Chapter 8: Appalachia And The Ozarks

Mining
Alaska often conjures up images of gold - prospectors, miners and adventurers combing the creeks of the Interior searching for the next big discovery. The town of Fairbanks, and many of its surrounding communities, among them Ester, Fox and Chatanika, were founded because of placer gold discoveries on local creeks in the early 1900's. However, the communities that survived into this century survived because their economies diversified away from gold production; others - such as Meehan and Cleary - withered and died when the miners pulled out.

Alaska's Mineral Wealth

Gold and the stampedes it caused were critical factors in the European settlement of Alaska. Therefore, gold is the metal most often associated with this state's mineral resources.

However, Alaskan geology also hosts some of the world's largest and richest deposits of lead, zinc, silver and copper. Kennecott - one of the world's largest mining companies, got its start here with the Kennecott Copper mine (now a National Park) in the Wrangell Mountains, which mined one of the richest copper deposits ever found. And Teck-Cominco's Red Dog mine, located in the DeLong Mountains 50 miles northeast of the Native Village of Kivalina, currently holds the position as the world's largest lead-zinc mine. Platinum has also been mined here, and there are ongoing searches for the diamonds and sapphires that many prospectors are convinced lie undetected in stream gravels. 


Modern Metal Mining in Alaska

Overview of Fort Knox Mine looking south by southeast. The open pit gold mine is seen in the background, with the low-grade ore stockpile and conveyor in the foreground. Photo provided by Fairbanks Gold Mining Co.

http://www.dggs.alaska.gov/webpubs/dggs/sr/text/sr064.PDF

http://www.northern.org/artman/publish/mining.shtml