Bozshakol mine

The Bozshakol mine (, "Bozshakól mys ken orny") is a large copper mine located in northern Kazakhstan in North Kazakhstan Province. Bozshakol represents one of the largest copper deposits in Kazakhstan and largest single mine development in the Commonwealth of Independent States region by both scope and volume of production. It has estimated reserves of 1.17 billion tonnes of ore grading 0.36% copper with valuable by-products of gold and molybdenum.
General.
Bozshakol is a green-field project under development by KAZ Minerals. It is located in northern Kazakhstan, close to existing power, transportation and other infrastructure. The project is being developed as an open-pit mine with an onsite concentrator and a clay plant. The deposit has a mineral resource of 1,17 million tonnes at an average copper grade of 0.36% with 5,255 koz of gold and 57 kt of molybdenum as by-products.
The Bozshakol mine and concentrator will have a production life of over 40 years, with estimated annual output of 100 kt of copper cathode equivalent in the first 10 years of operations. Expected processing capacity: at the concentrator (construction under-way) – 25 million tons of ore per annum, clay plant (construction under-way) – 5 million tons of ore annually.
The project is expected to commence commissioning on Q4 2015 with pre-production mining in H2 2015.


Cheadle Coalfield

The Cheadle Coalfield is a coalfield in the United Kingdom. Centred on the town of Cheadle, Staffordshire and its outlying villages it lies to the east of Stoke-on-Trent and the much larger North Staffordshire Coalfield. The area has been mined for many years, with documentary evidence from Croxden Abbey citing coal mining in the 13th century.
Deep mining ceased in 1965 with the closure of Foxfield Colliery by the National Coal Board. Private adit mining and opencast mining ceased in 1994 with the exhaustion of economic reserves.
Geology.
The Cheadle Coalfield covers an area of about and lies to the East of Stoke on Trent and its larger neighbour, the North Staffordshire Coalfield.
The boundary of the coalfield in the west is the Village of Forsbrook, and nearby Callow Hill where a small fault marks the western boundary. The coalfield then underlies the villages of Dilhorne and Kingsley. Further east a major fault in the Churnet Valley throws the coal upwards. Over millions of years the upper seams in this area were washed away and the lower seams outcrop around Ipstones, Foxt and Alton. The coalfield's eastern boundary is the Millstone Grit and Limestone of the Pennines around Ipstones Edge.
Despite the coalfield being detached from its much larger neighbour, the North Staffordshire Coalfield, and developing from the latter in relative isolation, geological analysis by the National Coal Board in the mid 20th century correlated the coal seams of the two coalfields.
Around the coalfield the measures are covered with alluvium and marl with sizeable amounts of industrial sand, gravel and limestone predominating in certain areas. The Sherwood sandstone group is the predominant rock that occurs, and comprises up to 205m of conglomerates and sandstone with scattered siltstone and mudstone.
Within the area the Sandstone group has been subdivided into three lithostratigraphic formations, and quarrying for aggregates and minerals is an important industry around the coalfield area.
The coal is found at a shallow depth which made mining in the area relatively easy. As the coal outcrops around the Cheadle area, the seams that were heavily worked are the deeper seams in the North Staffs field, in many cases seams that were too deep to mine economically in North Staffordshire. However they were found in shallow depths around Cheadle.
History.
The coal measures around Cheadle were worked for a number of centuries and there is documentary evidence that the coal was worked before the 17th century. Dr Robert Plot, a Don from Oxford visited the area in the 1680s whilst surveying for a book he was writing on Staffordshire and encountered Coal Mining around Cheadle and Kingsley. George Barrow, a nineteenth Century geologist who did a survey of the Coalfield said that:
The industry, however, had its heyday during the 19th century. The 1880 edition of the Ordnance Survey plan of the area shows 66 coal mines, along with a number of Ironstone mines. Mining around Cheadle was done on a relatively small scale compared with the nearby Potteries and many of the miners knew the owners of the mines, as most were owned by local landowners.
In particular, the Whitehurst and Bamford families owned collieries around the Dilhorne area in a partnership. Their biggest concern was the Dilhorne Colliery, which was a large pit and incorporated the Old Engine Colliery, one of the first in Cheadle to have a Steam Engine. The Bowers family of Harewood Hall were local coalmasters for a number of years and originally owned the famous Woodhead Colliery.Robert Plant, a local character who was involved in many local mining ventures.
The industry gradually reduced in size in the early 20th century and by the late 1930s the only two deep mines left were Foxfield Colliery and New Haden Colliery. Both were fairly large mines for Cheadle and were very modern. Foxfield was heavily modernised during the 1930s when it was decided to close Parkhall Colliery and concentrate production at Foxfield, mainly due in part to the rail connection the colliery had to the Stoke - Derby railway line at Blythe Bridge. Extensive new surface facilities were built and, in what was unique for Cheadle, Concrete headgears were erected. New Haden Colliery, which had the early nickname of the "Klondyke" due to the thick Woodhead coal the pit mined was one of the first mines in Staffordshire to be electrified underground and, in addition to the colliery, there was a brickworks in production.
Nationalisation to the present day.
By the time of Nationalisation of the entire British Coal mining industry in 1947, Foxfield was the last deep mine in the Cheadle Coalfield. New Haden had closed in 1943 after heavy flooding underground rendered the mine uneconomic. The workforce was either transferred to Foxfield, or to Berry Hill Colliery in the Potteries.
Foxfield grew steadily under the ownership of the National Coal Board until it employed nearly 600 men by the mid-1950s. Output also peaked during this period at 210,813 tons in 1954. During this time the only Coal now Mined was The Big Dilhorne in the Dilhorne 19 and 20's Faces. The pit's surface buildings were again modernised and a new shower block for the miners was constructed, along with improvements in the Coal screens and washing facilities. However, output and manpower steadily decreased from the mid '50s peak and the colliery was finally closed in 1965. The majority of the miners were transferred to Florence Colliery in Longton, where a fully mechanised face in the Moss seam was prepared for the Cheadle miners. Some miners also transferred to Hem Heath Colliery in Trentham.
Foxfield was the last deep mine in the Cheadle Coalfield and had worked for 83 years, which was a record for a Cheadle pit. It had also stretched its boundaries further than any other pit in the coalfield and was indeed a worthy colliery and one that Cheadle should be very proud of. The last face that was worked at Foxfield was Dilhorne 21's,which lies under the Dilhorne Rocks area.
Ironically, and considering the scale of the coal industry in Staffordshire, the winding gear and surface buildings at Foxfield still exist to this day and are owned by the Foxfield Steam Railway who run heritage steam traction to the former colliery along the branch line from their base at Blythe Bridge.
After the end of deep mining, coal was mined in Cheadle right up until the mid-1990s by opencast mining methods. There were also a few small adit, or drift, mines which were situated where the coal outcropped.
Until the end of deep Coal Mining in Staffordshire during the 1990s, Cheadle was still very much a mining town with a lot of men working at Florence and Hem Heath Collieries and, regular Buses were laid on by British Coal to transport the Cheadle Miners to work in the Potteries Coalfield.
Seams of the Cheadle Coalfield.
Because the coalfield developed in isolation from the Potteries coalfield, the seam names are different from those in use in the Potteries. However, as stated earlier, the seams were correlated together in the 1950s by the analysis of marine bands. Below are the seams in the Cheadle Coalfield, the shallowest at the top. However, the shallow seams in the Potteries don't exist in Cheadle, having been washed away millions of years ago. The equivalent seam in the Potteries coalfield is shown in brackets, and the approximate thickness is shown in feet.
All the thicknesses are approximate.
The seams are generally named after where the coal outcropped, i.e., Woodhead, Dilhorne, Foxfield, Litley, etc.
Of all the coal, the Woodhead is probably the most famous in the coalfield and was the seam that was most sought after by the miners and the owners. The Dilhorne seam is famous as it was extensively worked by Foxfield Colliery right up to the closure of that pit. The Crabtree and the Third Grit were almost exclusively mined in the areas to the East of the Churnet Valley as all the other seams have long since eroded away.


Jesse Lewisohn

Jesse Lewisohn (8 July 1871 – 30 November 1918), was a businessman involved in copper trading with Lewisohn Brothers, and an owner of racehorses.
Biography.
He was born in 1872 to Leonard Lewisohn and he had the following siblings: Walter Lewisohn, Frederick Lewisohn, Oscar Lewisohn (1884–1917), Lillie A. Lewisohn, Alice Lewisohn, and Irene Lewisohn. In 1908 he was in a car with Lillian Russell and the car hit Sylvester T. Corning, the subsequent court case was settled by the New York Supreme Court.
He married Edna McCauley in Atlantic City, New Jersey. She had been a friend and companion of millionaire Diamond Jim Brady.
He died during the Spanish influenza outbreak on November 30, 1918.


Kodal mine

The Kodal mine is one of the largest titanium mines in Norway. The mine is located in Vestfold. The mine has reserves amounting to 70 million tonnes of ore grading 8% titanium.


Oruro, Bolivia

Oruro (Hispanicized spelling) or Uru Uru is a city in Bolivia with a population of 264,683 (2012 calculation), about halfway between La Paz and Sucre in the Altiplano, approximately above sea level.
It is Bolivia's fifth-largest city by population, after Santa Cruz de la Sierra, El Alto, La Paz, and Cochabamba. It is the capital of the Department of Oruro and the seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Oruro. Oruro has been subject to cycles of boom and bust owing to its dependence on the mining industry, notably tin, tungsten (wolfram), silver and copper.
History.
The city was founded on November 1, 1606, by Don Manuel Castro de Padilla. as a silver-mining center in the Urus region. At the time it was named Real Villa de San Felipe de Austria, after the Spanish monarch Philip III. It thrived for a while, but it was eventually abandoned as the silver mines became exhausted.
Oruro was reestablished by European Bolivians in the late nineteenth century as a tin mining center. It was named after the native tribe "Uru-Uru." For a time, the La Salvadora tin mine was the most important source of tin in the world. Gradually, as this resource became less plentiful, Oruro again went into a decline. Its economy is still based on the mining industry.
Economy.
While traditionally based upon mining, Oruro has become increasingly popular for tourism since the late 20th century. In the early 21st century, Oruro's economy grew through trade and economic connections with Chile, especially for exporting products to Pacific markets. It transported products by road through Chile to the Pacific port of Iquique to open new connections to external markets; it also used the rail connection through Uyuni to the port at Antofagasta for exports. Thanks to increased road building, Oruro has become important as a waystation on the overland route of goods from the Atlantic port of Santos, Brazil, through Puerto Suárez and Santa Cruz to the capital, La Paz.
The city is served by the Oruro Airport.
Culture and education.
Despite its economic decline, the city attracts numerous tourists to its Carnaval de Oruro, considered one of the great folkloric events in South America for its masked "diablada" and Anata.
The Oruru Carnival was discovered in 1559, when the Augustinian priest were on the land, the festival is in honor of the Virgin of Candlemas..
The Oruro Symphony Orchestra is based in the city. Aymara painter and printmaker Alejandro Mario Yllanes (1913–1960) was born here.
The Universidad Técnica de Oruro, noted for its engineering school, is located in Oruro.
Climate.
Oruro lies north of the salty lakes Uru Uru and Poopó. It is three hours (by bus) from La Paz. Located at an altitude of 3709 meters above sea level, Oruro is well known for its cold weather. Warmer temperatures generally take place during August, September and October, after the worst of the winter chills and before the summer rains. From May to early July, night time temperatures combined with cool wind can bring the temperature down to about -20 °C. Summers are warmer, and, although it is an arid area, it has considerable rainfall between November and March. The Köppen climate classification describes the climate as a cool subtropical highland climate, bordering on a cold semi-arid climate, abbreviated Cwb and Bsk. Due to the warm days and dry winters, snow is not a frequent occurrence as much as the bitter cold (especially at night); however, flurries can fall usually once every few years, most recently July 4, 2015. The other three most recent snowfalls were those of 13 June 2013, 1 September 2010 (with accumulation), as well as one in 2008.
Education.
Because of a high proportion of German-speaking residents, many of whom came as immigrants to work in the mines, the area once had a German school, "Deutsche Schule Oruro".


Josh Billings

Josh Billings was the pen name of 19th-century American humorist Henry Wheeler Shaw (April 21, 1818October 14, 1885). He was a famous humor writer and lecturer in the United States during the latter half of the 19th century. He is often compared to Mark Twain.
Biography.
Shaw was born in Lanesborough, Massachusetts on April 21, 1818. His father was Henry Shaw, who served in the United States House of Representatives from 1817–21, and his grandfather Samuel Shaw who also served in the U.S. Congress from 1808–1813. His uncle was John Savage, yet another Congressman.
Shaw attended Hamilton College, but was expelled in his second year for removing the clapper of the campus bell. He married Zipha E. Bradford in 1845.
Shaw worked as a farmer, coal miner, explorer, and auctioneer before he began making a living as a journalist and writer in Poughkeepsie, New York, in 1858. Under the pseudonym "Josh Billings" he wrote in an informal voice full of the slang of the day, with often eccentric phonetic spelling, dispensing wit and folksy common-sense wisdom. His books include "Farmers' Allminax", "Josh Billings' Sayings", "Everybody's Friend", "Choice Bits of American Wit" and "Josh Billings' Trump Kards".
He toured, giving lectures of his writings, which were very popular with the audiences of the day. He was also reputed to be the eponymous author of the "Uncle Ezek's Wisdom" column in the Century Magazine.
Billings died in Monterey, California, on October 14, 1885. Billings' death is described in Chapter 12 of John Steinbeck's fictional "Cannery Row". According to Steinbeck's homage, Billings died in the Hotel del Monte in Monterey after which his body was delivered for burial preparation by the local constable to the town's only doctor, who also doubled as an amateur mortician. The doctor, per his usual embalming protocol, dispensed of Billings' entrails by tossing them into the gulch behind his house before packing the torso with sawdust. The stomach, liver and intestines were found in the gulch the following morning by a dog whose master, a small boy, intended on using them for fish bait. Some local men, realizing the disgrace this could bring to Monterey—a town proud of its literary heritage—were able to stop the boy as he was preparing to row out to sea, retrieved the "tripas" and forced the doctor to give Billings' organs a proper burial befitting a great author.
Billings' daughter Grace Shaw Duff donated money for the building of Wilhenford Hospital in Augusta, Georgia, which opened in 1910. The name combined a syllable of her father's' name (Hen) with her husband's and son's.
Legacy and attributed quotations.
His saying, "In the whole history of the world there is but one thing that money can not buy... to wit the wag of a dog's tail" appears at the beginning of the Disney film "Lady and the Tramp".
The phrase, "Love is like measles... the later in life it occurs, the tougher it gets," was quoted as being Josh Billings' in Jan Karon's book, "A Light in the Window".
While the Squeaky Wheel analysis was used in different forms before Billings, his poem, "The Kicker" brought the idiom into common usage of American language. The term "kicker" at the time in the 1800s was another term for a complainer. The poem is:
"Consider the postage stamp, son. It secures success through its ability to stick to one thing till it gets there."
"Solitude is a good place to visit, but a poor place to stay."
"I honestly believe it iz better tew know nothing than tew know what ain't so." Another variation: "It is better to know less than to know so much that ain't so."
Hong Kong movie "Revenge: A Love Story" ends with his quote "There is no revenge so complete as forgiveness."
"The old miser who has accumulated his millions, and sits down on them afterwards, reminds me of a fly that has fallen into a barrel of molasses"


Congress Mine

The Congress Mine is a gold mine located at the ghost town of Congress, Arizona on the southeastern slope of the Date Creek Mountains, approximately 18 miles north-northeast of Wickenburg, Arizona at an elevation of about 3,000 feet (Lat. 34.216 - Long. -122.841). The nearest community, four miles away, is modern Congress, formerly known as Congress Jct railroad station or Martinez Post Office. The Congress Mine produced substantial quantities of gold and was considered one of the most productive gold mines in Arizona.
The gold found in the mine was primarily small veins embedded in white quartz with inclusions of iron pyrite (fool's gold), iron, and sulfur. The Congress vein was considered a peculiar formation, characterized as "a dike of green stone trap." The ore ran through this dike and the dike was found throughout the entire geographical ledge. The most valuable ore-bearing rocks could be found lodged on or near a foot wall in the ledge usually in drifts 12 to 15 feet high. The vein had a dip of 22 degrees and was usually about 15 feet wide. The vein was accessed by shafts dug (often quite deep) into the areas around the ledge.
History.
Following the placer gold rush to the nearby Weaver district in 1863-4, prospectors began scouring the surrounding hills for gold lodes. In the 1860s miners organized the Date Creek Mining District (later renamed the Martinez district) after discovering gold in the Date Creek Mountains. One of the early prospectors was Dennis May, who would later discover the Congress Mine, but not until twenty years of sporadic, small scale operations in the immediate area. According to the Martinez Mining District records held by the Sharlot Hall Museum, Prescott, May first co-located a claim on the "Date Creek Lode" in 1870. By 1880, he was working what would become the Congress mine, staking with two prospector partners the Niagara claim June 26, 1880, followed by the adjacent Congress claim March 25, 1884. From Buffalo, New York and in Arizona since 1866, May was a typical single-blanket prospector. In the early 1880s he was able to sell some other claims through mine promoter Frank Murphy, and began a more thorough working of the Congress group of claims. Here he found his bonanza.
May, again through promoter Frank Murphy, sold the Congress group in 1887 to Joseph "Diamond Jo" Reynolds for $30,000. Properly capitalized as the Congress Gold Company, a stamp mill was built and the mine opened. In 1891, while visiting his mine with Frank Murphy, the colorful Diamond Jo Reynolds died. Reynolds, childless, willed a part ownership of the mine to Murphy, who shut it down while promoting and building the railroad from Ash Fork on the Santa Fe mainline (across northern Arizona) to Phoenix via Prescott and via a point near the Congress mine. In 1894, with the railroad nearing completion of construction, Murphy and the Reynolds estate sold the Congress gold mine to a group of Tombstone mine owners (Tombstone's silver boom was bust). Headed by E.B. Gage, formerly superintendent of the Grand Central in Tombstone, the company relocated its miners and mill men to open the Congress. Financing came from the Grand Central backers, principally N.K. Fairbank of Chicago and Charles D. Arms and partners of Youngstown, Ohio. As superintendent they hired William F Staunton, formerly of the Tombstone M&M Co., who expanded operations, expanded the mill to 40 stamps, introduced the cyanide process, and turned the Congress into territorial Arizona's biggest gold producer.
In 1900, the number 1 shaft had reached a depth of 2,700 feet and was the deepest shaft in the Arizona Territory. The shafts generally ran at an angle of 22-22.5 degrees to follow the vein. In 1900, the mine consisted of about 30 separate claims of which the principle producers were the Congress, the Niagara and the Why Not, and had by then produced more than $5,000,000 (in 1900 dollars) worth of gold. Around this time the monthly payroll of the mine was reported to have about 400 miners.
In May 1901 the Congress Mine was visited by then President William McKinley on a tour of the country. The tour was orchestrated by Arizona Territorial Governor Nathan Oakes Murphy and brother Frank M. Murphy, who had re-acquired an interest in the Congress Mine. The tour helped promote Murphy's new company, the Development Company of America (DCA), which was organized to buy and develop properties. Murphy's DCA acquired the Congress, but retained the management of E.B. Gage and W.F. Staunton, both of whom later became prominent in the DCA. A week before president McKinley's visit, Staunton had completed the second 40 stamp mill and expanded the roasting and cyanide works. The Congress became the DCA's steady dividend producer.
In 1902, miners struck over reduction of pay, and over the right to organize a miners' union. The Western Federation of Miners had entered the district, with rumors of violence (the company's water pump was later dynamited by persons unknown). The company introduced low paid miners from Mexico. The strike failed, but territorial legislation was passed for an eight-hour work day.
In 1902, a competing syndicate from New York acquired a claim to property adjacent to the Congress Mine which was earlier ignored by the engineers of the Congress Gold Company as being devoid of precious minerals. This turned out to be a big oversight and the Senate Mine was developed. This caused great anxiety to the stockholders of the Congress Gold Mining Company and they began to acquire adjoining claims and nearby land. This proved to be a successful strategy as other gold veins were discovered.
More gold was discovered in previously ignored areas near the Congress Mine in 1902. Four more ore bearing ledges were discovered near the main (Congress) shaft which by this time had reached a depth of 3,200 feet. These ledges followed the same general geology as the previously discovered ore deposits running at an angle near 22 degrees.
The gold-bearing ore became scarcer the deeper the miners went and work underground diminished while the tailings were reprocessed. The owners of the mine then decided to prospect within the existing shafts for new veins of gold-bearing rocks. In 1905 a new offshoot vein was discovered at a level of 2,050 feet in the number 5 shaft. A horizontal shaft was dug to follow this vein. By this time the Congress Shaft had reached a depth of 4,000 feet with a few of the other shafts passing the 3,000 foot level.
By 1906, with the discovery of new veins, the Congress Mine was again in full production. The ore near the 4,000 foot depth was reported to be richer than the veins at the lesser depths. At this time equipment included 12 hoists with steam engines ranging from 20 to 200 horsepower, a reduction plant with an 80 stamp mill, a new concentrating plant, a cyanide plant consisting of a roasting furnace and seven 90-ton leaching tanks and three 200-ton leaching tanks for non roasted ore.
In ensuring years, high-grade ores became harder to find and harder to get to and more work was done on the processing of tailings for the low-grade ores it contained. The Congress paid its last dividend in 1910 and company president Frank Murphy ordered the operation closed down. The Congress mine operated for the first three months of 1911 and then closed while the parent company which had concentrated on developing other properties, primarily at Tombstone (Tombstone Consolidated) and at Silver Bell copper district (Imperial Copper) ran into financial difficulties. The DCA, unable to pay its bonds, and its subsidiaries collapsed in 1911 with the Phelps Dodge and Guggenheims' ASARCO interests picking up the pieces. As the Congress played out, competing claims around it continued to be found and worked, though not to the same degree of success as the Congress Mine.
In 1912 the bankrupt Development Company of America (DCA) lost the Congress Mine but to the Frank M. Murphy interests. His attorney, T.G. Norris, began to sell off parts of the property including the rights to the mine dump and tailings, to other mining concerns. In 1913 the only activity at the mine was speculative, mostly centered on possible leases for reworking the tailings and dumps of discarded ore left over from the primary mining of the main shafts. It was reported that most of the machinery still stood at the site, looking as if it could start up again any time, "at the blowing of the whistle." The town of Congress, Arizona was "hanging on" but with the majority of the mining activity stilled, a good number of residents (either miners or those associated with mining businesses) began moving to more active areas. Much of the news concerning the Congress Mine by this time began to shift focus from, "What is to come," to, "What once was." A few hopeful reports were printed from time to time that the Congress Mine would be re-opened. Sadly for the people of Congress, Arizona, these reports were erroneous and the most common reports were details of the equipment being removed from the mine complex to be utilized elsewhere. Also by this time, the mine was most commonly called the "Old Congress Mine," to distinguish it from other mines with the same name, particularly the re-opened Congress Mine near Silverton, Colorado.
By 1914 the vast majority or reports concerning the Congress Mine centered on possible schemes to rework the tailings. No potential work within the mine itself was reported.
With Frank Murphy's death in 1917, any hope of reopening was gone. The estate sold the physical plant, mills, and mine railroad equipment shortly thereafter. As World War I progressed, references to the Old Congress Mine became almost non-existent and by the end of the war the only references to be found were in articles about news makers who were once associated with the Congress Mine. The heyday of one of the greatest gold mines in Arizona was over. A brief revival occurred with the rise of gold market values during the 1930s, when Frank Murphy's widow sold out her interest. The best history of the mine was published by family friend and former supt. Staunton in the Engineering & Mining Journal November 13, 1926.
Discovery and ownership.
Successful mines have many fathers while a borrasca is an orphan. The Congress is no different. In 1903, a man named Ben Bartlett recounted on his death bed that he had discovered the Congress in the early 1870s. Some later sources say that Bartlett abandoned the mine, some say May and partner Edward Gilbert paid Bartlett $150 for the claim. Dennis May died in Phoenix on October 17, 1907. In his 1907 obituary, a later partner reportedly said May had re-staked an abandoned claim that became the Congress. Be that as it may, Dennis May was the first person to energetically develop the prospect into a small mine. The scale of production was minimal; May used a simple arrastra to work a few tons of ore. Later, May bought a farm near Buffalo, New York, but returned to prospect the Arizona desert, while Bartlett later became a laborer in the Congress mine. Ben Bartlett died February, 1903.
Frank Morrill Murphy, a Prescott, Arizona mining promoter, acted as a broker for the sale of the Congress mine to Joseph "Diamond Joe" Reynolds of Chicago. In 1887, their Congress Gold Company built a ten stamp mill (later expanded to twenty stamp mill) and produced $600,000 over the next four years. Frank Murphy, brother of Arizona Territorial Secretary (1889–90) and Governor (1890–93, 1898–1902) Nathan Oakes Murphy, became a trusted friend of Joseph "Diamond Jo" Reynolds and was superintendent of the Congress mine after Mr. Reynolds purchased it. He was still the superintendent at the time of "Diamond Jo" Reynolds' death (he was at Mr. Reynolds' bedside at the mine when he died, and inherited a share of the property).
Joseph "Diamond Jo" Reynolds died of pneumonia at the age of 71 on February 21, 1891 in his tent at the Congress Mine in Arizona. After his death, his estate was valued at between $8 and $10 million, completely debt free. His widow, Eleanor Morton Reynolds, became one of the executors of Joseph "Diamond Jo" Reynolds' estate and after his death she sold the mine in 1894 (they had no children heirs).
Joseph "Diamond Jo" Reynolds had championed a railroad between Prescott and Phoenix, running through Congress, to reduce shipping costs to and from the mine. Immediately after his death, Frank Murphy concentrated on getting the railroad built and the Santa Fe, Prescott and Phoenix Railway reached Congress in 1894, then Phoenix in 1895.
A group from Tombstone took an option on the Congress in March 1894. They incorporated the Congress Gold Mining Company in 1895, and consummated the purchase of the mine from "Diamond Jo" Reynolds' estate. Since his death in 1891 the mine had been shut down. The principals in the new company when incorporated were C.D. Arms, Eliphalet Butler Gage, (a successful mine manager in Tombstone in the early days) as president, N.K. Fairbank, and Frank M. Murphy. The capital stock was valued at $1,000,000.
In 1900, it was reported that the Congress Mine had been sold again, this time to a syndicate headed by ex-Senator Warner Miller of New York for $3,000,000. This was later proven a false claim.
On April 5, 1901, the Congress Mine was sold to a syndicate headed by John William MacKay for $5,000,000. This was also false. Actually Frank Murphy and partners, Gage and partners, and others formed a holding company modeled after United States Steel Corporation. Called the Development Company of America, it acquired properties and developed them across the Southwest and northern Mexico. The DCA organized a subsidiary, the Congress Consolidated Mines Company, Limited, to acquire and manage its Congress holdings. Listed as the principal sellers were Frank M. Murphy, E.B. Gage and N.K. Fairbanks; not surprisingly, the buyers were Murphy, Gage, Fairbank et al. who made up the officers of the new corporation. At the time of the sale it was reported that the management would stay the same and that the former owners would retain some interest in the mine.
The Development Company of America with Frank Murphy as president, headquartered in New York City, also owned the Poland Mine Company, Imperial Copper Company (Silver Bell district west of Tucson), Tombstone Consolidated Mines Company of Tombstone, Arizona, vast timber lands in Chihuahua, the Christmas copper mines near Ray, a major smelter at SASCO to work the coppers ores of Silverbell/Imperial, and lesser properties. Under these subsidiaries were a number of mine railroads, mills, and undeveloped lands. At Congress they operated the mining railroad which ran 2 1/2 miles to the Congress Mine from Congress Junction, on Murphy and partner's Santa Fe, Prescott & Phoenix Railroad.
In 1912 the bankrupt Development Company of America sold the Imperial to a mining conglomerate headed up by the Guggenheim family; the Tombstone Con to the Phelps Dodge Corporation; and the Christmas, Congress, and other properties to the Murphy interests. After his death in 1917, his widow Ethel Meaney Murphy and the estate with the assistance of her attorney T.G. Norris divested themselves of the property by the mid-1930s.


Veliki Krivelj mine

The Veliki Krivelj mine is a large copper mine located in the east of Serbia in Bor District. Veliki Krivelj represents one of the largest copper reserve in Serbia and in the world having estimated reserves of 560.5 million tonnes of ore grading 0.33% copper.


Teiskoye mine

The Teiskoye mine is a large iron mine located in eastern Russia in Askizsky District, Khakassia. Teiskoye represents one of the largest iron ore reserves in Russia and in the world, having estimated reserves of 136.4 million tonnes of ore grading 29.9% iron metal.


Bessemer City mine

The Bessemer City mine is one of the largest lithium mines in the United States. The mine is located in eastern United States in North Carolina. The Bessemer City mine has reserves amounting to 62.3 million tonnes of lithium ore grading 0.67% lithium thus resulting 0.42 million tonnes of lithium.


Ceptura Coal Mine

Ceptura Coal Mine is an open-pit mining exploitation it is considered one of the largest in the country of Romania located in Ceptura, Prahova County with estimated coal reserves of 18 million tonnes.
The coal mine opened in 1954. The legal entity managing the Câmpulung mine is the Ploieşti National Coal Company, which was set up in 1957.


Ian Gould (geologist)

Ian Geoffrey Gould is a former Chancellor of the University of South Australia (2008–2015) and former Managing Director (Australia) of Rio Tinto Group. Gould is considered to be one of South Australia's most influential people.
Career.
Gould is a graduate of Sydney Technical High School and the University of Sydney. He holds a Bachelor of Science with Honours (Geology) conferred in 1967 and a PhD (Geology) conferred in 1975.
He worked as a geologist and mining professional for over 40 years, during which he held a number of diverse and senior positions in the Rio Tinto Group (formerly Conzinc RioTinto Australia) including Group Executive for Exploration and Group Executive Research & Development. In 2000, Gould retired from his executive career as Managing Director of the Adelaide-based Normandy Mining Group. He has since held a number of non-executive directorships within the resources sector, and received several accolades for his commitment to the resources industry. He was appointed Chancellor of the University of South Australia in July 2008.
He is a former chair of uranium mining company, Toro Energy. He resigned from Toro in April 2009 following his appointment as Chancellor at the university the previous year. The University of South Australia describes Gould as "a professional with long experience in governance and leadership and a comprehensive understanding of the nexus between education, innovation, the community and business."
In December 2015 Gould, retired from his position as Chancellor of the University of South Australia. He was replaced by Jim McDowell, chairman of ANSTO and former CEO of BAE Systems Australia. During his time as Chancellor, he also served as Convenor of the Universities Chancellors’ Council (UCC).
Gould supports experimentation and analysis in scientific endeavour through his "Ian Gould Experimental Science Grant". The grant is offered to Honours and PhD students who seek to undertake hands on research, including the collection and analysis their own data for publication.
Mining industry advocacy.
Gould is deeply committed to the advancement of the mining industry in South Australia and has worked to that end through leadership positions on several government advisory boards and committees. He chairs the South Australian Minerals & Petroleum Expert Group (SAMPEG) and the CSIRO Mineral Resources Sector Advisory Committee, has previously chaired the South Australian Resources Industry Development Board and is a former member of the Economic Development Board of South Australia. In 2007 he told Ian Henschke of the ABC: "It will be the greatest concentration of known uranium resources in the world, in South Australia. We have such a large proportion of the world's known resources in this state and such a high potential to find more ... It's a technicolour paradise of spots here, where uranium has been discovered." On the topic of mining in South Australia he told "The Advertiser" in 2011: "We are witnessing the mining industry growing into the major plank of a balanced, strong economy based on our unique geology – demonstrated by the world class Olympic Dam resources – our expertise and the support of government."
In April 2012, Gould described the political landscape for the mining industry in South Australia while using the analogy of a football club, with the resources sector as its star player. He stated that "In SA, the club; ie the Government (and the Opposition) have gotten behind the star and openly stated that they are pro mining, albeit conditionally on his good social and environmental behaviour. In Canberra, the Federal League does not always project such clear support and the Green subcommittee is invariably anti mining." During the same speech he spoke optimistically about the Olympic Dam mine expansion, suggesting that "The longer term challenge is to use the opportunity [presented by the Olympic Dam mine expansion] to build new industries, just as Broken Hill did in the last two centuries. These are questions the Economic Development Board is currently pondering."
On 4 April 2013, Gould said of his role and responsibilities as chair of the South Australian Minerals and Petroleum Expert Group (SAMPEG) that "Our aims are to encourage investment in South Australia and advise government fearlessly – we are not a government committee or industry association. I am pleased to say that our independent view is much in line with that expressed by the Premier."
Memberships.
Gould is a present and former member of numerous key government advisory bodies at state and federal levels. He was appointed as a member of the Resources Industry Development Board in 2001, chair of the CSIRO Minerals Sector Advisory Committee in 2005 and Chair of South Australian Minerals and Petroleum Experts Group (SAMPEG) in 2006. Gould became a fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (AATSE) in 2007.
Gould is chair of the St Andrew's Hospital board, vice president of the Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS) Central Operations and was a member of the South Australian National Parks and Wildlife Council (2006–2007). In 2014 he held a position on the South Australian Premier's Science and Research Council.
Honours.
The Sir Willis Connolly Medal "for excellence in communication in the technological sciences" was awarded to Gould in 2003 by the AusIMM and Barbarians. He is a past president and fellow of the AusIMM and was awarded the AusIMM's highest honour, the Institute Medal in 2007. Gould was appointed Chancellor of the University of South Australia in 2008. At the time of his appointment, Professor Peter Høj commented: "In this new appointment we will have a Chancellor with broad and comprehensive experience across the mining and technology sectors and someone with a thorough understanding of what is required of graduates in the working world and the role of research in fostering development. That combination is more than appropriate in a State gearing up for a mining, defence and environmental science boom."
Gould responded by complimenting the university on its achievements: "Institutes such as the Ian Wark Research Institute are a marvellous success story for SA. UniSA has developed a research community that is clearly dedicated to adding value to industry."
Gould was awarded an Australian Medal (AM) in the 2011 Queen's birthday honours "for service to the mining industry, particularly as a proponent of environmental management, to education as Chancellor of the University of South Australia, and to the community."


Woodsmith Mine Tunnel

The Woodsmith Mine Tunnel (also known as a Mineral Transport System [MTS]) is a long tunnel that will stretch between Woodsmith Mine at Sneatonthorpe near Whitby in North Yorkshire and the Wilton International complex on Teesside, England. The tunnel has been in development since 2016, but cutting of the tunnel bore did not start until April 2019, with an expected finish date of 2021. By the end of July 2020, over of tunnel had been dug.
When finished, the tunnel will be the longest tunnel in the United Kingdom and will also house the longest conveyor in the UK. The estimated cost of the tunnel in November 2018 was £1.1 billion.
Background.
York Potash Ltd put forward the idea of mining potash and polyhalite on the moors above Whitby in 2010. Originally, three options for moving the mineral out were considered; a pipeline, a tunnel or a railway. Whilst the intended end location is Wilton (for delivery to the Redcar Bulk Terminal [RBT]), the developers also considered the Ports of Hull and of Immingham to the south. However the geology south through the Yorkshire Wolds was prohibitive for tunnelling as the chalk bedrock carries aquifers that are important for the region and would also need extra access/ventilation shafts, create more overburden and be of a significant extra cost than a shorter tunnel to Teesside. A tunnel to Hull would stretch for and need an extra 62% of tunnelling effort, time and expense.
Transporting the product out via a railway line involved crossing the River Esk at Larpool Viaduct, and then along the Esk Valley Line via two reversals in Whitby to gain the route towards Middlesbrough.
A pipeline would have involved turning the potash and polyhalite into a slurry which would have required a more labour and technically enhanced process at both ends of the transport system. A pipeline would also be above ground and cause a lot of environmental damage.
Both the pipeline and rail options were dropped in favour of a tunnel with conveyors in it during the planning stages, and through various submissions, the accepted plan was approved in June 2015. The company, now Sirius Minerals, agreed to pay £130 million to the North York Moors National Park Authority to "protect and enhance the environment". This would be over the whole life of the project.
To avoid damaging aquifers across the route, the tunnel is designed to stay deep within the Redcar Mudstone Formation. The Redcar Mudstone Formation is less permeable to water and the route also avoids any former ironstone workings in the Redcar and Cleveland area.
The cost of the tunnel was estimated at £1.1 billion in November 2018, and when complete, the tunnel will be the longest that is wholly within the United Kingdom. The conveyor will be robust enough to transport between 10 and 20 million tonnes of polyhalite when the mine is in full production with the raw mineral being transported to Teesside for granulation and onward shipping.
Construction.
In July 2016, the UK Government awarded Sirius Minerals a Development Consent Order for the harbour facilities on Teesside. At that time, a different developer was shortlisted for the work on the tunnel which was also envisaged as needing five Tunnel Boring Machines (TBMs). This was later downgraded to three TBMs.
Whilst preparatory work was started in 2016, a ceremony to "break ground" at the Wilton site was held in June 2018 with Jake Berry, the MP for the Northern Powerhouse project. In February 2019, the first of three TBMs (was delivered to the Wilton site via Teesport. The first TBM, named "Stella Rose" after a naming competition with local schoolchildren, started boring in early April 2019. A spokesperson for Sirius Minerals commented on the tunnel stating that "we’re actually tunnelling in a rock that is relatively easy to cut, from a tunnelling point of view. It’s also relatively stable, and we’re not going through any cross measures; we’re not going from one geological horizon to another, which is where tunnels normally have more issues." By September 2019, progress had extended to of complete tunnelling with rails, connections and concrete interiors.
The tunnelling contract was split into three sections; "Drive 1" was from Wilton to Lockwood Beck, "Drive 2" was from Lockwood Beck southwards and "Drive 3" was from Woodsmith Mine to Lockwood Beck northwards. Initially, an Austrian company, Strabag, were awarded the first tunnelling contract for the section from Wilton to Lockwood Beck. This would involve of cut and cover, of conventional tunnelling and of using a TBM in a south easterly direction. In November 2018, it was revealed that Strabag had been awarded the contract for the other two sections (nominally per section on average), and so would be the sole contracting company for the tunnel project. The TBMs will process through the route tunnelling at the front of the machine, whilst the middle and rear sections add concrete lining to the tunnel walls.
The first TBM, "Stella Rose", weighs and is long. The concrete segments are in length and a special concreting plant has been built to supply the TBMs as they progress through the tunnel, lining the route with over 150,000 concrete segments.
Three ventilation shafts will be constructed: at Lady Cross Plantation, near Egton, at Lockwood Beck, and at Tocketts Lythe. Lady Cross Plantation is within the North York Moors National Park whilst the other two sites are outside the park and are located within Redcar and Cleveland. The access and ventilation shafts are planned to be in diameter.
The shaft at Tocketts Lythe will be smaller than the others as it is not envisaged to have a conveyor transfer. Lockwood Beck and Lady Cross plantation will be larger "caverns" to accommodate the crossover in conveyors and for the passing of maintenance trains. Lockwood Beck would also need a larger diameter shaft as it will be a setting off site for one of the TBMs.
By the end of July 2020, the length of tunnel that had been dug out had reached . Concrete segments to line the tunnel were produced in a special factory inside the Wilton International Complex, however, at least 3,000 segments needed to be imported due to the tunnel boring machine making greater progress than anticipated for. By early December 2020, had been tunneled, and the company was looking to start on building the shafts.
Route.
The tunnel will run in a north westerly direction from the Woodsmith Mine site, passing under the River Esk, the Esk Valley railway line, the A169 and then up across the Esk Valley to its first ventilation/access Point at Lady Cross Plantation. It then crosses moorland and runs alongside the A171 road for some distance crossing under it just south of Lockwood Beck reservoir where the second access point is. It then turns in a more north/north westerly direction through Tocketts Wood and under first the A173 road and then the A174 until it arrives at the Materials Handling Facility (MHF) at Wilton. After granulation, the finished product will be taken on another conveyor (this time above ground) to the export site at Redcar Bulk Terminal.
Sirius Minerals claim that the entire route does not travel under any housing, but it does come close to some barns.
Details.
The original plans detailed a tunnel with an internal diameter that was with a tunnel lining of . This was increased to a diameter of with a tunnel lining of . The overall diameter of the tunnel will be . This also increased the cost of the whole project (including sinking the mineshafts) from £3.6 billion to £4.2 billion. The increase in diameter has also led to a slower progress rate than before; the TBMs tunnelling would be reduced from covering to per day. The average depth of the tunnel will be as it makes its way north eastwards towards Wilton. The company stated that this will allow for minimal visual and environmental impact as well as avoiding any significant construction obstacles on the way.
The wide conveyor will transport the mineral at the rate of with a changeover between conveyors at the Lockwood Access Site. The Mineral Transport System (MTS) will consist of the longest underground conveyor in the world. The tunnel will also include an access railway for maintenance crews, an 11 kilovolt power system for the conveyor, fibre optic cables, a pumping main and a 66 kilovolt feeder cable to supply the mine site from Wilton. This is needed as there are no National Grid powers sources near to the mine site.
Planning documents assume the gauge of the railway to be , and the caverns where the crossovers are located will also be furnished with sidings. A train maintenance depot will be sited at the Wilton end of the tunnel.


Chamberlain Manganese Deposits

The Chamberlain Manganese Deposits are located in the north of the United States near Chamberlain, South Dakota. The Chamberlain Deposits represent one of the largest manganese reserves in the United States having estimated reserves of 2 billion tonnes of manganese ore grading 0.6% manganese metal. Although abundant, the grade is so low a concentration that recovery of manganese is not possible.


Sanheming mine

The Sanheming mine is a large iron mine located in Inner Mongolia in China. Sanheming represents an estimated reserve of 167 million tonnes of ore, grading 34.8% iron metal.


Tom Lewis (rugby union)

Tom Lewis (7 June 1904–31 May 1994) was a Welsh international number 8 who played club rugby for Cardiff and was capped three times for Wales. Lewis began his rugby career with his local team Pentyrch before being selected to play for first class team Cardiff. He played all his international games whilst with Cardiff and in the 1932/33 season he also captained his club team.
International rugby career.
Lewis was first selected to play for Wales in the 1926 Five Nations Championship when he faced England at the Cardiff Arms Park on the 16 January. Lewis was one of 8 new Welsh caps on the day, and the relative inexperienced team, under the captaincy of Rowe Harding, drew 3-3 with the England team. Lewis was dropped for the rest of the tournament, but was back in 1927, again against England, but this time at Twickenham. Wales lost the match 11-9, though the team played with only 14 men for most of the match, when Newports Dai Jones was injured in the first quarter of an hour. Lewis's last game was for Ossie Male's team against Scotland, again in the 1927 Five Nations Championship. Wales lost at home 5-0 and Lewis was never selected for any future games.
International matches played.
Wales


Robert Smillie

Robert Smillie (17 March 1857 – 16 February 1940) was a trade unionist and Labour Party politician in Great Britain, especially Scotland. He was a leader of the coal miners, and played a central role in moving support from the miners away from the Liberal Party to the Labour Party. He had a firm commitment to socialism as an ideal, and militancy as a tactic.
Early life.
Born in Belfast, the second son of John Smillie, a Scottish crofter. Until his adult years, he spelt his name as "Smellie"; including on his wedding certificate in 1878. During his early years, he was orphaned and brought up by his grandmother who taught him how to read and write. By the age of nine, he was working as an errand boy and by the age of eleven, he was working at a spinning mill. He was able to obtain some books by authors such as Charles Dickens, Robert Burns and William Shakespeare, but his education suffered as he had to provide income for the family.
By the age of fifteen, he had left Ireland for Glasgow, where he found employment at a brass foundry, but left for the Mines of Larkhall; and later became the Leader of British mineworkers. He was first a hand-pumper at the Sumerlee Colliery, which involved working twelve hours a day with no human contact. He married Ann Hamilton on 31 December 1878, and began to educate himself in the evenings; where he worked his way up through the ranks to become the colliery checkweighman.
Early career.
Smillie became secretary of the Larkhall Miners' Association in 1885 after presiding over a mass meeting, which ended in its formation and when the county federation was formed, he became president in 1893. He became the President of the Scottish Miners' Federation in 1894. Employers in a number of districts demanded wage reductions, resulting in strikes. Following a special conference of the Miners Federation of Great Britain, a ballot was taken, and the strike that followed lasted from June until October 1894. Controversy arose between Smillie and Chisholm Robertson in 1900 led to a debate at Glasgow Trades Council, which Smillie won. Strikes left the Scottish miners in a greatly-weakened position, who suffered further wage cuts in 1895 and 1896. In 1897, less than 20% of the workers were organised.
A founder member of the Scottish Labour Party in 1888 and of the Independent Labour Party in 1893, Smillie was a close associate of Keir Hardie during their early careers and remained friends until Hardie's death in 1915. He campaigned for Hardie in many of his election contests, including the first in 1888. Smillie stood for parliament on seven occasions between 1894 and 1910. Later, he could have had the nomination for winnable seats in Glasgow; but chose to remain with his work for the miners.
His early commitment to socialism was moderate, and Lib-Labs were predominant in the leadership, which clashed with the miners' political views. Nevertheless, Smillie's qualities of leadership brought him to the forefront of the miners' struggles, and with the growth of militancy amongst certain sections, opinion changed to his favour.
STUC.
In 1899, Smillie compelled the Scottish mineowners to set up a conciliation board after much trouble, and he played an active part in setting up the Scottish Trades Union Congress, which made him such an outstanding activist. At the first STUC meeting in 1897, he came second in the ballot for president, but at the first meeting of the committee he was appointed chairman. Eight out of eleven of the delegates were supporters of the ILP.
MFGB.
By 1908, he resolved that the Miners' Federation of Great Britain (MFGB) should affiliate to the Labour Party. By 1910, the group was the largest in organised labour. By 1912, he was elected vice-president of the MFGB and remained in the position until 1921. All the coalfields of Great Britain went on strike in 1912, and the Triple Alliance was set up. In 1915, Smillie became president of the Triple Alliance. He fought to keep the miners outside the provisions of the
Munitions Act. In 1918, he resigned from the position of president of the Scottish Miners Federation. He vigorously condemned conscription and was the president of the National Council Against Conscription when it was founded, in 1915.
Meanwhile, Smillie had been trying to gain more than political as well as industrial action. His first attempt was in 1894, when he stood at the by-election at Mid-Lanark, followed by Glasgow Camlachie in 1895 as the ILP, 1901 by-election in Lanarkshire, 1906 as a Labour Candidate for Paisley Cockersmouth and at Mid Lanark twice in 1910. All of the attempts were failures, but he eventually was elected in 1923 as the Member of Parliament for Morpeth, but refused office in the short-lived Labour government of 1924 due to his ill health. He sponsored young female member Jennie Lee and his grandson travelled with her in the Spanish civil war and died in a communist gaol there whilst only 19 years old.
From 1922 to 1928, Smillie again presided the Scottish Miners' Federation until he resigned due to ill health.
Death.
He died at 82, followed by his wife two years later. They were survived by seven sons and two daughters.


Ingulets mine

The Ingulets mine is a large iron mine located in central Ukraine in the Dnipropetrovsk Oblast. Ingulets represents one of the largest iron ore reserves in Ukraine and in the world having estimated reserves of 937 million tonnes of ore grading 63.5% iron metal.


Cyprus Amax Minerals

Cyprus Amax Minerals was a major US-based mining company formed in 1993 through the merger of AMAX with the Cyprus Minerals Company. It was one of the world's largest producers of Molybdenum and Lithium and was a leading producer of copper and coal. It also produced iron ore and gold. It was acquired by the Phelps Dodge Corporation in 1999.
Background.
In 1979 Cyprus Mines Corporation was acquired by Amoco Corporation. Amoco expanded Cyprus into a diversified worldwide mining company. Amoco spun off Cyprus Minerals Company in 1985.
In 1986, Cyprus acquired the Sierrita copper and molybdenum mine near Tucson, Arizona.
In July 1988, Cyprus Minerals bought the Inspiration mine and smelting complex in Miami, Arizona. With the expiry of an agreement to purchase electricity at a favorable rate from the Salt River Project, Cyprus Minerals installed an ISASMELT furnace in its copper smelter. This was the first large-scale installation of the ISASMELT process, which was developed jointly by Mount Isa Mines Limited and the Australian government's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation ("CSIRO").
AMAX Inc. (formerly the American Metal Company) was a mining company based in New York with interests in coal and gold. It was the result of the merger, in 1957, between the long-established American Metal Company and the Climax Molybdenum Company.
Merger.
In 1993, AMAX Inc. merged with the Cyprus Minerals Company to form Cyprus Amax Minerals Company. The merged entity was the world's leading producer of molybdenum and lithium, and a leading producer of copper and coal. The company had operations in 24 states and on six continents.
Acquisition and Later History.
In late 1999, Cyprus Amax Minerals was acquired by Phelps Dodge Corporation, which in turn was acquired by Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE: FCX) in 2007, forming the world's largest copper producer.


Gokhran

The State Administration for the Formation of the State Fund of Precious Metals and Precious Stones of the Russian Federation, storage, dispensing and use of precious metals and precious stones (Gokhran Russia) under the Ministry of Finance (), commonly known as Gokhran Russia (Гохран России) or Gokhran (Гохран) is a state institution under the Russian Ministry of Finance, responsible for the State Fund of Precious Metals and Precious Stones of the Russian Federation. It was created by Government Resolution №1378 (21 November 1996). It is responsible for the purchase, storage, sale, and use of precious metals, precious stones, jewellery, rocks, and minerals by the State Fund.
Diamond purchasing.
During the recent financial crisis, the Russian government bought $1 billion in uncut diamonds from the Russian diamond miner ALROSA, in order to support the Russian diamond mining industry while avoiding saturation in the global diamond market and thus further depression of diamond prices. The diamond mining industry is critical to the Yakutia economy.
Other holdings.
Gokhran also holds the Order of Victory medals awarded to Konstantin Rokossovsky and Michał Rola-Żymierski.


Gold mining in Alaska

Gold mining in Alaska, a state of the United States, has been a major industry and impetus for exploration and settlement since a few years after the United States acquired the territory in 1867 from the Russian Empire. Russian explorers discovered placer gold in the Kenai River in 1848, but no gold was produced. Gold mining started in 1870 from placers southeast of Juneau, Alaska.
Gold occurs and has been mined throughout Alaska; except in the vast swamps of the Yukon Flats, and along the North Slope between the Brooks Range and the Beaufort Sea. Areas near Fairbanks and Juneau, and Nome have produced most of Alaska's historical output and provide all current gold production . Nearly all of the large and many of the small placer-gold mines currently operating in the US are in Alaska. Seven modern large-scale hard-rock mines operated in Alaska ; five were gold-producing mines. There are also small-scale hard-rock gold-mining operations. In 2019 Alaska produced 539,390 troy ounces, 8.4% of the total national production, second only to Nevada (76%). This total was in steady decline from a peak of 1,022,987 ounces in 2013, which had been the highest since 1906. 2019 production was from five major mines: Fort Knox, Pogo, Kensington, Greens Creek and Dawson.
For 2018, gold worth $888,302,130 accounted for 28% of the mining wealth produced in Alaska. In comparison, zinc and lead mainly from the Red Dog mine, accounted for 66%; silver, mainly from the Greens Creek mine, accounted for 6.6%; and coal accounted for 1.1%. Alaska produced a total of 49.27 million troy ounces of gold from 1880 through the end of 2018.
Active mines.
The following are active gold-producing mines and advanced lode exploration or development projects.
200,263
Placer mining.
Placer mining continues throughout Alaska. Placer mine production during the 5 years to 2014 has averaged 74,360 ounces of gold or 8 percent of the total gold produced in Alaska annually. All of these operations are seasonal, none employ more than a few dozen people. Many are family operations with roots reaching back several generations. The 2015 estimate of 120 full-time-equivalent jobs attributed to placer gold mining as reported by the Mine Safety and Health Administration is underreported and is considered a minimum estimate.
Historical lode and placer gold mines.
Southeast Alaska.
Porcupine district.
Over of placer gold came from the Porcupine district near Haines. Porcupine Creek, about north of Haines, is the site of an 1898 gold discovery; the creek has been intermittently placer mined ever since. Outside of the Porcupine basin only a few other creeks – Glacier, Nugget and Cottonwood – produced significant gold. The area around Reid Inlet, in modern Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve, hosted several hard rock gold prospects, including the LeRoy mine, which exploited quartz veins for about 10,000 ounces of gold production. The district, which includes Skagway and Haines, is bordered to the north and east by Canada. To the west is the Pacific Ocean and the Chichagof District lies to the south. The Discovery Channel series Gold Rush Alaska takes place in this region.
Juneau district.
In 1880 a local inhabitant, Chief Kowee, revealed to prospectors Joe Juneau and Richard Harris the presence of gold in what is now named Gold Creek in Silver Bow Basin. The city of Juneau was founded there that year. The strike sparked the Juneau gold rush which resulted in the development of many placer and lode mines including the largest, in their time, gold mines in the world: the Treadwell complex of lode mines on Douglas Island (across a narrow sea channel from Juneau) and the AJ lode mine, in Juneau itself.
Over 7 million ounces of lode gold and of placer gold have been recovered from the Juneau district.
Admiralty district.
Most of the gold recovered from the Admiralty mining district (which consists of Admiralty Island) is a by product of silver and base metal mining. The Alaska Empire underground lode mine recovered gold from quartz veins in metamorphic rocks. Discovered and staked in the 1920s, production of about 20,000 tonnes of 0.25 ounce-per-ton gold ore occurred in the mid-1930s. The Funter Bay underground lode mine produced about 500 thousand tonnes of copper-nickel-cobalt ore, without gold, from a Mesozoic gabbro-norite pipe. No significant placer mining was done on Admiralty. About 500,000 ounces of gold, almost all from the currently operating Greens Creek lode silver mine, have been recovered from the Admiralty district.
Chichagof district.
Approximately 800,000 ounces of gold have come from the Chichagof district. Chichagof, Yakobi, Baranof and smaller islands comprise the district.
Numerous lode and placer prospects and mines exist in the district. Major production came from underground lode mines exploiting gold-in-quartz veins.
Apex-El Nido mine.
The Apex-El Nido produced perhaps 50,000 ounces of gold from a mile of underground workings exploiting polymetallic quartz veins.
Hirst-Chichagof mine.
From 1922 to 1933 the Hirst-Chichagof produced 133,000 ounces of gold and 33,000 ounces of silver from polymetallic quartz veins assaying nearly 1 ounce of gold per ton. There are over a mile of underground workings, reaching below the surface. Significant reserves remain, which have attracted exploration efforts in the 1980s and 1990s.
Chichagof mine.
The Chichagof mine opened in 1905 and by 1942 had yielded 660,000 ounces of gold and 195,000 ounces of silver from quartz veins assaying over 1 oz gold per ton. There were several miles of workings on 5 levels. Six shafts reached a maximum of below sea level.
Between 1981 and 1988 several thousand feet of new workings were dug, and engineering and environmental studies were done, but the project was abandoned.
Petersburg-Sumdum district.
15,000 ounces of gold from placers, came from the Petersburg-Sumdum district which consists of; Zarembo, Etolin, and Wrangell Islands, and the mainland between the Juneau and Ketchikan districts. Many small lode deposits were located in the late 1890s and early 1900s. The most significant lode producer was the Sumdum Chief, which was discovered in 1889 and operated until exhausted in 1903. 24,000 ounces of gold were extracted from two quartz veins averaging ore of about 0.39 ounces per ton of both gold and silver. The mine reached a depth of and had a ten-stamp mill. In Windham Bay, a cluster of mineral claim holdings were consolidated in the 1920s; the Jensen mine was the most productive of these, producing about 50 ounces of gold. Several aerial tramways, thousands of feet long, connected various adits and mills.
Ketchikan district.
Approximately 58,000 ounces of lode gold and 4000 ounces of placer gold have come from the Ketchikan district, consisting of Dall, Prince of Wales, Revillagigedo, and smaller islands, as well some mainland, in the southernmost-part of Alaska.
Numerous historical lode mines and prospects for base metals, uranium, rare earth elements (REE's), iron, and platinum group elements (PGE's), as well as gold exist in the Ketchikan district. Major gold production came from underground lode mines exploiting: gold-bearing quartz veins in metamorphic rocks (such as the Gold Standard, Sea Level, Dawson, Golden Fleece, and Goldstream mines); skarns (at the Jumbo and Kassan Peninsula copper-gold mines); zoned mafic-ultramafic plutons, as at the Salt Chuck silver-gold-copper-PGE mine; and VMS deposits such as Niblack.
A high-yielding mine in Ketchikan District is the Golden Fleece Mine, located about 0.2 mile north of the north end of James Lake on Prince of Wales Island, latitude: 55.152179, longitude: -132.056635. The mine was most active from 1901 to 1905.
Interior Alaska, north of the Yukon River.
Chandalar District.
The Chandalar district is the area around the upper drainage of the Chandalar River, includes some southern foothills of the Brooks Range, and extends to the crest of the Brooks Range. Discovery of placer gold in 1906 was quickly followed by lode discoveries. Most of the placer-producing creeks drain the area of lode mineralization. The district produced about 48,000 ounces of placer gold and 17,000 ounces of lode gold.
Little Squaw Creek.
Little Squaw Creek drains an area cut by many auriferous veins. Some of the placers in the basin are exceptionally rich. By 1916 most of the shallow placers were playing out so miners shifted their interest to the placer drift mines (underground operations). The most notable of these is the Little Squaw Bench, including the Mellow Bench. Approximately 29,000 ounces of gold were recovered averaging 1.0 oz/cubic yard of gold in the gravels with spikes of up to 4.6 oz/cubic yard. Some individual nuggets were over 10 ounces. In 2010, gold production resumed with mining of the placer deposits by the Gold Rich Mining Company.
Little Squaw and Mikado lodes.
In 1909 to 1915 development and underground gold mining occurred at the Little Squaw, with a few hundred feet of workings built and a few dozen ounces of gold recovered. The nearby Mikado mine enjoyed similar efforts around 1913. In the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s additional work was done. These later efforts probably recovered more than 10,000 ounces of gold.
Significant efforts resumed in 2006, and are ongoing, to explore the Little Squaw placer and lode deposits.
Koyukuk-Nolan district.
The district encompasses the upper Koyukuk River basin including the Alatna and Kanuti rivers and the village of Bettles. The district extends from the southern flank of the Brooks Range to the northern Ray Mountains, and is directly west of the Chandalar district. Much of the district is now in Gates of the Arctic National Park. Gold was discovered in placer deposits in the district in 1901. About 350,000 ounces of placer gold have been won from the area, perhaps 85% of it from near Wiseman. Mining continues today in the district.
Much of the district is underlain by bedded Paleozoic rocks, a schist belt extends along the southern foothills of the Brooks Range. Cretaceous plutons intrude metamorphic rocks in the southern part of the district. Pleistocene ice sheets from the Brooks Range and cirque glaciers in the Ray Mountains covered much of the higher elevations. Glaciers are now restricted to the highest cirques of the Brooks Range.
Nolan Creek.
Miners produced 235,000 ounces of gold from Nolan Creek between 1904 and 1999. Some of the placer gold is mined by underground methods in frozen gravels. A 42-troy ounce nugget, Alaska's twentieth-largest, came from Marys Bench on Nolan Creek. Placer mining activity continues, with a reserve of 214,760 ounces of gold reported in 2000.
Hammond River.
Mining occurred on the Hammond River, a tributary of the Koyukuk River, from about 1900 to at least 2000. Exact production is unknown, but is estimated at about 80,000 ounces.
A rich, deep channel was struck beneath the Hammond River in 1912, and during the following 4 years, over 48,000 oz gold were produced, including a 138.8-oz nugget. (Pringel, 1921; T.K. Bundtzen, written communication, 1999)
Much of the gold was coarse: the third (146 troy oz.), fourth (139 troy oz.), 14th (61 troy ounces), and 17th (55 troy ounces) largest gold nuggets in Alaska were found on the Hammond River between Discovery claim and Vermont Creek a distance of 4 miles.
Only the richest ground was possible to mine as the Hammond River was one of the most remote placer districts in North America until 1975 when the Dalton Highway for the Alaskan Pipeline project was completed.
Historically the Hammond River is one of the largest gold producers in the Koyukuk district. Gold was discovered on the Hammond River, just above the lower canyon mouth, about 2 miles upstream from the Koyukuk River. In the early years, attempts were made to mine the modern stream gravels. At the mouth of Swift Creek a wing dam was built to divert the river for mining, but numerous cobbles and small boulders made the venture unprofitable. Approximately 500 ounces was recovered with pick and shovels in Summer of 1902. Later, shafts sunk 66 feet to bedrock at the discovery site were reported to show the presence of gold in paying quantities. The majority of the gold production on the Hammond came out of the deep channel as early miners were unable to deal with the water and cobbles in the present river channel.
The Hammond River contains deep channel, bench, and modern stream placers.
Much of the Hammond River gold is of the coarse nugget variety. Several nuggets weighing from 45 to 59 oz were found in the early days. In 1914 a 138.8 oz nugget (fourth largest in Alaska) was found in a mud-filled crack on bedrock near Gold Bottom Gulch (Engineering and Mining Journal, 1915, p. 1021; T. Bundzten, personal communication, 1999).
In 1914, on No. 4 Above, Hammond River (Goldbottom Gulch), J. C. Kinney and partners picked up nuggets from bedrock valued at about $20,000; one nugget, the second largest ever found in Alaska, was worth $2600. The rest of the dump when sluiced yielded a little less than the value of the "pickings." (Engineering and Mining Journal, 1914, p. 1062 Vol. 98 No. 24. (Gold at $20.00 per ounce.)
Placers on Slisco bench, an ancient buried channel of Hammond River near Vermont Creek on the west side of the present Hammond River contain a measured resource of 31,099 oz gold with grades of up to 0.3 oz/cy. Inferred resources on the same bench range from 50,000 to 150,000 oz. (2002) . Other benches of Hammond River between Discovery Claim and Slisco Bench have similar potential but have not been systematically prospected with modern technology.
U.S. Department of Interior BLM-Alaska Technical Report 50
Mineral Investigations in the Koyukuk Mining
District, Northern Alaska
Maddren USGS Bulletin 532 1913
Hughes District.
The Hughes district includes the basin of the lower Koyukuk River (below the Kanuti). Much of the area is a swampy, lake-studded lowland, from which rises rounded hills to elevations of several thousand feet.
Placer mines in the Zane Hills on Bear Creek, a tributary of the Hogatza River, are the biggest source of gold from the district. Placer deposits clustered near the village of Hughes and Indian Mountain are the other significant source of placer gold from the district. The district has produced about 245,000 ounces, with traces of copper, lead, zinc, tin, silver and platinum.
Melozitna District.
On the northern side of the Yukon River, between the Melotizna and Ray rivers, most of the district is rolling ridges with highest elevations over , where now-gone Pleistocene cirque glaciers developed. Placer gold was discovered in 1907, but activity was sporadic and poorly recorded. About 10,000 ounces of gold, with significant by-product tin, was won from placer deposits by the 1960s.
Interior Alaska, south of the Yukon River.
Kaiyuh District.
Illinois Creek Mine.
The mine is located in the remote Kaiyuh Mountains of west-central Alaska about south of the Yukon River village of Galena. The Illinois Creek lode gold-silver mine exploited a shear-hosted gold deposit which was partly expressed as color anomalies visible from aircraft. Located on State of Alaska land, it was discovered in the 1980s. In February 1996 a feasibility study was completed, with the deposit estimated to contain about 350,000 ounces of gold and 2,500,000 ounces of silver. Construction began the next month, but was halted by winter conditions in November. By then, with the development uncompleted and six-million more than the total mine construction-and-operating budget of 26-million dollars already spent, USMX, the mining company that owned Illinois Creek, was millions of dollars in arrears on invoices and short on cash. New financing allowed construction to resume in 1997; the mine poured its first gold in June 1997. In 1998 the company entered bankruptcy. In 1999 the State of Alaska assumed control of the mine. A mine-to-reclaim arrangement between the state and a newly involved mining contractor resulted in the reclamation and closure of the mine by 2005. A bond is in place to provide environmental monitoring for 30 years.
Ruby-Poorman District.
The Ruby-Poorman District lies south of the Yukon River. The district produced nearly a half million ounces of gold, all from placer mines. The largest gold nugget ever found in Alaska (294.1 troy oz) was recovered from Swift Creek in 1998. The placers are mostly deeply buried, and most were originally worked with shafts and drifts. Dozens of creeks in the district were mined, many more bear gold prospects. Cassiterite, platinum, scheelite, allanite, and native bismuth have been recovered along with gold from placer mines in the district.
Hot Springs District.
This district, which produced about 576,000 ounces, includes placer mines at Manley and Eureka.
Rampart district.
Nearly 200,000 ounces of gold was recovered from placer mines in the district.
Circle district.
Over 1 million ounces of gold have been recovered from placer deposits in the Circle district. Uplands with thousands of feet of generally mild relief are underlain by a complex metamorphic terrane intruded by a broad range of igneous rocks. Many gold occurrences are known, but no gold lodes are identified. Placer mining has been reported for every year since 1894.
Eagle district.
This small district includes the village of Eagle on the Yukon River, and borders Canada. About 50,000 ounces of gold, all from placer deposits, has been recovered from the district since gold was discovered in 1895 on American Creek and the Seventy-mile River.
Tolovana-Livengood district.
Livengood is about northwest of Fairbanks on the Dalton Highway. In July, 1914 Jay Livengood and N.R. Hudson discovered gold on Livengood Creek. Hundreds of people arrived in the district the following winter. A post office existed at Livengood from 1915 to 1957. Only a few dozen people live at Livengood today, some only seasonally. A variety of creeks in the district were mined. Many gold lode occurrences are known and exploration continues for open pittable lode deposits. Over 500,000 ounces of gold have been recovered from placers in the district.
Early development and production was from relatively shallow pay in tributaries of Livengood Creek. By 1939, large, deeply buried (80 to 110 feet), thawed, bench placer deposits on the northwest limit of Livengood Creek valley were defined. The pay streak varied from 100 to wide and was at least long. Gold reserves of over 1 million ounces were defined by drilling prior to 1940. A dredge operated near the town of Livengood in 1940, 1946 and probably other years.
Alaska's 12th-largest (73 troy ounces) and 16th-largest (56 troy ounces) nuggets were found in the district, on Dome Creek.
Fairbanks district.
Placer mining began near Fairbanks in July 1902, after Felix Pedro (real name Felice Pedroni), an Italian immigrant and Tom Gilmore discovered gold in the hills north of the Tanana and Chena Rivers in 1901. The district was and is a major producer of gold from both placer and lode deposits: placers have produced over 8 million troy ounces (250 tonnes) of gold, lodes have yielded over 4 million ounces.
Goodpaster district.
Only a few thousand ounces of gold from placer mines, and a few hundred ounces from lode gold mines were produced from the Goodpaster district before the discovery of Pogo. The district is east of the Fairbanks and south of the Circle district.
Pogo mine.
The Pogo mine is located on a hillside above the Goodpaster River, about southeast of Fairbanks, Alaska. The deposit was discovered in 1995 by Sumitomo Metal Mining and Sumitomo Corporation on land owned by the State of Alaska. A private gravel access road and power line connects the mine to the Richardson Highway near Delta Junction. The mine is an underground operation that exploits two large (several meters thick) and high-grade gold-bearing quartz veins. Approximately half of the tailings are returned underground, the rest is interred in a dry stack tailings facility on the surface. The mine was developed, and originally operated, by Teck Cominco. Sumitomo Metal Mining (a non-operating partner and part-owner of the Pogo deposit since discovery) bought Teck's share of the mine in 2009. Sumitomo sold the mine to Northern Star Resources in 2018.
The mine was permitted in 2003 and the first gold ore bar was poured on February 12, 2006. 340 company employees and more than 200 contract employees were employed at the mine in 2018. The mine has estimated indicated and inferred mineral resources of 4.15 million ounces of gold at a grade of 14.7 g/t (JORC).
Fortymile district.
The 1886 discovery of gold on Franklin's Bar on the Fortymile River touched off Interior Alaska's first gold rush. The mining boom ushered in a wave of settlement that forever changed the place, not only for its new residents but for the Athabascan Indians who occupied this region long before them. The miners who prospected nearly every creek in the region eventually extracted more than a half-million ounces of gold from the Fortymile, including a 56.8 troy ounce nugget, Alaska's 15th-largest. Reports of starvation and lawlessness among the miners resulted in the Army sending troops to the Eagle area to provide law enforcement in 1899. Soldiers soon began work on a trail from Valdez to Eagle.
Gold was first discovered in the Chicken Creek drainage in 1896, 10 years after the gold discovery on the Fortymile River. The F.E. Company, a subsidiary of the U.S. Smelting Refining & Mining Co., acquired most of the claims during the 1940s and dredged of the creek from 1959 to 1967. Since then, several family operations have mined on the creek. It is estimated that over 100,000 ounces of gold has been produced from the Chicken Creek drainage.
The beginning of the end of the Fortymile Gold Rush came in August 1896 when George Carmack reported the first gold strike along the Klondike River in Canada. Within a few years the once-booming towns in the Fortymile region were abandoned and forgotten. Some of the original Fortymile miners returned to the area after the Klondike Gold Rush passed. From 1887 to 1890 the Upper Yukon region was the richest and most productive mining area in the region. During those three years the area produced 1,200,000 ounces of gold, accounting for 5 percent of Alaska's total gold production.
Chisana-White River district.
Gold production from this area is balanced between 78,000 ounces of placer and 66,000 ounces of lode gold. Directly south of the Fortymile district, the Chisana district includes headwaters of the Nabesna and White rivers, and tributaries of the Tanana River; it includes parts of the Wrangell Mountains and the Alaska Range. Difficulties of location, lack of water, and small deposit size limited placer activity.
The Nabesna underground lode mine produced gold-copper-silver ore between 1930 and WWII.
Kantishna district.
The Kantishna Gold Rush began soon after "The Nome Nugget" printed the headline “FOUND HIGH GRADE GOLD” on September 9, 1903. Located on the north flanks of Denali (Mount McKinley), the District was a hard place to operate a mine. Nevertheless, some of the largest gold nuggets found in Alaska have been found in the area, including the 9th largest (92 troy ounces). 92,000 ounces of placer gold and 8000 ounces of gold from lode mines has come from the district. Today, the district is located within Denali National Park and Preserve.
Southwestern Alaska.
Kuskokwim Gold Belt.
The Kuskokwim Gold Belt (KGB, also known as the Kuskokwim Mineral Belt) is a broad loosely geologically and geographically defined swath of country arcing for approximately across southwest Alaska. It lies northwest of the Alaska Range and is roughly centered on the Kuskokwim River basin. Geologically it is dominated by flysch of Cretaceous-age Kuskokwim Group sediments and a variety of igneous rocks. It also includes a variety of exotic terranes. In 1913, Alfred H. Brooks described it as, "a more or less broken belt of gold-bearing rocks which stretches northeastward from Goodnews Bay parallel to the lower course of the Kuskokwim, toward the Iditarod District, and a number of streams traversing this belt carry auriferous gravels." The KGB lies mostly within the southwestern part of the Tintina Gold Province or "Golden Arch" which lies roughly between the Denali-Farewell and Kaltag-Tintina fault systems and arcs up from southwest Alaska, through central Alaska, and down across the Yukon Territory to British Columbia.
The KGB includes all or parts of the historic Aniak/Tuluksak, Anvik, Bethel, Goodnews Bay, Iditarod-Flat, Innoko, Marshall, McGrath, Ruby, and Tolstoi mining districts, as well as newly realized gold-rich areas. Over 3.2 million ounces of gold have been recovered from the belt.
The first mineral discovery by the Russians in Alaska (a cinnabar-stibnite deposit) occurred in the Aniak district in 1838. Pay gold was found in 1901 on tributaries of the Kuskokwim River in the Aniak district.
Marshall-Anvik District.
The Marshall and Anvik districts produced about and minor amounts of platinum, mainly from Wilson Creek.
The district has the Bering Sea to the west, the Yukon River to the south, and the Iditarod and Kaiyuh districts to the east.
Aniak District.
About 220,000 ounces of gold produced, mainly from the Tuluksuk River (where the town of Nyac is located) and Crooked Creek basins and with lesser production from Wattamuse and other creeks scattered around the district. Mining continues at present, but reserves are not known. Cinnabar (mercury sulfide) occurs in many of the placer mines in this district, most notably at Cinnabar Creek.
Donlin Creek.
Placer mining began on benches and tributaries on the east side of Crooked Creek and its tributary Donlin Creek in 1910; a family-scale placer-mining operation continues today. Granitic dike swarms cutting the shales and sandstones of the Kuskokwim Group rocks in the hills east of upper Crooked Creek were recognized by USGS geologists in 1915 as the probable source of the placer gold.
In the 1970s Calista Corporation, an Alaska Native Corporation, as part of its land grant under ANSCA selected the land east of Crooked Creek, based on its mineral potential. In 1986 modern hardrock exploration of the Donlin area began with WestGold's efforts, which were abandoned after two years, due not to the lack of gold, but to the refractory (technically difficult to extract from the rock) nature of the gold. PlacerDome signed a lease with Calista and began exploration at Donlin in 1995. That effort continues today, having evolved to a 50:50 partnership between Barrick Gold and NovaGold Resources, in cooperation with Calista, the landowner. Over 150 million dollars have been expended on exploration, engineering, and environmental studies.
If eventually exploited, the mine will be an open pit several miles wide. Latest estimates (April 2009) report that Donlin contains 29.3 million ounces of proven and probable gold reserves (calculated at a gold price of $750) and an additional 10 million ounces of gold resource. The gold occurs within the crystal lattice of arsenopyrite associated with other metal sulfides in veins, veinlets, and disseminations mainly in the felsic dikes, but also in less common altered mafic dikes and in the sediments.
Iditarod District.
The Iditarod district lies between the lower Yukon and Kuskokwim Rivers: the Aniak district abuts it to the south. A gold rush followed the discovery of gold on Otter Creek in 1909. Over 1.5 million ounces of placer gold and a few thousand ounces of lode gold have been recovered from the Iditarod area, making it one of the more important gold-mining districts in Alaska. Much of the gold-producing ground in the district was consolidated by the Morgan-Guggenheim consortium.
Tolstoi District.
The drainage basin of Tolstoi Creek, a north-flowing tributary of the Dishna, roughly defines the district. The district lies between the Iditarod and Innoko districts. Placer gold and platinum were discovered by drifting in frozen gravels 35 feet deep on Boob Creek in the winter of 1915–1916. A gold rush occurred in the district the following winter. Historic production of 11,000 ounces of gold, as well as some byproduct platinum, is recorded for the district.
Innoko District.
The Aniak district lies to the south, the Tolstoi district to the west. Almost 3/4 million ounces of placer gold has been won from Innoko River and its tributaries in the district. Lode gold production of 150 ounces is also recorded. Cripple, Colorado, Yankee, Games, Ophir, and Little Creeks had prominent placer mines: a third of the districts production came from Ganes Creek. Gold-bearing porphyritic intrusive rocks adjacent to the Ganes Creek and Colorado Creek placers are similar in composition and age to the dike swarms at 29-million ounce Donlin Creek.
Ganes Creek.
The property is located approximately 40 km west of McGrath, and 440 km northwest of Anchorage. Ganes is famous for producing spectacular gold nuggets including the 5th (122 troy ounces) and 13th-largest (62.5 troy ounce) in Alaska. The presence of cobble-size quartz with sulfide boxwork and coarse gold suggest that the placer gold is primary, originating from bedrock sources. Historical production figures from Ganes Creek are in excess of 250,000 oz. gold; an additional estimated resource of 736,000 oz. of placer gold exists on patented claims.
McGrath-McKinley district.
Almost 200,000 ounces of lode gold and over 130,000 ounces of placer gold have come from the district. The district lies on the northeast side of the Aniak district.
Nixon Fork mine.
The Nixon Fork mine was an underground lode gold-copper mine located northeast of McGrath, Alaska. Placer gold was discovered nearby in 1917, by 1918 hardrock mining was underway, and continued intermittently until 1964. Ore consists of shoots of massive sulfides and native gold found with skarns along the contact of sedimentary rocks and the Mystery Creek quartz monzonite stock. The mine was reopened by Nevada Goldfields, Inc. in 1995 and operated until 1999. In 2005 resource and exploration development resumed. Gold production occurred in 2006 and 2007, and again from 2011 to 2013. Production has totaled 187,000 ounces of gold, 2,190,000 pounds of copper, and at least 11,000 ounces of silver.
Goodnews Bay District.
The district is in extreme southwestern Alaska, and borders the Bering Sea. About 600,000 ounces of platinum (plus some iridium, osmium, ruthenium, palladium, and rhenium) and 27,000 ounces of gold were won from placer deposits in the Salmon River from 1934 to 1976. Present reserves are unknown, but are the subject of ongoing exploration. The source of the platinum-group elements appears to be in the Red Mountain and Susie Mountain ultramafic rocks. Extensive geochemical and geophysical surveys during the past several years have identified areas with as much as 0.1 ounce per ton platinum in the soils, but no reserve has been demonstrated.
Seward Peninsula.
Surveyors belonging to the 1865 Count Bendeleben expedition exploring a route across Siberia, the Bering Sea, and Alaska for a communications cable reported gold in the Fish River area of the Seward Peninsula. But it was not until the 1898 $1500-to-the-pan strike on Anvil Creek that gold-seekers came to the region.
Nome (Cape Nome) district.
Placer gold deposits on Anvil Creek and on the Snake River, a few miles from the future site of Nome, were discovered in 1898 by Jafet Lindeberg, Erik Lindblom and John Brynteson, the "Three Lucky Swedes". Word of the strike caused a major gold rush to Nome in the spring of 1899. Over 3.6 million ounces of gold have been recovered from the Nome district, almost all of it from placer deposits. The Rock Creek mine, owned by Bering Straits Native Corporation, was constructed in 2007 by NovaGold Resources. The mine began producing gold in September 2008, but permanently ceased in November 2008 due to difficulties with the ore crushing and grinding circuit. It is now in closure and reclamation mode.
Council-Solomon District.
Over a million ounces of gold are reported recovered from the district.
Fairhaven Inmachuk District.
The Fairhaven-Inmachuk district lies north of the Solomon District and extends north to Kotzebue Sound of the Chukchi Sea. The district (including Candle) produced about 600,000 ounces of gold with minor amounts of chromium, copper, lead, platinum, bismuth, tungsten, mercury, molybdenum, silver, and rare-earth elements.
Kougarok district.
The district is the central part of the Seward Peninsula, draining into the Imruck Basin. Gold was discovered in 1900 and production from placer mines continues to this day. 177,000 ounces of gold have been recovered from the Kougarok district.
Koyuk district.
84,000 ounces of placer gold came from the district, the southeastern part of the Seward Peninsula. Major producers were; the Ungalik River and its tributary, Bonanza Creek, which produced significant by-product tin, and Dime Creek, which also produced significant platinum. The district encompasses the basins of the Koyuk, Inglutalik, Ungalik, and Shaktoolik Rivers, all draining into northeastern Norton Sound.
Port Clarence district.
Mainly a tin district, the westernmost Seward Peninsula, 42,000 ounces of placer gold have been recovered, much of it as a by-product of tin mining.
Southcentral Alaska.
Resurrection Creek.
Resurrection Creek was the site of Alaska's first gold rush in the late 1890s, and placer mining continues today. The Resurrection Creek watershed drains on the north side of the Kenai Peninsula, and the community of Hope, Alaska is located at the mouth of Resurrection Creek. Charles Miller located the first claim on Resurrection Creek; then leased it to others for working. By 1893, about a dozen miners were working claims on Resurrection Creek. In
1894, more claims were established on Resurrection Creek.
Valdez Creek.
Gold was discovered near Valdez Creek on August 15, 1903. Valdez Creek, a tributary of the Susitna River, is located in central Alaska northeast of milepost 81 on the Denali Highway. A 52-troy ounce nugget (Alaska's 18th-largest) came from Lucky Gulch, a tributary of Valdez Creek. Cambior's Valdez Creek Mine recovered over 75,000 ounces of gold annually, making it the largest placer
operation in North America in 1992. Produced 459,162 ounces of gold from 1984 to 1995. Substantial reserves remain upstream of the active mine. The mine has been shut down and the site reclaimed, but other small-scale placer and lode deposits remain nearby.
Chulitna-Yentna Mineral Belt.
The Chulitna-Yentna mineral belt extends northeastward for or more along the southern flank of the west-central Alaska Range. The belt shares tectonic or compositional features comparable with some well-known mineral belts of the western Cordillera, including the Juneau gold belt.
Chulitna District.
Golden Zone Mine.
Golden Zone Mine. (Copper, gold, silver, arsenic, zinc). Pipe-like body produced 1,581 ounces of gold, 8,617 ounces of silver, and 21 tons of copper. Recent work indicates reserves of the Pipe, Bunkhouse and Copper King deposits as 13.3 million tons grading 0.095 ounces per ton of gold.
Yentna Cache-Creek District.
Gold was discovered in the Yentna District (also known as the Cache Creek District) of the upper Susitna Valley in 1898, soon followed by claim staking. Placer mining was reported in the Cache Creek drainage of the Dutch Hills by 1906. Quaternary glaciofluvial deposits, alluvial deposits, and Tertiary conglomeratic white quartz-breccia units have been mined in the Dutch Hills. About 200,000 ounces (6.2 tonnes) of gold has been produced from these placer deposits.
Willow Creek Mining District.
Gold was first reported in what would become the Willow Creek Mining District (also known as the Independence Mine/Hatcher Pass District) by Robert Hatcher. Hatcher discovered and staked the first lode gold claim in the Willow Creek Valley in September 1906. Through 2006 the district produced 609,000 ounces of hard rock gold and 58,841 ounces of placer gold.
Northwestern Alaska.
Drainage basins emptying into Kotzebue Sound of the Bering Sea, including the Noatak River and Kobuk River, define the Kiana, Shungnak, Noatak, and Selawick districts. The Noatak district is now within the Noatak National Preserve, only tiny gold placer production was recorded from some tributaries near the Noatak headwaters. The Selawick district has one creek where gold was produced by a 2-man operation for ten years during the 1950s and 1960s.
Kobuk River district.
In 1898, placer and lode gold were discovered on several of the Kobuk River's tributaries. This gold strike (which by some accounts was false) attracted nearly 2,000 people to Alaska, though only 800 actually stayed to find gold. Although mining has continued to take place in this area, little gold has been discovered.
Kiana district.
Placer gold was discovered on Klery Creek in 1909. Almost all of the gold, over 40,000 ounces, from this area has come from tributaries of the Squirrel River. Mining has been nearly continuous in this area since discovery. Nephrite jade also occurs in this area.
Shungnak district.
All of the 15,000 ounces of gold recovered came from streams draining the Cosmos Hills, a low range along the Kobuk Valley. Gold was discovered on Dahl Creek in 1898, which was the major producer. Copper, chromium, cadmium, and silver, were also recovered with the gold.
Recreational gold mining in Alaska.
Recreational mining, i.e., small-scale prospecting and mining using gold pans, sluiceboxes, rockers, suction dredges, and metal detectors, is enjoying a resurgence in Alaska.
There are many commercial ventures that charge fees to recreational miners located on historically rich placer ground, some are road-accessible, many are in remote fly-in locations, most offer lodging and a complete suite of services. Some State and Federal lands in Alaska are open to recreational mining with specific regulations. Popular areas include; areas of Chugach National Forest, areas within Alaska State Parks such as Chugach State Park, Kenai State Parks, and Independence Mine State Historical Park, and along the Dalton Highway.
The Hatcher Pass Public Use Area is located approximately fifteen miles north of Palmer on the Little Susitna River. The area is open to a variety of recreational activities, including recreational mining. A fact sheet provides details on recreational mining within the Hatcher Pass Public Use Area.
Near Fairbanks, both the Pedro Creek area (about 15 miles north of Fairbanks and the site of the original Fairbanks gold discovery by Felix Pedro in 1902) and Nome Creek area within the White Mountains National Recreation Area (approximately 60 miles north of Fairbanks). Gold mining on Nome Creek began in 1900 and was followed by a gold rush.
The Petersville State Recreational Mining Area