Short Course Description:

This will be a 2-part virtual short course with a morning and afternoon session

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The development of Strategic and Critical minerals in the United States and closer to home, Alaska, has

long played a role in the nation’s mineral policy decisions. The development of new communication and

energy technologies for a green future and improved transportation sector has added to the list of

specialty or critical minerals with currently limited resource bases. These ‘green’ minerals are deemed

important to the world’s drive to reduce greenhouse gases from conventional power sources. This

short course is designed to introduce AMA Convention attendees to: 1) what strategic, critical, and

‘green’ minerals are; 2) where they occur; and 3) demonstrate the potential for new discoveries in the

49 th State. Their future role in Alaska’s mineral industry will be discussed and reviewed as well as

national policy with respect to mineral extraction.

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Course Leaders:
 

Thomas K. Bundtzen will provide an Introduction to the Short Course structure. He will then present a brief history of strategic mineral development in Alaska. His power point will summarize the exploitation of a number of strategic minerals during WWI, WWII, the Korean and Vietnam wars. Bundtzen will discuss the geological and mineral engineering research carried out by the U.S. Bureau of Mines, the U.S. Geological Survey, and Territorial Department of Mines in the search for strategic and critical minerals and compare commodities considered strategic in the early-to-mid 20th Century to those deemed important today.

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Dr. Douglas Kreiner is a researcher with the U.S. Geological Survey based in Anchorage. Dr. Kreiner participates in the Earth Mapping Resources Initiative (Earth MRI) program, a national strategic and critical minerals project aimed at improving the knowledge of the geological framework of the United States, which identifies areas that may have the potential to contain undiscovered critical mineral resources. Kreiner will describe a mineral systems model utilized to evaluate prospective regions containing critical mineral endowment. The mineral systems model provides a conceptual framework for relating critical mineral deposits to the geologic and tectonic settings they form in. Finally, Kreiner will describe the ‘GIS Prospectivity Analysis (GPA)’ for Critical Minerals in Alaska. GPA’s scoring system incorporates multiple data sets, including geology, geochemistry, mineral deposit summaries; e.g., the Alaska Resource Data Files or ARDF, and geophysical data that allows for the establishment of predictive models of the potential to discover Critical Minerals throughout Alaska. These predictive models form the basis for defining focus areas for critical minerals investigations carried out by DGGS and USGS across Alaska.

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Dr. Paul A. Metz, Professor of Geological Engineering at the University of Alaska-Fairbanks, will cover a variety of strategic minerals in stratiform base metal deposits of variable ages and their potential for development.

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James C. Barker is a well-known geologist associated with exploring Alaska’s strategic and critical mineral endowment for decades. Barker will discuss: 1) PGE potential of Goodnews Bay offshore areas; 2) titanium and other critical minerals in marine strandlines in western Alaska; 3) REE-Ge-W potential in Ray River basin of interior Alaska: 4) an REE-Sn-W-Zr Nb-Ta prospectus of the Bear Mtn area of Northern Alaska; and 5) chromite deposits along the Border Ranges Fault of South-Central Alaska. Jim will offer frank assessments about their potential for future economic development.

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Shane Lasley, Publisher of North of 60 Mining News, has written many informative articles related to critical and strategic mineral development with a focus on Alaska, and continues to keep his readers current on many of the marketing issues related to critical mineral commodities. Shane will provide the course with materials not covered by the other authors.
 

Attendance is FREE, but you must register to attend.  Use the Convention registration form to sign up.




 

Chaired By 

Ramona Monroe, Stoel Rives LLP 

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