Alaska's Frontiers: Mapping Strategies for Mineral Resources

Alaska is known as the last US frontier, this Alaska Wall Map shows the vast land rich in minerals. The most difficult part is knowing what areas are important to mine and what areas shouldn't be mined. Here’s where mapping plays a key role. State geologists are mapping the potential of geographical areas from the land and air.

Why is Alaska so geologically important?

Part of that involves being located on the edge of the Pacific crustal plate. That also means multiple volcanoes and unpredictable weather. According to geological surveys, 40 million acres of state land possess high potential for mineral deposits. Only an eighth of this land has been mapped.

Alaska Wall Map

Top resources from Alaska include gold and oil, and they account for a large amount of Alaska’s wealth. Alaska also produces zinc, silver, copper, platinum as well as sand and gravel.

But state geologists are interested in rarer minerals. The strategy is to map areas with minerals strategic for military technology and/or that we import from other countries. This list includes: platinum group antimony, barite, chromite, cobalt, fluorite, gallium, graphite, indium, platinum group elements, rare earth elements, rhenium, tantalum, titanium, tungsten, yttrium and niobium. 

Producing these minerals would make the United States less reliant on importing them from other countries, saving money on technological advances. But mining takes a toll on any environmental system. By knowing exactly where the highest concentrations of minerals are located, environmental impact could be lessened.

Is it worth mining rare minerals and harming Alaska’s ecosystems for the economic independence?