Placer mining for platinum has taken place intermittently in the area near Goodnews Bay in southwest Alaska since 1927. Today, a company called XS Platinum Limited is re-processing the tailings left behind by past operations, using earthmoving equipment and modern separation techniques. The operation currently produces several thousand ounces of platinum per year, which the company hopes to scale up to 120,000 ounces per year by 2013.
Platinum was first discovered in the Goodnews Bay area in 1926, and small-scale placer mining by various operators began soon afterwards. In 1937, a large commercial operation, the Goodnews Bay Mining Company, began operations and continued to mine in the area until 1979. During this time the company recovered over 500,000 ounces of platinum along with small amounts of gold. The Goodnews Bay platinum claims were mined intermittently throughout the 1980's by Hanson Industries, and then lay dormant until the current operator, XS Platinum Limited, purchased the property in 2008.
Goodnews Bay is located in southwest Alaska, south of Bethel and west of Togiak. The mining claims cover more than 3,000 acres south of the village of Platinum. The claims follow the Salmon River and several tributaries, primarily Squirrel Creek and Platinum Creek.
XS Platinum reprocesses the tailings from historical operations, using a land-based facility to separate the metal from rock. The company hopes to expand the number of reprocessing plants to four by 2013. Together, the four plants could produce up to 120,000 ounces of platinum annually. The company has also expressed interest in mining virgin deposits in the area and has done some preliminary explorations. Other current XS Platinum activities include decommissioning the 1937 dredge located on site, extending the airstrip using tailings as runway material, and updating equipment. In 2010 the company conducted a shallow drilling program consisting of 200 holes aimed at extending the resource.
Other companies, including Calista Corporation and Alaska Earth Sciences, have drilled exploration targets upstream of the placer claims in search of the lode (hardrock) source of the platinum and possibly gold.
By David Coil, Niki Hoagland, Elizabeth Lester, Ground Truth Trekking
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Date Created: Wed, 28 Sep 2011 10:54:31 -0800
Last Modified: Thu, 19 Apr 2012 04:59:13 -0800
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