The Cordova daily times., 1922-01-11

Tanana 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 l Alaska tin.
 l Work was suspended during 1921 at the Salt Chuck palladium copper mine As this property was the prin- cipal source of the platinum and all lied metals produced in Alaska, the total output of these minerals was only about 65 ounces in 1921, as con- pared with 1,479 ounces in 1920. The platinum output in 1921 was all de- rived from gold-placed mining mainly on Dime Creek on Seward Peninsula.
 Two quicksilver properties were under development in Alaska during 1921-the Parks mine on lower Kus- kokwim River and the Swift mine, 20 miles southwest of Iditarod Some quicksilver was produced at the Swift mine. No antimony, tungsten, chromite, or molybdenite were mined in Alaska during 1921.
 1 COAL it
 The output of Alaska coal was about 78,000 tons in 1921 and 61,000 tons in 1920 In 1921 about 5S,000 tons came from the Matanuska field, principally from the Eska mine, oper- ated by the Alaska Engineering Com mission to supply coal for the rail- road The Navy Coal Commission continued underground exploration for coal at Chickaloon and at Coal and Moose Creeks, with fairly en- couraging results The Eska mine, operated since 1917, was closed in | October for the reason that there was a large stock of coal on hand. The Evans-Jones mine, near the Eska, is being systematically deve1- oped and now has a connection with | the railroad. A washery for the ! Matanuska coal was about completed at the end of the year.
 ] Work was suspended at the Boring i River coal mine, in the Boring River | field, in May. 1921. Though excellent | coal has been found on this property, i the underground explorations have not yet established the presence of a i oh H inc construction of railroad, Other leases have been granted in the Der ing River field, and plans are under way for the building of a railroad to Controller Bay. The Healy coal mine, in the Ne mana Ignite field, is now being oper- During the winter of 1920-21 some coal was also mined on Lignite Creek in the same field, by the Broad Pass | Coal Company. Small Ignite mines were operated at several widely scat tered localties-two along the Alaska Railroad-one at Homer, Cook Inlet;
  and one at Wainwright Inlet It is probable that small quantities of coal were also mined at other localities, l from which no reports have yet come In 1921 coal was produced at prob ably a dozen localities.
 The most significant feature of the years coal mining is that there are ! now two commercial mines, the Evans-Jones and the Healy, and these mines, though only small producers, will be operated throughout the year because they have railroad transpor- tation. Both these mines are the re- suit of local enterprise. The question whether the deposits of high grade bituminous coal in the Matanuska and Boring River fields ablt under the present high cost of recovery and with the present market is still unanswered. There is, how ever, no doubt that one or both these coal fields will be able to supply the local demand. Actual mining of thel lower grade of Matanuska coal has proved that it can be produced in competition with imported coal The Alaska Engineering Cossission has during four years of operation at| the Eska mine made an output of nearly 100000 tons of coal at cost of about $1,15O,Oo0, or $5.6O a ton. This was used in the construction of the railroad. Had the government imported this coal, it would have cost nearly s3,O0O,OO0 This proves be- yond doubt that commercial mining