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      By Alaska Science Center      May 23, 2024    

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Critical minerals are essential to the U.S. economy and national security, have a supply chain that is vulnerable to disruption, and serve an essential function in the manufacturing of many products. Often, critical minerals are found as co- or by-products in deposits mined for precious or base metals. The projects described here develop an interdisciplinary (geological, societal, ecological) and integrated assessment for above ground resources at past-producing and current mine sites in Alaska. The potential presence of critical minerals in the above-ground materials remaining from past mineral production is due to factors such as lack of a prior need, lack of identification, previously unfavorable economic extraction of the commodity, and alternative sources of the commodity. In Alaska, there is particular interest in a volumetric inventory of critical mineral resources present in historic placer districts. Together the following projects will investigate and inform the viability of processing materials that have been previously mined for other resources.

**Return to****Geology**

## Goals:

                                - Determine the relative enrichment of critical minerals in placer resources relative to natural, unprocessed stream gravel
                                - Investigate critical mineral concentrations and host mineral phases in different size fractions of placer gravel to inform elemental concentration and extraction processes
                                - Delineate and incorporate ecological and societal benefit and risk factors in evaluations of critical mineral resource potential

## Projects:

 

Critical Minerals in Alaska Placer Deposits and southeast Alaska Mineral Systems

## Critical Minerals in Alaska Placer Deposits and southeast Alaska Mineral Systems

Multi-Resource Integrated Assessments (MRIA) and the Critical-Mineral Potential of Legacy Mine Above-Ground Resources

## Multi-Resource Integrated Assessments (MRIA) and the Critical-Mineral Potential of Legacy Mine Above-Ground Resources

### Study Area

### Contacts

#### Susan Karl

##### Research Geologist

Alaska Science Center

skarl@usgs.gov

907-786-7428

#### Bronwen Wang, Ph.D.

##### Research Geologist

Alaska Science Center

bwang@usgs.gov

907-786-7110

### Explore Search

                      - Mineral Resources
                      - Geology
                      - Geology
                      - Minerals
                      - Mine Waste
                      - critical minerals
                      - placer deposits
                      -  Alaska

View All **

Uhler Creek

August 24, 2023

#### Uhler Creek

link

Scientist sieving a sample of gold placer tailings to analyze for critical mineral contents in Uhler Creek, a tributary to the South Fork of the Forty Mile River in east central Alaska.

Alaska Science Center, Alaska Science Center

August 24, 2023

#### Uhler Creek

link

#### Uhler Creek

link

Scientist sieving a sample of gold placer tailings to analyze for critical mineral contents in Uhler Creek, a tributary to the South Fork of the Forty Mile River in east central Alaska.

Alaska Science Center, Alaska Science Center

Cassiterite Creek

July 23, 2023

#### Cassiterite Creek

link

Scientist sieving a sample of tin placer tailings in Cassiterite Creek on the western Seward Peninsula.

Alaska Science Center, Alaska Science Center

July 23, 2023

#### Cassiterite Creek

link

#### Cassiterite Creek

link

Scientist sieving a sample of tin placer tailings in Cassiterite Creek on the western Seward Peninsula.

Alaska Science Center, Alaska Science Center

Kougarok River

July 17, 2023

#### Kougarok River

link

Kougarok River at the confluence with Taylor Creek, Alaska. Large volume of gold placer tailings that contain critical minerals on the Kougarok River on the western Seward Peninsula.

Alaska Science Center

July 17, 2023

#### Kougarok River

link

#### Kougarok River

link

Kougarok River at the confluence with Taylor Creek, Alaska. Large volume of gold placer tailings that contain critical minerals on the Kougarok River on the western Seward Peninsula.

Alaska Science Center

Dredge 

July 12, 2023

#### Dredge 

link

Historic dredge and large volume of gold placer tailings that contain platinum group and chromium critical minerals on the Salmon River near Goodnews Bay, Alaska. Dragline-sluice tailings are in the foreground, stacked dredge tailings are in the background near the dredge.

Alaska Science Center

July 12, 2023

#### Dredge 

link

#### Dredge 

link

Historic dredge and large volume of gold placer tailings that contain platinum group and chromium critical minerals on the Salmon River near Goodnews Bay, Alaska. Dragline-sluice tailings are in the foreground, stacked dredge tailings are in the background near the dredge.

Alaska Science Center

Salmon River tailings

July 12, 2023

#### Salmon River tailings

link

Large volume of gold placer tailings that contain platinum group and chromium critical minerals on the Salmon River south of Goodnews Bay, Alaska.

Alaska Science Center

July 12, 2023

#### Salmon River tailings

link

#### Salmon River tailings

link

Large volume of gold placer tailings that contain platinum group and chromium critical minerals on the Salmon River south of Goodnews Bay, Alaska.

Alaska Science Center

Clear Creek

June 21, 2023

#### Clear Creek

link

Scientists collecting a 1/5 yard composite sample in blue 5-gallon buckets from gold placer tailings to analyze for critical mineral contents in Clear Creek, in the Zane Hills north central Alaska.

Alaska Science Center, Alaska Science Center

June 21, 2023

#### Clear Creek

link

#### Clear Creek

link

Scientists collecting a 1/5 yard composite sample in blue 5-gallon buckets from gold placer tailings to analyze for critical mineral contents in Clear Creek, in the Zane Hills north central Alaska.

Alaska Science Center, Alaska Science Center

Chicken Creek

August 24, 2022

#### Chicken Creek

link

Scientist checking a gold pan for gold and critical minerals in placer tailings on lower Chicken Creek near Flat, Alaska, in the Kuskokwim Mountains. A sample was collected from legacy gold placer tailings at this site and 7 others in the Flat mining district to determine the critical mineral contents of tailings from which only gold has been removed.

Alaska Science Center, Alaska Science Center

August 24, 2022

#### Chicken Creek

link

#### Chicken Creek

link

Scientist checking a gold pan for gold and critical minerals in placer tailings on lower Chicken Creek near Flat, Alaska, in the Kuskokwim Mountains. A sample was collected from legacy gold placer tailings at this site and 7 others in the Flat mining district to determine the critical mineral contents of tailings from which only gold has been removed.

Alaska Science Center, Alaska Science Center

June 29, 2021

####                 GIS-based identification of areas that have resource potential for lode gold in Alaska              

Ecosystems Mission Area, Energy and Minerals Mission Area, Mineral Resources Program, Alaska Science Center, Geology, Geophysics, and Geochemistry Science Center

November 16, 2016

####                 GIS-based identification of areas that have resource potential for critical minerals in six selected groups of deposit types in Alaska              

Alaska Science Center

USGS makes $5 million in Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funding available to research critical minerals and rare earth elements found in mine waste

March 6, 2024

####   USGS makes $5 million in Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funding available to research critical minerals and rare earth elements found in mine waste

**RESTON, Va. –** The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is now soliciting proposals for fiscal year 2024 cooperative agreements to collect data on mine waste...

Read Article

USGS provides $2 million to states to identify critical mineral potential in mine waste

November 7, 2023

####   USGS provides $2 million to states to identify critical mineral potential in mine waste

**RESTON, Va.** — The U.S. Geological Survey has invested more than $2 million from President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law in cooperative...

Read Article

USGS makes $5 million available from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law for mine waste research

February 14, 2023

####   USGS makes $5 million available from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law for mine waste research

RESTON, Va. — The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is soliciting proposals for Fiscal Year (FY) 2023 grants to collect data on mine waste. This new...

Read Article

Critical minerals are essential to the U.S. economy and national security, have a supply chain that is vulnerable to disruption, and serve an essential function in the manufacturing of many products. Often, critical minerals are found as co- or by-products in deposits mined for precious or base metals. The projects described here develop an interdisciplinary (geological, societal, ecological) and integrated assessment for above ground resources at past-producing and current mine sites in Alaska. The potential presence of critical minerals in the above-ground materials remaining from past mineral production is due to factors such as lack of a prior need, lack of identification, previously unfavorable economic extraction of the commodity, and alternative sources of the commodity. In Alaska, there is particular interest in a volumetric inventory of critical mineral resources present in historic placer districts. Together the following projects will investigate and inform the viability of processing materials that have been previously mined for other resources.

**Return to****Geology**

## Goals:

                                - Determine the relative enrichment of critical minerals in placer resources relative to natural, unprocessed stream gravel
                                - Investigate critical mineral concentrations and host mineral phases in different size fractions of placer gravel to inform elemental concentration and extraction processes
                                - Delineate and incorporate ecological and societal benefit and risk factors in evaluations of critical mineral resource potential

## Projects:

 

Critical Minerals in Alaska Placer Deposits and southeast Alaska Mineral Systems

## Critical Minerals in Alaska Placer Deposits and southeast Alaska Mineral Systems

Multi-Resource Integrated Assessments (MRIA) and the Critical-Mineral Potential of Legacy Mine Above-Ground Resources

## Multi-Resource Integrated Assessments (MRIA) and the Critical-Mineral Potential of Legacy Mine Above-Ground Resources

### Study Area

### Contacts

#### Susan Karl

##### Research Geologist

Alaska Science Center

skarl@usgs.gov

907-786-7428

#### Bronwen Wang, Ph.D.

##### Research Geologist

Alaska Science Center

bwang@usgs.gov

907-786-7110

### Explore Search

                      - Mineral Resources
                      - Geology
                      - Geology
                      - Minerals
                      - Mine Waste
                      - critical minerals
                      - placer deposits
                      -  Alaska

View All **

Uhler Creek

August 24, 2023

#### Uhler Creek

link

Scientist sieving a sample of gold placer tailings to analyze for critical mineral contents in Uhler Creek, a tributary to the South Fork of the Forty Mile River in east central Alaska.

Alaska Science Center, Alaska Science Center

August 24, 2023

#### Uhler Creek

link

#### Uhler Creek

link

Scientist sieving a sample of gold placer tailings to analyze for critical mineral contents in Uhler Creek, a tributary to the South Fork of the Forty Mile River in east central Alaska.

Alaska Science Center, Alaska Science Center

Cassiterite Creek

July 23, 2023

#### Cassiterite Creek

link

Scientist sieving a sample of tin placer tailings in Cassiterite Creek on the western Seward Peninsula.

Alaska Science Center, Alaska Science Center

July 23, 2023

#### Cassiterite Creek

link

#### Cassiterite Creek

link

Scientist sieving a sample of tin placer tailings in Cassiterite Creek on the western Seward Peninsula.

Alaska Science Center, Alaska Science Center

Kougarok River

July 17, 2023

#### Kougarok River

link

Kougarok River at the confluence with Taylor Creek, Alaska. Large volume of gold placer tailings that contain critical minerals on the Kougarok River on the western Seward Peninsula.

Alaska Science Center

July 17, 2023

#### Kougarok River

link

#### Kougarok River

link

Kougarok River at the confluence with Taylor Creek, Alaska. Large volume of gold placer tailings that contain critical minerals on the Kougarok River on the western Seward Peninsula.

Alaska Science Center

Dredge 

July 12, 2023

#### Dredge 

link

Historic dredge and large volume of gold placer tailings that contain platinum group and chromium critical minerals on the Salmon River near Goodnews Bay, Alaska. Dragline-sluice tailings are in the foreground, stacked dredge tailings are in the background near the dredge.

Alaska Science Center

July 12, 2023

#### Dredge 

link

#### Dredge 

link

Historic dredge and large volume of gold placer tailings that contain platinum group and chromium critical minerals on the Salmon River near Goodnews Bay, Alaska. Dragline-sluice tailings are in the foreground, stacked dredge tailings are in the background near the dredge.

Alaska Science Center

Salmon River tailings

July 12, 2023

#### Salmon River tailings

link

Large volume of gold placer tailings that contain platinum group and chromium critical minerals on the Salmon River south of Goodnews Bay, Alaska.

Alaska Science Center

July 12, 2023

#### Salmon River tailings

link

#### Salmon River tailings

link

Large volume of gold placer tailings that contain platinum group and chromium critical minerals on the Salmon River south of Goodnews Bay, Alaska.

Alaska Science Center

Clear Creek

June 21, 2023

#### Clear Creek

link

Scientists collecting a 1/5 yard composite sample in blue 5-gallon buckets from gold placer tailings to analyze for critical mineral contents in Clear Creek, in the Zane Hills north central Alaska.

Alaska Science Center, Alaska Science Center

June 21, 2023

#### Clear Creek

link

#### Clear Creek

link

Scientists collecting a 1/5 yard composite sample in blue 5-gallon buckets from gold placer tailings to analyze for critical mineral contents in Clear Creek, in the Zane Hills north central Alaska.

Alaska Science Center, Alaska Science Center

Chicken Creek

August 24, 2022

#### Chicken Creek

link

Scientist checking a gold pan for gold and critical minerals in placer tailings on lower Chicken Creek near Flat, Alaska, in the Kuskokwim Mountains. A sample was collected from legacy gold placer tailings at this site and 7 others in the Flat mining district to determine the critical mineral contents of tailings from which only gold has been removed.

Alaska Science Center, Alaska Science Center

August 24, 2022

#### Chicken Creek

link

#### Chicken Creek

link

Scientist checking a gold pan for gold and critical minerals in placer tailings on lower Chicken Creek near Flat, Alaska, in the Kuskokwim Mountains. A sample was collected from legacy gold placer tailings at this site and 7 others in the Flat mining district to determine the critical mineral contents of tailings from which only gold has been removed.

Alaska Science Center, Alaska Science Center

June 29, 2021

####                 GIS-based identification of areas that have resource potential for lode gold in Alaska              

Ecosystems Mission Area, Energy and Minerals Mission Area, Mineral Resources Program, Alaska Science Center, Geology, Geophysics, and Geochemistry Science Center

November 16, 2016

####                 GIS-based identification of areas that have resource potential for critical minerals in six selected groups of deposit types in Alaska              

Alaska Science Center

USGS makes $5 million in Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funding available to research critical minerals and rare earth elements found in mine waste

March 6, 2024

####   USGS makes $5 million in Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funding available to research critical minerals and rare earth elements found in mine waste

**RESTON, Va. –** The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is now soliciting proposals for fiscal year 2024 cooperative agreements to collect data on mine waste...

Read Article

USGS provides $2 million to states to identify critical mineral potential in mine waste

November 7, 2023

####   USGS provides $2 million to states to identify critical mineral potential in mine waste

**RESTON, Va.** — The U.S. Geological Survey has invested more than $2 million from President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law in cooperative...

Read Article

USGS makes $5 million available from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law for mine waste research

February 14, 2023

####   USGS makes $5 million available from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law for mine waste research

RESTON, Va. — The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is soliciting proposals for Fiscal Year (FY) 2023 grants to collect data on mine waste. This new...

Read Article