The Cordova daily times., 1921-01-01


 1920 is now ln preparation under the direction of Alfred IT. Brooks. of the geological survey. departmet of the interior Some of the important tea- lures of this report relating to mining development during the year are ab- stracted in the following statement Complete statistics of the mineral production of Alaska can not be col. lected within less than four or five months after the close of the year. but meanwhile it appears advisable to give prompt publication to prelim. mary estimates which, based on past experience, are believed to be within per cent of the actual figures.
 GENERAL CONDITIONS
 Ming in Alaska began in 1880 and up to the close of 1920 had produced minerals to the value of s460, ,240 900, over half of which is to be credited to the last decade. About 75 per cent of this mineral wealth has come from the small but rich deposits termed "bonapzas." Such deposits can be profitably exploited even under the most adverse conditions of isolation and transportation, because they yield very large returns on the capital and labor employed.
 Bonanza mining, always the first to be developed in a new land, is a most powerful agency in attracting population, in forming communities, and in establishing transportation systems Such mining will continue, for the known bonanza deposits in Alaska have been by no means ex hausted, and there is a good prospect manent mining industry can not, however, be founded on the exploita- tion of only the very rich ore bodies Permanency must be based on the development of the larger deposits of lesser unit value. Such develop ment depends for it's profits not so much on the richness of the ore as on economies made possible by the magnitude of the operations. Large mining operations can not be sue cessful at places that are served only by the haphazard and expensive means of transportation generally available on the frontier. The pass age from bonanza mining to a stable and permanent industry has naturally taken place in all mineralbearing regions and has long been under way in the accessible coastal region of Alaska, but the great mineral wealth of the interior remains practically untouched except by the bonanza miner.
 The minerals won from the large low-grade ore bodies of Alaska have total estimated value of $105, ,O00,- 900, most of it in gold, the remainder including the value of copper and other minerals.
 The above estimate includes the output of CD auriferous lodes, whose gold and silver content is valued at containing an average of not more less than $2.50 ton; (2) copper ores than 3 per cent of copper; (3) pla- cers having a gold content worth less than 75 cents to the cubic yard, and (4 marble and gypsum of southeast ern Alaska. The output of the low grade deposits has come mainly from the gold fines of Juneau, but it also includes the product of some of the | larger copper mines of Ketchfkan and Prince William Sound and a large part Of the gold recovered by dredg- in in Seward peninsula All the low grade deposits thus far developed are at or near tideWater and have there fore not had to bear the high cost of land transportation, which can be borne only by bonanza deposits. Many mineral deposits of low grade are known in Alaska, and the pros pect of finding others is good.
 The exploitation of large mineral deposits of low tenor yields only a small profit per ton, but under nor nal industrial conditions this disad- vantage is offset by the large ton mage produced Under the pres ent high operating costs and rela- lively low market value of mineral products the profits on certain oper- ations are entirely swept away, so that during the last two years there