Salt Lake Mining Review | 1924-01-15 | Page 40 | Mining in Alaska in 1923 Shows Increase of Output

mining in alaska in 1923 shows increase of output advance statements of the geological survey show that mines in alaska produced worth of minerals in 1923 as against in 1922 the total value of the mineral output of alaska since 1880 is these figures are taken from the annual report of alfred H brooks chief alaskan t geologist 6 now in P reparation preparation the source of this mineral wealth is approximately as follows value of mineral output of alaska in 1922 23 1922 1923 gold 0 00 0 copper silver lead coal Petrol petroleum euni marble gypsum platinum etc measured by production gold mining declined during the year while the output of copper and coal increased about 20 per cent over that of 19 1922 1992 92 in spite of the abatement of placer mining because of an unusually dry season the value of the mineral production of the region tributary to the alaska railroad in 1923 was which is greater than that of 1922 this increase was due to the larger production of coal and lode gold and proves that cheaper transportation has already stimulated the mining industry the alaska gold miner shares with his colleagues in the rest of the world the disability produced by disrupted economic conditions which cause very high operation costs while the value of his product remains fixed were it not for the improvements in transportation furnished by the railroads and wagon roads that in certain districts have reduced deduced costs the alaska gold output would have been far less than it has been gold lodes in spite of the adverse economic conditions the search for and development of auriferous lodes showed decided progress during the year though no new projects for the exploitation of large al gold bearing quartz deposits are in in view it has come to be realized that alaska affords many good opportunities for the development of promising rich auriferous lodes A F buddington reports that in 1923 prospectors found a western extension of the belt of the salmon river district containing some promising gold and silver prospects notably in the valley of texas creek in the IC ketchikan et chikan district a newly discovered auriferous lode on helm bay was developed during the year and a small mill was installed further work was also done on the moonshine silver lead deposits at sound prince of wales island the continued successful mining of very low grade auriferous lode ores at the large alaska juneau property is the most important event of the alaska quo quartz artz mining industry of 1923 the output was much larger than in 1922 interest in auriferous lodes was renewed by the discovery of rich ores on hawk inlet and on windham bay in the sitka district the large Chich agoff gold mine was operated to its full capacity until july when a change of ownership led to the shutting down of operations the new owners did not resume productive active mining before the end of the year productive work was continued at the hirst mine which is equipped with a five stamp mill the apex nido mine near listanski strait on chich agoff island continued development and at the end of the year began the installation of a ten stamp mill developments were also continued on gold properties near pinta bay and falcon arm according to A F buddington who examined some of the nickel bearing copper ore in the sitka district in 1923 work has been continued on these deposits and though it appears that no ore bodies of proved commercial value have yet been developed further underground exploration is fully justified the nickel occurs with and in association with gabbro and indru during the year there were no considerable developments of auriferous quartz in the copper river basin on prince william sound or on kenai penin peninsula sula where only five small mines were operated auriferous quartz yas ayas discovered at auka bay at the southern end of kenai peninsula five lode mines were in operation in the willow creek district in 1923 making a gold output of over more important is the fact that deep exploration of the lodes is now well under way which should reveal precise cis e information about the vertical distribution of the valuable deposits in the district in 1923 twenty alaska quartz mines produced about worth of gold in 1922 25 mines produced this decrease is largely due to the fact that the large Chich agoff mine was operated only half the year the silver and lead produced in alaska was a byproduct by product of gold and copper mining except that obtained from the galena ores of the district in 1923 alaska mines produced about bunc ounces e s of silver and tons of lead gold placers A large number of the placer deposits in alaska occur in semiarid semi arid regions where the annual precipitation is only from 10 to 20 inches in many districts even a wet season may not supply water enough to sluice all the gravel that could otherwise be profitable mined on the other hand if the snowfall is light the spring freshest may not suffice to wash the auriferous gravels accumulated by the deep winter mining again if the summer rainfall is below normal open cut mining 6 may lag because st streams reanis do not furnish the water needed for sluicing on the average an extra dry season occurs about once in four or five years and this always curtails gold production there was such a season in 1923 W which aich caused a decline of in the value of the gold output as compared with 1922 indeed had it not been for the improvement in in gold dredging the loss of output from placers would have been much greater many of the alaska placer mines are the best operated at a small margin of profit there is therefore danger bange that a disastrously dry year may have a far reaching effect on the industry by finally discouraging the operators ot of many small mines should a large percentage of miners miner of this class withdraw from the industry the more normal annual output of gold will be restored only after gold dredges are built I 1 more gold dredges to be built gold dredge mining was successful in 1923 in adai addition to the dredges that were operated during the year four or five more are projected some of which wah ii be productive in 1924 it is significant that in spite of the ali adverse conditions that now effect all gold in miners iners gold go dredging is on the increase in alaska in 1923 twenty four gold dredges were ope rated iti alaska and produced worth of gold I 1 in n 1922 1 twenty three gold dredges produced it was so dry in 1923 that even some of the dredges suspense us operation for part of the summer for lack of water enough to float their machines in 1923 fifteen dredges were operated on steward peninsula and produced the other dredges dredger were distributed as follows two each in fairbanks Idi and districts and one each in mcgrath circle and yentha districts in 1922 an average recovery of 55 cents to the cubic yard of gravel excavated was made by the alaska dredges ten years ago twelve per cent in 1922 about 40 per cent and in 1923 about 50 per cent of the alaska placer gold output was produced by dredges the palladium and platinum mine in ketchikan district is still closed the platinum output in alaska in 1923 was a byproduct by product of gold placer mining tin mining has also been suspended but a little stream tin was won from the gold placers copper production in spite of the continued low price of copper the output in 1923 was about pounds pounds more than in 1922 most of this copper was produced from the lar large lare b e mines of group in the chitina chilina valley and from the beatson bonanza mine on prince william sound in 1923 as for many years copper was also produced at the rush and brown mine in the ketchikan district the prospecting b of alaska copper deposits was con trued at many places but chiefly on a small scale the t two wo most important developments which were were visited by F H moffit were as follows underground exploration of the green butte b roup group in the chitina chilina region was vigorously pushed in 1923 and some ore was hauled over a wagon b road to mccarthy and shipped over the railroad the ore is and copper carbonate similar to that of the mines coal output increases in 1922 alaska produced tons of coal from twelve small mines and in 1923 about tons from the same same number of mines the largest quantity came from the ille evan jones mine in the matakuska Ma field and the healy river mine in the nenana benana field both served by the alaska railroad the significant feature of the year is that the territory is supplying more and more of its own fuel though same exploration of the high grade coal of the Man and bearing river field was continued in 1923 it has not yet been proved that these fuels can be mined cheaply enough to find an export market meanwhile evi evidence bi bituminous us of lower grade of the enormous reserves and coals in alaska is accumulating each year sr capps reports the finding of workable beds of coal carrying about 60 per cent of f fixed ix ed carbon at mile on the alaska railroad this coal which has been opened which is is UP occurs in the cantwell formation formati on eocene widely distributed in this region and long known to carry small all seams of coal but this s the first be bed d found that has been proved to be of commercial value the bed mined is from 5 to 6 feet thick the discovery of the bed itself ls is significant as it is easily workable and very accessible is the proof ot of the atie of t course a possible greater significance formation near ilea r the railroad presence of a new coal bearing though the development of high 4 grade coal has thus far ar been disappointing there are vast coal rese reserves arves of less bucl el value in the territory and a considerable percentage tage if f these has been made accessible by the government rail load ad there can be no reasonable doubt that these reserves reserve s will eventually be drawn upon to supply the growing areas lation tion of the pacific seaboard there are enormous of f coal bearing formations in northern alaska though most of 01 them are now too inaccessible to be utilized petroleum the only oil produced in alaska in 1923 was obtained from a dozen small wells one of which was drilled during the year on the single patented tract of petroleum land in alaska in the katalla batalla field these wells are owned by the oil co which finds a ready local market for its product in the form of gasoline produced in its own refinery the search for oil has been continued but except in the cold bay field there has been no drilling in new fields during the year drilling was in progress in 1923 at pearl dome 18 miles from the coast mere here the associated oil company sank two wells about and feet deep but suspended drilling in june the standard oil company drilling on the same structure reached a depth of feet by august and is reported to have reached about feet by november the company began the installation of a second drill in august george C martin who hastily examined the chignik chibnik region south of cold bay field reports that what is known of the geology near chignik chibnik is not favorable to the presence of petroleum kirtley mather who made a geologic survey of the northern part of th the alaska peninsula reports that some of the structures an and d the formations are favorable to the presence of oil A sm small all seepage 6 has has long n been known in the region near the mouth of dou doulas douglas b las river j which flows into cook inlet sidney paige last summer made an examination of the oil seepages see pages b which have long been known near cape simpson about 50 miles east of point barrow the northernmost part of alaska he reports that there are two very large seepages see pages amanat ng from small ridges about a mile apart and several miles from the coast these are marked by flowing petroleum and cover many acres there is of residue at these a very large 11 accumulation petroleum consist of clay with seepages see pages the surface exposures cons hard thin partings b of calcareous shale which lie nearly horizontal and are probably of jurassic age mr paige and his two sub parties explored a large area in inland land from the arctic coast between cape beaufort on the south and point barrow and cape simpson on the north he him himself ascended the meade river for some miles these surveys indicate a wide distribution of what is believed to be the formation from which the cape simpson which is probably of jurassic age age these seepages see pages emer emerge Z cre z rocks near the north arctic coast are a little disturbed but are inc increasingly teasingly rea singly folded to the south toward the mountains I 1 found but what is known of have been no other seepage seepages see pages s the geology is not unfavorable to an oil field this entire region I 1 lies in naval petroleum reserve no 4 and it was examined by the geological survey at the request and expense of the department of the navy