The Alaska Resource Data File (ARDF) is a database of mines, prospects, and mineral occurrences in Alaska. It contains information compiled from published and unpublished sources from industry, U.S. Bureau of Mines (BOM), U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), and other government and private sources. ARDF is not a mining claims database.

The Alaska Resource Data File (ARDF) is a database of mines, prospects, and mineral occurrences in Alaska. It contains information compiled from published and unpublished sources from industry, U.S. Bureau of Mines (BOM), U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), and other government and private sources. ARDF is not a mining claims database.

The Alaska Geologic Materials Center (GMC) in Eagle River holds non-proprietary rock core and cuttings that represent over 13 million feet of exploration and production drilling in Alaska. Additionally, the collection holds more than 252,000 linear feet of diamond-drilled hard-rock mineral core, representing more than 1,800 exploratory boreholes; 76,000 linear feet of oil and gas core and rock samples from more than 1,650 exploratory or production wells; samples for geotechnical boreholes; and numerous surface rock and sediment samples. The collection also includes extensive geochemical data and processed material derived from this rock. This publication represents the GMC inventory in accessible, intuitive digital formats for use by the general public.

The State of Alaska's Strategic and Critical Minerals (SCM) Assessment project, a State-funded Capital Improvement Project (CIP), is designed to evaluate Alaska's statewide potential for strategic and critical mineral resources. The SCM Assessment project is being implemented by the Alaska Division of Geological & Geophysical Surveys (DGGS), and involves obtaining new airborne-geophysical, geological, and geochemical data. For the geochemical part of the SCM Assessment project, thousands of geochemical-sample analyses and locations from historical U.S. Bureau of Mines (USBM), U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), Bureau of Land Management (BLM), DGGS, Alaska Territorial Department of Mines, Alaska Division of Mines and Minerals, and Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) reports are being compiled into digital format by DGGS. The objective is to update the State of Alaska's statewide digital geochemical database in order to more clearly identify areas with SCM potential. For this report, DGGS digitally compiled sample and analyses documentation, geochemical assays, and location information for more than 22,500 historical samples that were originally collected to investigate occurrences of strategic and critical elements throughout Alaska.

This data release provides descriptions of more than 60 mineral regions, mines, and mineral deposits within the United States and its territories that are reported to contain enrichments of cobalt (Co). To focus the scope of this data release, we report only mined deposits and exploration prospects with past production, or resource and reserve estimates of 1,000 metric tons or more of cobalt. Cobalt has diverse uses because of its properties, which include ferromagnetism, hardness, wear-resistance, low conductivity, and high melting point. The primary uses for cobalt are in rechargeable battery electrodes, and in superalloys used to make gas turbine engines. In 2017, the United States had a net import reliance as a percentage of apparent consumption of 72 percent for cobalt, and cobalt is considered a critical mineral. Cobalt mineralogy is diverse; it occurs in a variety of sulfide, arsenide, sulfarsenide, and oxyhydroxide minerals. In the United States, cobalt could be derived as a byproduct from mineral deposits that primarily produce other metals, including nickel, copper, zinc, and lead. The inclusion of a particular mineral deposit or prospect in this database is not meant to imply that it has economic potential. Rather, these entries were included to capture the characteristics of the deposits and prospects in the United States and its territories that have the largest cobalt resources. These deposits and prospects occur in Alaska, California, Idaho, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, North Carolina, New Mexico, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico and Tennessee. Several deposits and prospects were not included in this database, because they contain less than 1,000 metric tons of cobalt. A prime example is the Bunkerville project in Nevada (Ludington and others, 2006). The Stillwater deposit in Montana produced cobalt, but this was a byproduct, and to our knowledge, there are no published records of the amount of cobalt produced, or the amount of cobalt contained within the deposit. Analyses of rock chips from 47 outcrops of the Katahdin deposit in Maine indicates that the deposit locally contains approximately 0.1 percent cobalt (Miller, 1945), but a thorough analysis of the deposit is lacking. Mine La Motte in Missouri and the Stone Corral project in California were not included because of a lack of ore reserve information in publicly available references. However, we are aware that cobalt is present in the area and we welcome further information on these sites. The entries and descriptions in the database were derived from published papers, reports, data, and internet documents, published from 1908 to 2018, representing a variety of sources, including geologic and exploration studies described in State, Federal, and industry reports. Although an attempt was made to capture as many examples as possible, this dataset is a progress report that is part of an ongoing effort. The authors welcome additional published information in order to continually update and refine this dataset.

This data release provides descriptions of more than 60 mineral regions, mines, and mineral deposits within the United States and its territories that are reported to contain enrichments of cobalt (Co). To focus the scope of this data release, we report only mined deposits and exploration prospects with past production, or resource and reserve estimates of 1,000 metric tons or more of cobalt. Cobalt has diverse uses because of its properties, which include ferromagnetism, hardness, wear-resistance, low conductivity, and high melting point. The primary uses for cobalt are in rechargeable battery electrodes, and in superalloys used to make gas turbine engines. In 2017, the United States had a net import reliance as a percentage of apparent consumption of 72 percent for cobalt, and cobalt is considered a critical mineral. Cobalt mineralogy is diverse; it occurs in a variety of sulfide, arsenide, sulfarsenide, and oxyhydroxide minerals. In the United States, cobalt could be derived as a byproduct from mineral deposits that primarily produce other metals, including nickel, copper, zinc, and lead. The inclusion of a particular mineral deposit or prospect in this database is not meant to imply that it has economic potential. Rather, these entries were included to capture the characteristics of the deposits and prospects in the United States and its territories that have the largest cobalt resources. These deposits and prospects occur in Alaska, California, Idaho, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, North Carolina, New Mexico, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico and Tennessee. Several deposits and prospects were not included in this database, because they contain less than 1,000 metric tons of cobalt. A prime example is the Bunkerville project in Nevada (Ludington and others, 2006). The Stillwater deposit in Montana produced cobalt, but this was a byproduct, and to our knowledge, there are no published records of the amount of cobalt produced, or the amount of cobalt contained within the deposit. Analyses of rock chips from 47 outcrops of the Katahdin deposit in Maine indicates that the deposit locally contains approximately 0.1 percent cobalt (Miller, 1945), but a thorough analysis of the deposit is lacking. Mine La Motte in Missouri and the Stone Corral project in California were not included because of a lack of ore reserve information in publicly available references. However, we are aware that cobalt is present in the area and we welcome further information on these sites. The entries and descriptions in the database were derived from published papers, reports, data, and internet documents, published from 1908 to 2018, representing a variety of sources, including geologic and exploration studies described in State, Federal, and industry reports. Although an attempt was made to capture as many examples as possible, this dataset is a progress report that is part of an ongoing effort. The authors welcome additional published information in order to continually update and refine this dataset.

This report describes the results of geologic mapping and sample analysis from the Richardson district, east-central Alaska.

The State of Alaska's Strategic and Critical Minerals (SCM) Assessment project, a State-funded Capital Improvement Project (CIP), is designed to evaluate Alaska's statewide potential for strategic and critical mineral resources. The SCM Assessment project is being implemented by the Alaska Division of Geological & Geophysical Surveys (DGGS), and involves obtaining new airborne-geophysical, geological, and geochemical data. For the geochemical part of the SCM Assessment project, thousands of geochemical-sample analyses and locations from historical U.S. Bureau of Mines (USBM), U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), Bureau of Land Management (BLM), DGGS, Alaska Territorial Department of Mines, Alaska Division of Mines and Minerals, and Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) reports are being compiled into digital format by DGGS. The objective is to update the State of Alaska's statewide digital geochemical database in order to more clearly identify areas with SCM potential. For this report, DGGS digitally compiled sample and analyses documentation, geochemical assays, and location information for more than 4,400 historical samples that were were originally collected to investigate occurrences of strategic and critical elements throughout Alaska.

This data release provides descriptions and locations of 134 significant deposits in Alaska. Approximately 99 percent of past production and remaining identified resources of gold, silver, copper, lead, and zinc in the United States are accounted for by deposits that originally contained at least 2 metric tons (t) of gold, 85 t silver, 50,000 t copper, 30,000 t lead, and 50,000 t zinc. Deposits of this size comprise a very small fraction of the total number of mines, prospects, and occurrences for these metals in the United States. They are called significant deposits because they are few in number yet collectively represent almost the totality of domestic production and resources of these metals. The significant deposits database was first published by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) as part of the 1996 National Mineral Resource Assessment (NMRA), which was limited to these five metals. The database was intended to characterize known mineral resources for comparison with estimates of undiscovered resources provided by the NMRA. Data on location, deposit type, past production, and remaining reserves for 1,118 individual significant deposits comprised the original database. During the 20 years since the original database was published, there has been substantial new production and additions to resources at many of the deposits in the database and many new discoveries that meet the criteria for a significant deposit. New information on a few deposits has revealed that some of the deposits in the original database do not meet the criteria for significant deposits and these have been deleted. This data release is a revision of the Alaska portion of the original 1996 database, with updated production and resource data, improved locations, added data on land ownership, and addition of new discoveries. The Excel table provides locations for and information on significant deposits in Alaska. The geodatabase contains a single point layer which represents the locations of these deposits. The attributes of the point layer contain the same information as the Excel database. A detailed description of the original database and its interpretation was published as Long, Keith R., DeYoung, John H., Jr., and Ludington, Steve, 2000, Significant deposits of gold, silver, copper, lead, and zinc in the United States: Economic Geology, v. 95, p. 629-644 (more information available at https://pubs.er.usgs.gov/publication/70022329).

This data release provides descriptions and locations of 134 significant deposits in Alaska. Approximately 99 percent of past production and remaining identified resources of gold, silver, copper, lead, and zinc in the United States are accounted for by deposits that originally contained at least 2 metric tons (t) of gold, 85 t silver, 50,000 t copper, 30,000 t lead, and 50,000 t zinc. Deposits of this size comprise a very small fraction of the total number of mines, prospects, and occurrences for these metals in the United States. They are called significant deposits because they are few in number yet collectively represent almost the totality of domestic production and resources of these metals. The significant deposits database was first published by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) as part of the 1996 National Mineral Resource Assessment (NMRA), which was limited to these five metals. The database was intended to characterize known mineral resources for comparison with estimates of undiscovered resources provided by the NMRA. Data on location, deposit type, past production, and remaining reserves for 1,118 individual significant deposits comprised the original database. During the 20 years since the original database was published, there has been substantial new production and additions to resources at many of the deposits in the database and many new discoveries that meet the criteria for a significant deposit. New information on a few deposits has revealed that some of the deposits in the original database do not meet the criteria for significant deposits and these have been deleted. This data release is a revision of the Alaska portion of the original 1996 database, with updated production and resource data, improved locations, added data on land ownership, and addition of new discoveries. The Excel table provides locations for and information on significant deposits in Alaska. The geodatabase contains a single point layer which represents the locations of these deposits. The attributes of the point layer contain the same information as the Excel database. A detailed description of the original database and its interpretation was published as Long, Keith R., DeYoung, John H., Jr., and Ludington, Steve, 2000, Significant deposits of gold, silver, copper, lead, and zinc in the United States: Economic Geology, v. 95, p. 629-644 (more information available at https://pubs.er.usgs.gov/publication/70022329).