What critical minerals are found in Alaska?
Alaska’s federal submerged lands contain cobalt-rich ferromanganese crusts: hard, layered deposits that form on the surfaces of seamounts, ridges, and other underwater features. These crusts accumulate valuable metals — including critical minerals — over millions of years. In Alaska, these metals are thought to include potentially large deposits of cobalt, nickel and rare-earth elements. Of the U.S. government’s 50 critical minerals, 49 are found in significant quantities in Alaska!
Nearshore Alaska is also rich in heavy mineral sands: i.e., deposits of sand which contain a high concentration of heavy minerals. Although gold, for example, is not a critical mineral, Alaska has a thriving offshore gold-mining industry in State of Alaska waters; and platinum and platinum-group elements were mined from 1936 to 1972 from sands along the coast of Alaska. Potential for tin and other heavy minerals are also associated with the gold-bearing sands. These sand deposits remain rich in these minerals and potentially extend into the federal OCS.
How we work
At BOEM’s Alaska Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Region, critical-minerals work is handled by a small team of geologists in our Resource Evaluation office. Supported by the Marine Minerals Program in BOEM’s Office of Strategic Resources, these scientists work to understand the location and quantities of these minerals on Alaska’s OCS; to assess their potential economic impacts; and to lay the groundwork for potential future development.
