d"., , * * * & S&#,*& SF '~L~+*~KA i Departmsnt of Natural Resaurces 1970 ALASKA MINERAL PRODUCTION COPPER I MINING POLICY LAW GWHOF 1970 METAL PRICES I I USBM LIAISON OFFICER MINING CLAIMS I I BOB THORNE CITATION EETAL MARKET I William A. Egan - Governo~ Charles F. Herbert - Commissioner James A. Williams - Director I C MINES BULLETIN FEBRUARY 1971 VOL. XIX , A:', i 1970 ALASKA MINERAL PRODUCTION .- ..I , % . , 1. 2. The table .l&p$+~ is tgk~nfrom the preliminary annual repof k p~bh~bd-bg tW'U. S. Bureau of Mine@.;, This report is prepared each year under- a -~~o@i?lrati~iZ'iq@eement between the Bureau of Mines and the Division of ~eoId$ica~'Surveyfb) c6lleeting :r '7 \i (7: in&qation on all minerals. 1 - "* - .-I" ',! - .A ,'A TABLE 1.--Preliminary estimate, mineral production in Alaska, 1970 '( . *, _I\ _I > 3:) .I L<. t 1' ---. 1969 , 1970 21 Mineral - : L; I' I 1 Value 1 Value . ..T> - -,. , , Quantity I (thousands ) 1 I : Antimony ore and ,CQ-wegtraile short tons,. aa4@100~,~c~q&ent-1 47 $13 120 . 100 Barite---tbou@~cf~~hog&~;fons- I ' . w w $6' $,'875 , ., J -<> , Cod (bituminow)----8tiroysand "W ' '.: sbi~~,~.tons- w w w .r f :r Gold (recoverable content ,gf ., ores, etc.)--troy ounces- 21,227 881 38,400 . - 1,378' . Lead (recoverable content of -, . ;?.7: . , ores, etc.)---short tons- 2 1 ---I- LA" Natural gas-million cubic feet- 50,864 12,665 59,185 ' "" ' 14,855" Peat------ short tons- ----- --- ---- ---- Petroleum (crude)-- thousand 42-gallon barrela? ,73,953 214,464 82,250 . 241,815 '- , I J, L Sand and gravel---- t housand: :' t -, . short.&.onsr , J6,205. -. J8.615 20 f&~.j, 26,070 '-' " :Iqt; ' I,,' Silver (recoverable c~sl.eatoef., ., s -.- ,. r. 02.."!,i- - ,-. ' -,,\ 1 ores, etc.)--~i&~psand , :,.i. (r. - 1 4 - ,-a . trop;oatwes-, - i "- 4 I 7 i1-' . I l i '> J . Value of items that cannot be ' disclosed: Gem stones, mercury, platinum-group me&lsy stone, tfin, and :i.*;, ;, , values-' indicated sby:.spb~B A/ e - r. ---- XX4': ,I ' . XX 13: 272 W----J.!... 11 ,,OOO L .". A ..: I -:, , , T~ggly------- XX 257,643+<.?,. '". XX 299,372 I% . 'di ' , E/ Prel-ry. W Withheld to avoid disclosing individual company confidential data. Ld XX Not applicable. MINING POLICY LAW ic1: $L,~L.\ After ye&.'& dqba:ee. and hearings, Congress finally passed S . 739 - ~&"ea.~blishab official -3Edera2 dni.ng a& rninerc%lspolicy. Presidenr ~hbhJig* '3i.t:khto law Oa December 3&,9970. .It ia :Public Law 91-631 (84 Stat. 1676). ahd' hby w~'U.tedas the "Mi6irigh-d HfaPrals Policy Act of 1970". It reads a$'fbllows: J '.<4(l . b.: X8a\,<T, (1 The Congress declares that it is the continuing policy of the Federal Gwenm~entin the national interest to foster and encourage private enterprise in (1) the development of economically sound and stable domestic mining, minerals, metal and mineral reclamation industries, (2) the orderly and econ& deuel.&ent of domestic mineral resources, reserves, and reclamation of metals and minerals to help assure ' batisfaction of hdustrik1.i shtlrity' and- environmental needs, (33 mining, a mineral~~nd~m~~allur$ri~al~research, including the' use and raiycl&ng.g-: . ... -,.,. of ' scrLp td promote theJ wise !and 'ef f kclent use of our naturak ,and . .: reclaimable mineral resources, and (4) the study and developbenjt of .L .'id, . methods for the.,disposal, control, and reclamation of mineral waste products , and Chk reclamatidii of &M land ,' $@'asto lessen. any 1: ; =. -.? .- adverse. iap+--of--mineral exltracfi~eand processing llpon the physical -- emrironmkd 'at may result f rw mihfng or mineral activities. .. -.--.-- .-.--- _--_ _ -- - Ifix5.:$ , .( . ;7 ~i)rYhe pkpose of this Act--"minerals" sball include all minerals .Icoef ,411 shale and uran$um. - - 1,t shall be the responsibility of the Secretary of~the!hasriior t@-- ,,, , _ cadd'out this @3c wl~tn&reising his authority X~ODsah:;progr..a asdjt ibe au$hok!kzed by law other than this Act. -Far this p~rpse-~?&e- . ' - Secretary of*thy Interior shall include in his annual repnrt--eo the= congress a report on the state of the dorhkstic mining, minerals, and miqeral reclamation industries, including a statement of the trend ?: - ,. in'bti lization and dep1etion"uf these resources, together with such., recommendations,..-...--- for legislative programs as may be necessary to im-t. plpent the policy of this Act. 1 ':>. 3 --. - :, USBPl LIAISON OFFICER -( .- - The U. 6: ~&au of bfihes has instituted a prog?.(n of eioBer llrison and cooperatlo; with th St $e governments in all mining States. To tMs-end,.a liaison officer has bee&"o'!-will be:'bp$ointed in each State. Aaf red Serriee,, has been appointed for Alaska. His address is Room 50, Federal Building, hcbrsl&e. -"PUW is a graduate engineer from the University of Alaslra , a f ormm,employee,' & t the old ~erritokialDepartment of Mines (the forerunner of this Divishn), and lately has been employed at 'the USBM station in Spokane, Washington. ' , i . 3 )I . BOB THORNE CITATION IC,--, - .I' , . A Citation for Meritorious Service in recognitzon of sfgnificant wntributions In- the field of mineral resources with the Bureau of Mines, U.S. Departgent: of tb,,,, Interior, was posth~ouslyawarded ~obert,L:~BO~) Thorne , Bureau of- Mines Chief ,.. Alaska Office of Mineral Resources. The award was accepted by Mrs. Alice Thorne for her late husband. The presentation was made at the Bureau--&&li.fies Center on Juneau Island, Juneau--in the presence of-fellow employees, by Mr. Richard E. Shepherd, Anchorage, regP=esentative in Alaska for*the Secretary of the Interior. ,, .?- COPPER .L ..I- ------r- Ofighe nonferrous pletaly, copper is second to aluminum in net dollar value of mepal. pioduction i* th& ~nited'~t&tbki ! bbt there are probabay \more ~geologi~ts looki& for copper lodes in th; U6$9&$.States than any other ope -metal. The reason has been a good price and-'hrkef : f 6k copper. The @arniags p.f the five major copper produ=ers has be& .&c6&lent £or the first three quarters of 1970. --.-3r0fiZ for 9 Months of 1970 _ .. _.-_. .. Ker,cc zo t t, 158.8 -million dollqrs- - -. --.-- Phelps Da:Xzc -- 84.2 " 3.,,!G,) Aserco 78,2 1 Amco.g.da 72.1 I Nemo::'; 57.9, Kennecott as the largest dmest2c co;zper producer had a larger net profit than the larpst douest9.c al~~af,numprriducer. Alcoa, whose net profit for the first nine months, of 11970 FXS 1.3,2,3 million dollars i .. *.. -. In hash copper,% . ie second' tc g'ooid 2rl val& of metal production. Almost 700,000 - . - . -.--. to+ of coppear havd been7pr6ilv.ked P.laska, /' .)r l ~enhecottstarted wifh a 2.3 Alacpa at Kcnnj-cott. The Kennecort mines, &ich started operdticn r.,hi>rt.ly e2l"er ::he turai uf the century, were unique in that they ,c/anstf tutwd the 1ar:as-c mashes cf nlmost pure copper ore that has ever been discovered. jfhase mines wera shut down in 1938, but the company continued to " exp? fo~*'copperand found aa~otherlarge deposit- near Bornite, Alaska. Although no tiqtes of grade and resexre ha~eever been made public, indications have 3; been wde that there 13 a potesztPa?- lz..ina. Kennecott had started to put the mine ' in oetion when an influx of water i~tothe shaft stopped work. Not withatar& the-ilXfFiculty that w38">n~oiinte~&d, exploration has c6nt:fnu~as' well as mXiiiw ' . research. /.' , "\ \ 8. Onel low grade copper prope~ty2s known to .mist, in the Cb*sa& District. An ' I invbstig&ion by the USGS.'indicntes a copper prospect in a quark. diorite at ' ' eGHillconeains more thm 200 million tons of material Ayeraging 0.4% copper, molybdenm, 0.02 03, gold and 0.08 oz; -of s%&,ver per ton. On a copper! equ$vale.ut basis, this grade'6f 3re compares favorabJy with ~uval'sCerrita Mine or Cities same's proposed Caetle Dome mine. The Okange Hill deposit is being exp/Ls -..'a-with$digioral driliing. *. by-- AMEX.. ,.-. - - .. ---- -> / he' s "rch,&brpbPper is cont%nuinb in aesrly all regioas except the oil\rich norJ1gqie 02' ~1jska. Cities ~eri-ice.is active both in explorahon and metgll~r~icdirgd'6arch 671 a ccFper prospect: mar Denali, Alaska. Exploration inckuding/bot~dril~ingnrd ~rdderrgrdund work have. been conducted each suaun@r for . eev"ral.yea-,S aqd it is acticipate-l that additional.work will be cdmpleted next sd er including a truck raad to ths property. ..., , J' Noti aU copper pro5ucera.'..at& giants. Alaska has a small producer reportedly ,.--&lp$ca - seeg&e&nh .~nto-?p~zcig$cr~~~a~~@-$clt:+an .- -- -i,.'. I . i Ecnnd Copper d.qo.83ts have Bes.3 in th~,souLhwestern part of Alaska new.:*I. I*-. , Koqtrashibuna L.&e. A brief desczLpticn of this prospect is written in ,- . Geoc5ica.t Report Eb. -20 by G;l.bcrt R. Eakins. , / Copper minersXizaticn is y2dciegre;d in Alaska. In fact each locality that h8S pruduced placer g~ldccnJildc com3Jered a target area for exploration for sulfide minerals and coypox. Wch of the grgund is covered by tundra and the outcrops are poor, but copper,,&kne:ko3-nbvc bem found and capper produced. The Kennecott f ia;B-in-t.ha-Xohk Rivar vrt21.ey .ms ir, an area first prospected for gold, Both gold and copper mj.n,era.ts h7ae been found in the Survey Pass quadrangle, now proposed as an area to be closed ttz n:tniag. Tf the prospecting continues and areas are not closed AlasEca sho~ldhs.-.?e najor copper producers in the near future. 'HOW THIRTEEN METAL I~RZCES BEHAVED IN 1970 c, - ---MlNING CLAIMS Number of Claims Creek or Area Quadrangle --D~te Notice Posted , .