68 • Marine Minerals: Exploring Our New Ocean Frontier 



Figure 2-9.— Potential IHard IVIineral Resources of tlie Alaskan EEZ 



500 



I I I L 



1000 Miles 

 I 



Sand and gravel ^T) 

 Placers (2) 



Massive sulfides ^j 



Gold and gravel have been mined from Alaskan v\/aters and the potential exists for locating other offshore placer deposits. 



SOURCES: Office of Tecfinology Assessment, 1987; U.S. Department of tfie Interior, "Symposium Proceedings— A National Program for ttie Assessment and Develop- 

 ment of ttie Mineral Resources of ttie United States Exclusive Economic Zone," U.S. Geological Survey Circular 929, 1983. 



placer deposits. ^^ Gold is found in the region and 

 has been mined from beaches on Kodiak Island and 

 Cook Inlet. Placer deposits may have formed on 

 the outer shelf but recovery may be difficult. Lower 

 Cook Inlet might be the best area of the Gulf to 

 prospect. 



''H.E. Clifton and G. Luepke, Heavy-Mineral Placer Deposits of 

 the Continental Margin of Alaska and the Pacific Coast States, in Ge- 

 ology and Resource Potential of the Continental Margin of Western 

 North America and Adjacent Ocean Basisn-Beaufort Sea to Baja, Cali- 

 fornia, American Association of Petroleum Geologists Memoir, ed., 

 D.W. Scholl, (in press). 



The shelf along the Aleutian Islands is a rela- 

 tively unfavorable prospective locale for finding eco- 

 nomic placer deposits. Sediment supply is limited, 

 and ore mineralization in the volcanic source rocks 

 is rare. Lode and placer gold deposits have been 

 found on the Alaska Peninsula, and gold placers 

 may be found off the south shore near former min- 

 ing areas. 



Platinum has been mined from alluvial placers 

 near Goodnews Bay on the Bering Sea. Anoma- 

 lous concentrations of platinum are also found on 



