The Cordova daily times., 1920-01-03
COPPER, GOLD AND SILVER MINING IN ALASKA DURING YEAR PAST-
 PROSPECTS FOR COAL AND OIL

tainty that this form of tin mining
 will be continued there when the de
 posits now being exploited are worked out. No tin placers which, under pres.
 ent economic conditions, will warrant
 exploitation for their tin alone, have
 yet been found in the Yukon districts
 When costs of operation are re-
 duced placer tin mining may be de-
 veloped in the Hot Springs district
 The distribution of the alluvial tin
 in this district justifies the hope that
 tin-bearing lodes may yet be discov.
 cred. Meanwhile the best hope of
 the continuation of Alaska tin mining
 is based on the lode tin of the York
 district The Lost River mine, in this
 district, is the only property suffi.
 ciently developed to justify the belief
 that it will soon become a producer
 yet there are others in the district l which deserve prospecting.
 Some platinum was recovered in the mining of placer gold in the Sew
 ard peninsula, Tolstoi and Chistochina
 districts in 1919, but the quantity is
 unknown. The mining of copper ores
 at the Saltchuck mine, in the Ketchi- l kan district, which carry palladium l and platinum, was continued as in the 1 previous year. There was no produc- l tion~ of tungsten, antimony or chro-
 mite in 1919, and development work | on properties carrying these minerals | was practically stopped Productive l mining was continued on the quick silver deposit on the lower Kusko- kwim river
 Coal and Oil
 The most important features of the Alaska coal mining industry in 1919 are CD the continuation of systematic
 mining in the Matanuska field by the
 Alaskan engineering commission, CD the systematic prospecting of a lease
 held in the Boring river field and 1 (3) the beginning of the mining of the
 Nenana Ignite coal.
 Mining and underground explora- tion was carried on throughout the year by the Alaskan engineering com mission at the Eska and Chickaloon mines, in the Matanuska field. Coal production from these mines was ad- visedly limited to the needs of the commission and nearby localities. At the Eska mine, which is a bituminous coal of low rank, about 15O,000 tons of coal have been blocked out and some evidence has been obtained that there is an additional reserve of about one million tons. At this mine the coal beds are not greatly folded, but some large faults have complicated the extraction of the coal At Chick aloon, where there is very high grade bituminous coal, the beds are intensely folded and much faulted 1 These conditions increase greatly the cost of mining. The work of the con- mission has resulted in blocking out about one hundred thousand tons of coal.
 No details are yet available about the developments made on the lease held ill the western part of the Boring River field, but extensive and sys- tematic underground work has been done, and the results appear to have encouraged the 1essors to continuW The coal at this locality is high grade Some developments were also continued in 1919 on patented claim i'll the northeastern part of thel field where the coal is anthracite. A little coal has been mined at this To- cality and marketed at Cordova. Incl mine IS connected with barge navl-L gation on Boring river by narrow gauge railroad.
 The connecting link of the Alaska ! railroad between Fairbanks and the Nenana coal field was completed in 1919, and the Nenana Ignite is there fore now available for use in the Fair banks district, and should stimulate the gold mining industry Several thousand tons of Ignite were pro- duced at "Mile 366 mine'' and other developments in the field are under way.
 Small lignitic coal mines were op- erated in 1919 at number of widely separated localities in Alaska, and their DrOduct was consumed locally.