|
Mineral survey for Alaska grounded Funding for state airborne geophysical survey cut, old data may be reworked, Sleetmute survey released June 26 Patricia Jones Petroleum News Contributing Writer
Alaska’s state-funded airborne geophysical survey program ground to a halt this year, due to a lack of funding by the governor and the Alaska Legislature.
The Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys, a part of the Alaska Department of Natural Resources, typically receives about $500,000 a year to conduct airborne geophysical surveys and follow-up geological mapping, said Laurel Burns, mineral section chief at DGGS.
This year, though, no funding for the mineral data acquisition program was included in the governor’s budget. Legislators supportive of the mapping program initially added in $200,000, but that amount has been cut back to $100,000.
Even that spending is not certain until the end of August, Burns said, as the $100,000 is a reappropriation from existing projects.
“It’s not enough to fly a new survey, so we’re going to rework some of the old surveys,” she said. Reworking surveys Airborne geophysical maps released in the early 1990s, during the first few years of the state-funded program, did not include topographical features. Burns said that made it difficult to pinpoint target locations that were identified by the airborne geophysical surveys.
In addition to adding topographical features, the older survey data can be standardized and offered in more detailed grids, she said. Survey areas that will be reworked — provided funding becomes available later this year — include Nome, Circle, Nyac, Valdez Creek, Fairbanks and Richardson.
These areas were flown in the first two years of the airborne mapping program, which started in 1993. A total of $5 million has been spent on that DGGS mapping program, which covers more than 8,500 square miles of state land.
In recent years, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management has worked with DGGS to conduct similar surveys on about 4,000 square miles of federal-owned land in Alaska, spending about $1.6 million.
Together, that surveyed land amounts to about 2 percent of Alaska, said Dave Szumigala, a DGGS geologist. Selecting survey areas Areas that were being considered for this summer’s airborne mapping program included the Candle district, additional areas of the Delta River area, an area south of the Pogo deposit located between Richardson and Black Mountain, and additional areas in southwest Alaska, Burns said.
While legislators have input into the areas selected for mapping, DGGS typically provides a list of prospective targets. Consideration for the airborne mapping includes the following: areas that have potential for mineralization, local support for mapping and mining, an opportunity for mineral development to enhance a local economy and some sort of access to the area.
“We still have support from mining communities,” Burns said. “They keep speaking favorably about it and are wanting to have some surveys in their areas.”
DGGS reserved about one-quarter of the funds approved for last summer’s survey of the Council district, located on the Seward Peninsula, to conduct follow-up ground work next summer, Burns said. “We have no funds to continue after that.”
Typically, DGGS geologists conduct field geological and geochemical surveys a year or two after an airborne survey is flown, called “ground-truth work.” New release On June 26, DGGS released another airborne geophysical survey, the third this year. The new release covers 641 square miles in southwest Alaska, just a few miles southeast of the estimated 28 million-ounce gold deposit called Donlin Creek.
It’s the sixth cooperative airborne geophysical project funded by BLM and organized by DGGS. Earlier this year, DGGS released airborne geophysical data for more than 600 square miles in the Delta River mining area near Paxson. That survey area involved both state and federal land.
And in February, DGGS released the 633-square mile Council airborne geophysical survey, located roughly 30 miles from Nome.
Other areas DGGS has surveyed include Rampart/Manley Hot Springs, the upper Chulitna District, Petersville-Collinsville, Iron Creek, Ruby, Fortymile, Livengood, Salcha River/north Pogo area, Broad Pass area, Western Bonnifield District and southeast Pogo area.
Additional BLM lands surveyed include Stikine, Koyukuk, Ketchikan, Aniak and the southern Delta River area.
|
