# Alaska Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Mineral Leasing RFI Areas

TypeShapefile

TagsBOEM, OCS, Critical Minerals, Marine Minerals, Alaska, RFI

### Summary

    To support public review, comment, and planning related to BOEM’s consideration of commercial leasing for OCS mineral development in Alaska.

### Description

    This dataset delineates five geographic areas identified in the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s (BOEM) 2026 Request for Information and Interest (RFI) for potential commercial leasing of OCS minerals offshore Alaska. The areas include Norton Sound Heavy Mineral Sands, Goodnews Bay Heavy Mineral Sands, Aleutian Arc, Canada Basin, and Gulf of Alaska Seamounts. These polygons are intended for cartographic and planning purposes only and do not represent legal boundaries.

### Credits

    Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM).
    United States Geological Survey (USGS).

### Use limitations

    https://www.usa.gov/publicdomain/label/1.0/

### Extent

West | -180.0000 | East | 180.0000
North | 81.328444 | South | 48.352588

### Scale Range

Maximum (zoomed in) | 1:5,000
Minimum (zoomed out) | 1:150,000,000

### Topics and Keywords ▼►

Themes or categories of the resourceGeoscientific, Planning & Cadastral
Content type ⇔Downloadable Data
  Export to FGDC CSDGM XML format as Resource DescriptionNo
Theme keywordsBOEM, OCS, Critical Minerals, Marine Minerals, Alaska, RFI

### Citation ▼►

TitleAlaska Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Mineral Leasing RFI Areas
Publication date2026-01-26 00:00:00
Presentation formatsdigital map
FGDC geospatial presentation formatvector digital data

### Citation Contacts ▼►

Responsible party - originator
  Organization's nameBOEM Alaska Region Lease Staff

### Resource Details ▼►

Dataset languages ⇔English (UNITED STATES)
Dataset character setutf8 - 8 bit UCS Transfer Format
Statuscompleted
Spatial representation typevector
Processing environmentEsri ArcGIS 13.3.0.52636
Credits

      Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM).
      United States Geological Survey (USGS).

ArcGIS item properties
  Name ⇔Alaska_OCS_Mineral_Leasing_RFI_Areas
  Size ⇔1.464

### Extents ▼►

Extent
  Description

        Geographic coordinates and temporal extent for BOEM's 2026 Request for Information and Interest (RFI) for Alaska OCS mineral leasing.

  Geographic extent
    Bounding rectangle
      West longitude-180.000000
      East longitude180.000000
      North latitude81.328444
      South latitude48.352588
      Extent contains the resourceYes
  Temporal extent
    Beginning date2025-09-26 00:00:00
Extent
  Geographic extent
    Bounding rectangle
      Extent type
      Extent used for searching
      West longitude-180.0000
      East longitude180.0000
      North latitude81.328444
      South latitude48.352588
Extent in the item's coordinate system
  westBL ⇔-2289811.361200
  eastBL ⇔1113043.879400
  southBL ⇔375741.569900
  northBL ⇔3384059.220300
  exTypeCode ⇔Yes

### Resource Points of Contact ▼►

Point of contact - point of contact
  Individual's nameLease Staff
  Organization's nameBOEM Alaska Region
  Contact's positionLeasing and Plans
    Contact information ▼►
      Phone
        Voice(907) 334-5200
      Address
        Typeboth
        Delivery point3801 Centerpoint Dr. Ste 500
        CityAnchorage
        Administrative areaAK
        Postal code99503
        CountryUS
        e-mail address AlaskaLeaseSales@boem.gov

### Resource Maintenance ▼►

Resource maintenance
  Update frequencyas needed

### Resource Constraints ▼►

Constraints
  Limitations of use

        https://www.usa.gov/publicdomain/label/1.0/

### Spatial Reference ▼►

ArcGIS coordinate system
  Type ⇔Projected
  Geographic coordinate reference ⇔GCS_North_American_1983
  Projection ⇔NAD_1983_Alaska_Albers
  Coordinate reference details ⇔
    ProjectedCoordinateSystem
      WKID102006
      XOrigin-13752200
      YOrigin-8948200
      XYScale327482121.21482342
      ZOrigin-100000
      ZScale10000
      MOrigin-100000
      MScale10000
      XYTolerance0.001
      ZTolerance0.001
      MTolerance0.001
      HighPrecisiontrue
      LatestWKID3338
      WKTPROJCS["NAD_1983_Alaska_Albers",GEOGCS["GCS_North_American_1983",DATUM["D_North_American_1983",SPHEROID["GRS_1980",6378137.0,298.257222101]],PRIMEM["Greenwich",0.0],UNIT["Degree",0.0174532925199433]],PROJECTION["Albers"],PARAMETER["False_Easting",0.0],PARAMETER["False_Northing",0.0],PARAMETER["Central_Meridian",-154.0],PARAMETER["Standard_Parallel_1",55.0],PARAMETER["Standard_Parallel_2",65.0],PARAMETER["Latitude_Of_Origin",50.0],UNIT["Meter",1.0],AUTHORITY["EPSG",3338]]
Reference system identifier
  Value ⇔3338
  Codespace ⇔EPSG
  Version ⇔6.12(9.3.0.0)

### Spatial Data Properties ▼►

Vector ▼►
  Level of topology for this dataset ⇔geometry only
  Geometric objects
    Feature class nameAlaska_OCS_Mineral_Leasing_RFI_Areas
    Object type ⇔composite
    Object count ⇔6
ArcGIS Feature Class Properties ▼►
  Feature class nameAlaska_OCS_Mineral_Leasing_RFI_Areas
    Feature type ⇔Simple
    Geometry type ⇔Polygon
    Has topology ⇔FALSE
    Feature count ⇔6
    Spatial index ⇔TRUE
    Linear referencing ⇔FALSE

### Data Quality ▼►

Scope of quality information ▼►
  Resource leveldataset

### Lineage ▼►

Process step ▼►
  Description

        The Alaska RFI Areas shapefile was compiled by BOEM to support the 2026 RFI for potential commercial leasing of OCS minerals offshore Alaska. The five areas were identified based on geological prospectivity, mineral resource potential, and strategic interest. Area selection was informed in part by USGS studies identifying regions of the Alaska OCS as prospective for critical minerals and heavy mineral sands, particularly along the Seward Peninsula and Bering Sea coast. Spatial boundaries were refined using BOEM’s cadastral framework (OPDs, lease blocks, aliquots). The dataset was digitized in Esri ArcGIS and projected to Albers Equal Area Conic for regional display. It is not intended for legal or engineering use.

### Distribution ▼►

Distribution format
  Name ⇔Shapefile
Transfer options
  Transfer size ⇔1.464

### Fields ▼►

Details for object Alaska_OCS_Mineral_Leasing_RFI_Areas ▼►
  Type ⇔Feature Class
  Row count ⇔6
  Definition

        Polygon features representing five Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) mineral leasing areas identified in BOEM’s 2026 Request for Information (RFI) for Alaska.

  Definition source

        Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM)

  Field Shape ▼►
    Alias ⇔Shape
    Data type ⇔Geometry
    Width ⇔0
    Precision ⇔0
    Scale ⇔0
    Field description

          Feature geometry.

    Description source

          Esri

    Description of values

          Coordinates defining the features.

  Field FID ▼►
    Alias ⇔FID
    Data type ⇔OID
    Width ⇔4
    Precision ⇔0
    Scale ⇔0
    Field description

          Internal feature number.

    Description source

          Esri

    Description of values

          Sequential unique whole numbers that are automatically generated.

  Field Shape_Area ▼►
    Alias ⇔Shape_Area
    Data type ⇔Double
    Width ⇔19
    Precision ⇔0
    Scale ⇔0
    Field description

          Area in internal units squared

    Description source

          Esri

    Description of values

          Positive real numbers that are automatically generated.

  Field Shape_Leng ▼►
    Alias ⇔Shape_Leng
    Data type ⇔Double
    Width ⇔19
    Precision ⇔0
    Scale ⇔0
    Field description

          Length in internal units.

    Description source

          Esri

  Field Area_Name ▼►
    Alias ⇔Area_Name
    Data type ⇔String
    Width ⇔45
    Precision ⇔0
    Scale ⇔0
    Field description

          Name of individual RFI Areas.

    Description source

          BOEM

  Field Acres_US ▼►
    Alias ⇔Acres_US
    Data type ⇔Double
    Width ⇔19
    Precision ⇔0
    Scale ⇔0
    Field description

          Area in US survey acres.  Measurements were conducted using UTM Zones.  The area of each feature overlapping a given NAD83 UTM Zone was calculated and them summed for the total feature area.

    Description source

          BOEM

    Range of values
      Minimum value259206.424749
      Maximum value52985209.1863
      Units of measureUS Survey Acres
  Field Hectares ▼►
    Alias ⇔Hectares
    Data type ⇔Double
    Width ⇔19
    Precision ⇔0
    Scale ⇔0
    Field description

          Area in hectares.  Measurements were conducted using UTM Zones.  The area of each feature overlapping a given NAD83 UTM Zone was calculated and them summed for the total feature area.

    Description source

          BOEM

    Range of values
      Minimum value104897.538062
      Maximum value21442439.1784
      Units of measureHectares

### Metadata Details ▼►

Metadata language ⇔English (UNITED STATES)
Metadata character setutf8 - 8 bit UCS Transfer Format
Scope of the data described by the metadatadataset
Scope name ⇔dataset
Last update ⇔2026-01-26
ArcGIS metadata properties
  Metadata formatArcGIS 1.0
  Standard or profile used to edit metadataISO19139
  Last modified in ArcGIS for the item2026-01-26 14:25:42
  Automatic updates
    Last update2026-01-26 14:21:58

### Metadata Contacts ▼►

Metadata contact - point of contact
  Individual's nameLease Staff
  Organization's nameBOEM Alaska Region
  Contact's positionLeasing and Plans
    Contact information ▼►
      Phone
        Voice(907) 334-5200
      Address
        Typeboth
        Delivery point3801 Centerpoint Dr. Ste 500
        CityAnchorage
        Administrative areaAK
        Postal code99503
        CountryUS
        e-mail address AlaskaLeaseSales@boem.gov

### Metadata Maintenance ▼►

Maintenance
  Update frequencyas needed

### Metadata Constraints ▼►

Constraints
  Limitations of use

        This dataset is provided for informational and cartographic purposes only. It does not represent legal boundaries and should not be used for navigation, engineering, or legal decision-making. BOEM makes no warranties regarding the accuracy or completeness of the data. Users are responsible for verifying the suitability of this data for their intended use.This dataset is in the public domain and may be freely used, distributed, or modified. Attribution to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) is appreciated. No warranty is expressed or implied. This dataset is not an official legal record of OCS boundaries and should not be used for legal or regulatory decision-making.https://www.usa.gov/publicdomain/label/1.0/