![]() ![]() These stones are so common because they’re composed of SiO₂, which makes up the bulk of the Earth’s crust. ![]() You can also find light blue chalcedony in some locations, especially in the outer layers of quartz geodes. Red jasper is aplenty, owing to huge formations. In Alaska, I’m not aware of any single famous variety, but the state is enormous and many sites aren’t readily accessible. If you’re an agate collector then you know how freaky people get about provenance. Of these categories, Alaska’s most dominant local form is jasp-agates, which are brecciated cryptocrystalline silica with opaque and transparent sections that were reformed after being broken. We’ll avoid the arguments surrounding the classification and just lump them all into the same category for convenience. This series of cryptocrystalline silica has a habit of showing up just about everywhere. That said, if you’re interested in panning or digging a little bit then you’d do well to take a look at one of the following areas:Īlaska is a great place for gold panning, and it’s legal on most unclaimed public land. Most gold in serious numbers is on various mining claims not available to the public. It’s a strange system, but it’s easier to deal with once you know how it works. So 12K gold would be 50% gold, while 22K would be in the range of 91-92%. Karats measure proportions using 24 as a base. Gold’s purity is measured in an archaic system using karats as the base. The gold from Alaska tends to be in the 85-95% range, with a bottom end of about 75% for the worst samples. While it’s generally elemental gold found, it’s not always 100% pure. It’s not a very reactive metal, which is one of the reasons it’s been prized in jewelry since time immemorial. Gold is almost always found in a native form in nature. After all, nothing else catches the imagination of human beings quite like the chance of striking it rich. There are even TV shows about it, showing the trials and tribulations of prospectors in the backwoods. Alaska is well known for its gold, with the state having produced 1-2% of the available gold worldwide. ![]()
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