Against the backdrop of an increased focus on critical minerals at the federal level, North of 60 Mining News — an Alaska-based trade publication covering mineral resource issues for Alaska, northern British Columbia, Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut — has started a new series of articles ARPN followers may wish to bookmark.

As Lasley pointed out in a precursor article that discussed USGS’s late 2017 study identifying 23 minerals deemed critical to U.S. national security and economic wellbeing and set the stage for the series:

“At least 15 of the 23 critical minerals identified by the U.S. Geological Survey – antimony, barite, beryllium, cobalt, fluorspar, gallium, germanium, graphite, indium, platinum group elements, rare earth elements, rhenium, tantalum, tellurium, tin and vanadium – are found in Alaska.”

Lasley kicked off the series with an article on Graphite, followed by a piece on Rare Earths, and another one on Tin – with more to follow.

Consisting of more than 663,000 square miles of land—more than a sixth of the total area of the United States—Alaska has “considerable potential for undiscovered mineral resources, including critical minerals,” according to USGS, and any discussion of ways to alleviate the United States’ over-reliance on foreign mineral imports should include Alaska, and how to safely and responsibly harness this potential.

Articles in the series published to date: 

Alaska’s critical mineral potential
Critical Minerals Alaska – Graphite
Critical Minerals Alaska – Rare Earths
Critical Minerals Alaska – Tin