The Daily Alaska empire., 1928-01-04
Alnskql. Mines Production In 1927 Falls Short from
 1920; Output Is $l4,445, 900

The results of these experiments have not yet been made public.
 Prospecting for copper lodes is being conducted at several places in the Copper River region, espe. cially in the valley of Kotsiaa River, and at a few places in tl,e Prince William Sound district, and some renewed interest in the copper properties near Iliamna Bay, on the west side of Cook In let, was. evident. None of this work is known to have disclosed ore deposits that will add ma terially to the copper output of the Territory in the immediate future. It may be of interest to record that in connection wieh experiments in ore treatment made by the owner of one of the copper properties in the Prince William Sound region some of the copper ore has been found 10 contain appreciable quantities Of selenium, which is used in chem ical and electro-chemical indus tries and is more popularly known for it's use in connection with light-sensitiye electric cells.
 Snver Production Small
 Most of the silver produced in Alaska during recent years has been recovered from the copper ores-in fact, during 1926 over three-quarters of the silver came from that source. With the great reduction in the output of copper ore in 1927 the quantity of silver naturally showed correspond ing decrease. The decrease in the production of placer gold also re- suited in a slight decrease in the silver that is obtained from that source. The quantity of silver obtained from placer gold, how ever, is so small as to be prac. tically negligible for purposes of this estimate. The low price of silver in 1927 explains a part of the lesser value of the production of silver for the year. As a par tial offset to these decreases may be mentioned the fact that the lode gold mines produced slightly more silver than in 1926. There was a relatively good increase in the production from the lead-sil- yer mines in the .Hyder district. The principal producing mine on American territory in the vicinity of Hyder is the Riverside, but there are several prospects n that region on which work is be- ing pushed and which appear to hold promise of yielding commer- cial ore. Exploratory work was continued at the Mint mine, near Chulitna, in the Susitna Valley, but the extent and value of the ore have not yet been demonstra- ted sufficiently to allow the own CTS to formulate definite plans of development.
 Coal Output Grows
 The production of coal by Alas kan mines showed a slight in crease in 1927 over that of the preceding year. The output was furnished mainly by the Evan Jones, Premier, and Alaska-Mata- nuska mines, in the Matanuska region, and the Suntrana mine, in the Healy River field. The Evan Jones mine was not in operation until March, and after February the Alaska-Matanuska Co.,, prac- tically ceased all operations at it's mine on Moose Creek. In May a serious fire at the Suntrana mine destroyed the tipple and threaten ed the mine itself, so that produc- ton was partly interrupted for some time. Fortunately, recon struction was pressed to the ut most, and by September a new tipple was in operation and addi- tional loading facilities had been installed, so that the company was in shape to handle it's regl- lar business as well as the new business it had procured by con tracing with the Fairbanks Ex- pioration Co.,, to furnish the fuel for it's new power plant at Fair banks.
 Interest in the Healy River field was considerably stimulated at several times during the year as the result of rumors that the ra.l- road branch to the Suntrana mine would be extended several mics farther up the creek to reach a coal property which was said so have higher grade of coal that could be mined with relative ease.