Alaska Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Mineral Leasing RFI Areas

Type  Shapefile

Tags  BOEM, 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 resource Geoscientific, Planning & Cadastral

Content type ⇔ Downloadable Data
Export to FGDC CSDGM XML format as Resource Description No

Theme keywords BOEM, OCS, Critical Minerals, Marine Minerals, Alaska, RFI

Citation  ▼►

Title Alaska Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Mineral Leasing RFI Areas
Publication date 2026-01-26 00:00:00

Presentation formats digital map
FGDC geospatial presentation format vector digital data

Citation Contacts  ▼►

Responsible party - originator 
Organization's name BOEM Alaska Region Lease Staff

Resource Details  ▼►

Dataset languages ⇔ English (UNITED STATES)
Dataset character set utf8 - 8 bit UCS Transfer Format

Status completed
Spatial representation type vector

Processing environment Esri 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 longitude 180.000000
North latitude 81.328444
South latitude 48.352588
Extent contains the resource Yes

Temporal extent 
Beginning date 2025-09-26 00:00:00

Extent 
Geographic extent 
Bounding rectangle 
Extent type 
Extent used for searching
West longitude -180.0000
East longitude 180.0000
North latitude 81.328444
South latitude 48.352588

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 name Lease Staff
Organization's name BOEM Alaska Region
Contact's position Leasing and Plans

Contact information ▼►
Phone 
Voice (907) 334-5200
Address 
Type both
Delivery point 3801 Centerpoint Dr. Ste 500
City Anchorage
Administrative area AK
Postal code 99503
Country US
e-mail address AlaskaLeaseSales@boem.gov

Resource Maintenance  ▼►

Resource maintenance 
Update frequency as 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 
WKID 102006
XOrigin -13752200
YOrigin -8948200
XYScale 327482121.21482342
ZOrigin -100000
ZScale 10000
MOrigin -100000
MScale 10000
XYTolerance 0.001
ZTolerance 0.001
MTolerance 0.001
HighPrecision true
LatestWKID 3338
WKT PROJCS["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 name Alaska_OCS_Mineral_Leasing_RFI_Areas
Object type ⇔ composite
Object count ⇔ 6
ArcGIS Feature Class Properties ▼►
Feature class name Alaska_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 level dataset

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 value 259206.424749
Maximum value 52985209.1863
Units of measure US 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 value 104897.538062
Maximum value 21442439.1784
Units of measure Hectares

Metadata Details  ▼►

Metadata language ⇔ English (UNITED STATES)
Metadata character set utf8 - 8 bit UCS Transfer Format

Scope of the data described by the metadata dataset
Scope name ⇔ dataset

Last update ⇔ 2026-01-26 

ArcGIS metadata properties
Metadata format ArcGIS 1.0
Standard or profile used to edit metadata ISO19139

Last modified in ArcGIS for the item 2026-01-26 14:25:42

Automatic updates
Last update 2026-01-26 14:21:58

Metadata Contacts  ▼►

Metadata contact - point of contact 
Individual's name Lease Staff
Organization's name BOEM Alaska Region
Contact's position Leasing and Plans

Contact information ▼►
Phone 
Voice (907) 334-5200
Address 
Type both
Delivery point 3801 Centerpoint Dr. Ste 500
City Anchorage
Administrative area AK
Postal code 99503
Country US
e-mail address AlaskaLeaseSales@boem.gov

Metadata Maintenance  ▼►

Maintenance 
Update frequency as 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/