Rock show

PALMER — If one could strike it rich panning for gold in a plastic tub, the 20 prospecting students in Leo MarkAnthony’s class would be set for life.

“Well, that’s not too likely, though,” chuckled MarkAnthony, a retired college professor and Alaska minerals expert.

What the students learned from the two-day, eight-hour course is a better knowledge of what to look for and how to properly prospect in the Last Frontier, he said.

“What you’re looking for in the gravel is the heavy minerals, mainly gold,” MarkAnthony said. “You need good information, because if you’re just going prospecting (without a plan) you’re taking nature’s odds, which is 1,000 to 1 against you.”

Gold is the precious metal Alaska is most known for, but even beginning prospectors learned about at least 24 minerals Friday and Saturday at the Cooperative Extension Office.

For Paul Sandhofer, sitting in on MarkAnthony’s class was déja vu. More than 30 years ago, Sandhofer was a student in MarkAnthony’s geology class at Anchorage Community College. Now, Sandhofer is impressed with the advances in prospecting.

“I’m here just to see if there’s anything new,” he said. “And yeah, there is. Now they can locate minerals by flying over in an airplane.”

Learning just how much more than gold can be found in stream beds and even previously mined mineral fields was eye-opening for John Lucas.

Near the end of Saturday’s final session, Lucas was enthralled learning how to detect raw tungsten. Although tungsten may appear similar to quartz to the naked eye, it’s heavier and when put to an ultraviolet light, glows a bright bluish-white.

“That’s some tough stuff,” he said. “I tried to cut a tungsten nail in two with a hacksaw once. It can’t be done. It took all the teeth off the hacksaw.”

Students also observed raw chromite, the mineral that produces ultra-shiny chrome. In its natural state, chromite is very heavy and looks more like coal.

“I want these people to learn the principles of prospecting,” MarkAnthony said. “There are a lot of them interested in mineral harvesting.”

Beth Jones is a Valley teacher and has a daughter who is a geologist for a mining company in the Lower 48. Sitting in on the prospecting class helped slake her curiosity about prospecting and should give her some common ground for discussion with her daughter.

“I can speak a little more geology now,” she said. “I want to know what to look for when I’m out hiking.”

While most prospectors approach the practice as a hobby, there’s always that small spark that brought waves of fortune-seekers to Alaska in the first place — the thought of finding gold, MarkAnthony said.

“It’s an insatiable curiosity about rocks and minerals, (but) you’re always hoping in the back of your mind you’ll make a big find,” he said.

Contact Greg Johnson at greg.johnson@frontiersman.com or 352-2269.