From UAA's Archives & Special Collections:
The following collections of mining-related materials have not been fully catalogued.
Please contact ARLIS reference staff at reference@arlis.org for assistance with this collection.
Location: “garage door” shelves in the back of the library
The Anaconda Minerals Collection comprises approximately 10,500 indexed records of Cook Inlet Region Inc. (CIRI) mineral exploration data. This premier collection includes more than ten years of minerals exploration data collected between 1974 and 1984 throughout Alaska by the Anaconda Minerals Company, as well as information collected by various other mining companies. It would cost tens of millions of dollars to re-do this exploration effort, a testament to the value of this collection.
The data set includes geological, geochemical, and geophysical reports, surveys, field notes, maps, and figures. Anaconda Collection maps and files from outside of the CIRI region. ARLIS houses the files, while the Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys’ Geologic Materials Center in Eagle River—moving soon to Anchorage—houses the over-sized maps and illustrations.
A GIS-enabled index is available that contains links to the digital files.
ARLIS reference librarians will assist with this collection.
(also called Mineral Assessment Studies or Mineral Availability System)
Location: in boxes in Special Collections
The Minerals Availability System (MAS) was a U.S. Bureau of Mines program of on-site mine inspections begun in the early 1960s to measure and classify identified mineral resources according to their extraction technologies, economics. and commercial availability.
The files contain information on occurrences, deposits, mines. and processing facilities. When the U.S. Bureau of Mines was closed in 1996, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) was given responsibility for the Alaska MAS files located in Juneau and Anchorage. Those files in BLM are known as AMIS, Alaska Minerals Information System. The paper version of the Alaska MAS files was housed at the John Rishel Mineral Information Center in Juneau until July 2008 when the Center closed and all files were transferred to ARLIS.
The MAS files are arranged numerically by quadrangle number and indexed by quadrangle and property. The indexes, by quadrangle and property, are located next to the files. The quadrangle index is available at the ARLIS reference desk and in MAS Cases 1-4 in the Map Atrium, along with associated MAS maps and overlays. Many of the files are also available in digital format.
Location: ARLIS reference desk
In 1982 the state and federal governments combined their mining claims records. The Mine File Fiche is an index providing information on the claim owner, company, location, type (load or placer), mineral type, years a claim was active, and whether a claim had been proved up on.
For information after 1986, contact the Bureau of Land Management regarding claims on federal land, or Alaska Department of Natural Resources regarding claims on state land.
Mine File overlays showing claim locations and other information are available in Case 2 in the Map Atrium and are used with the topographic maps in Case 4.
