Brice, vice president of Brice Inc.

Browns Hill has been a landmark in the North Pole area for decades. The hill rises several hundred feet above the flatlands of the Tanana River valley, but in the past year, mining activity at the quarry has resulted in an...