Digital compilation of geochemical data for historical samples from occurrences of strategic and critical elements in Alaska: Part I - Rare-earth elements (REE)

The State of Alaska's Strategic and Critical Minerals (SCM) Assessment project, a State-funded Capital Improvement Project (CIP), is designed to evaluate Alaska's statewide potential for strategic and critical mineral resources. The SCM Assessment project is being implemented by the Alaska Division of Geological & Geophysical Surveys (DGGS), and involves obtaining new airborne-geophysical, geological, and geochemical data. For the geochemical part of the SCM Assessment project, thousands of geochemical-sample analyses and locations from historical U.S. Bureau of Mines (USBM), U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), Bureau of Land Management (BLM), DGGS, Alaska Territorial Department of Mines, Alaska Division of Mines and Minerals, and Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) reports are being compiled into digital format by DGGS. The objective is to update the State of Alaska's statewide digital geochemical database in order to more clearly identify areas with SCM potential. For this report, DGGS digitally compiled sample and analyses documentation, geochemical assays, and location information for more than 4,400 historical samples that were were originally collected to investigate occurrences of strategic and critical elements throughout Alaska.