The Alaska daily empire., 1922-01-02

c1me from seven small mines. man,
 of which are equipped with mill
 more remarkable for their novelty ! than for their efficiency. The lode. cs the district occur in well-definel l Assures traversing dioritic rocks 1 Mo5t of these veins are remarkably persistent, though some are faulted 1 Within these lodes are rich orf shoUts, and mining has been limited to the search for and extraction o l the rich ore from these shoots. + general the lodes have not been sys 1 terlt1t 1ticllly developed to block out ar ore tonnage owing to lack of tech r.oal knowledge and of sufficient cap it3l for the work undertaken As 2 consequence most of tho mines are being worked on a hand -tO-mouth basis. Plans hove been formulated for larger scale operations and above 1 all for more systematic exploration cf ere bodies. The sur01ce indica tisns more than warrant the careful un 'ergrcurd exrloua1ion of the lodes alr 1l1y discovered
 Quartz miaiug al falrplnKS is still limited to the prospecting of some smsn l9des relatively rich in gold Inc;de,'tally to this work some gold ore taken from five or six different rrc1ertics wa mined and milled. Be'ween $3o 0oe and $40 GOO worth of go.A was recovered frcm these opera tio-s. The largest developments were on the smith & McGlone prop erty.
 The Alaska Treadwcll Company continued systematic exploration of 2ts gold lode mines in the Nixon Fork b4sin of tho upper Kuskokwim re- gion. In connection with this de- velcpmert work some ore carrying gold, silver, and copper was mined an1 sllt:NDel by river and ocean boats Tie outlook has been found suffi- ciently ercoura girg to justify the in stallaFfon of a small reducing plant, which is now under way.
 Copper Mining tsfs'
 In 1921 the Alaska mines produced about 58,214,000 pounds of copper, valued at $6,971, 900, as compared win 70,435 ,363 pounds, valued at S12.9GO, ,1O6, in 1920 The total Alaska co2per output is now 672,0OO,O0O rounds, valued at $135, 100000, In 1921 the copper production was prac- tically confined to the three large mines of the Kennecott group, in the Chi.ina basin; the Beatson- Bonanza, ofl Prince William Sound, and the Rush & Brown mine, in the Ketchi kan district. There was little ex- rloration for copper ore during the year. but some work was continued at the Dickey and Mcintosh proper. ties. on Prince William Sound, and on other claims in several districts. It is reported that a rich ore shoot of chalcocite was uncovered by J. E. Barrett on the Green property, on McCary Creek, in the Chitina basin.
 Miscellaneous Metals
 The Alaska mines produced about 1000 ounces of silver in 1921 and 963.546 ounces in 1920. The silver was produced chiefly as an incident of gold and copper mining, and hence the output declined with that of these other metals. Some of the. silver produced came from galena ores, Of which about 450 tons was mined in 1921. The Alaska lead out put. derived from gold and galena ores. was about BIO tons in 1921, as compared With 875 tons in 1920.
 Owing to the low price of tin, the mining of that metal in Alaska all most ceased in 1921, and the total production is estimated to have been only about 11a tons, as compared with 16 tons in 1920. No tin was shipped, and the output came chiefly fr1sn the Hot Springs district of the Panama region. where it was recov cred incidentally to gold-placer min ing. No reports have been received of any mining during 1921 in the York district of Seward Peninsula, in the past the principal source of Al aska tin
 Work was suspended during 1921 at the Salt Chuck palladium-copper mine. As this property was the prin- c'pal source of the platinum and a1 Fed metals produced in Alaska, the Ictal output of these minerals was only about 6 ounces in 1921, as com pared with 1,479 ounces in 1920 The platinum output in 1921 was all de- rived from gold placer mining. mainly on Dime Creek, on Seward Peninsula
 Two quicksilver properties were under development in Alaska during 1921-the Parks mine, on lower Kus kCkwim River, and the Swift mine, 20 miles southwest of Iditarod. Some quicksilver was produced at the Swift mine No antimony. tungsten. chromfte. or molybdenite were mined in Alaska during 1921.
 Coal
 The output of Alaska coal was about 7S.000 tons in 1921 and 61.111 tons in 1920. In 1921 about 58.000 tons came from the Matanuska field, principally from the Eska mine, oper- ated by the Alaska Engineering Com ,s-ets ssNx. &<<