At the end of last month the state of Alaska hosted a one-day conference in Fairbanks to consider promising economic opportunities that can and should be pursued. The state and the University of Alaska Fairbanks co-sponsored the Alaska Strategic & Critical Minerals Summit, which focused narrowly and directly on one topic: Alaska’s very real capacity to explore for and produce scarce but technologically crucial critical minerals, including so-called rare earth elements.

In quartze veins in Bokan Mountain on Prince of Wales Island there are known reserves of the rare earth elements which, as their name connotes, tend to occur very infrequently in nature. Specifically, there are 17 of these elements, lodged in the middle of the periodic table you may remember from high school, that are critical to building cars, fuel refineries, strategic weapons systems and so many of the consumer electronic goods we enjoy.

The People’s Republic of China has, in essence, a worldwide monopoly on the market for these materials, without which computers, telephones and other devices integral to daily life can not be made. It is no surprise that so many of these devices are manufactured in China, to the detriment of other economies with shrunken manufacturing sectors. There is everything to be gained for Alaska and the nation in pursuing this opportunity on Prince of Wales Island.

The importance and value of mining to our economic well-being is not lost on most Alaskans. The Alaska Department of Labor’s Alaska Economic Trends comes out once a month, and while labor statistics may sound like dry reading, this magazine is actually a highly professional and accessible presentation of important information. October’s Economic Trends has (in addition to a somewhat unsettling piece on gender-based earning inequity) a great presentation about Alaska’s gross domestic product (GDP) — the aggregate value of every good and service produced by business and governments in Alaska. Government produces 18 percent of Alaska’s GDP and the private sector the remaining 81 percent. Mining provides well over three thousand jobs in Alaska’s economy, almost a fifth of the overall number of jobs involved in the combined oil and gas/mining which creates a quarter of Alaska’s GDP every year. With hydrocarbon activity currently at best on a plateau, now is an excellent time to keep the mining side of the equation robust.

Alaskans from all parts of the state work in the mining sector. Northern Southeast Alaska generally, and Juneau particularly, benefit tremendously from the Kensington and Greens Creek mines, with their payroll, tax revenue, and other contributions to our economy. Development of the Bokan Mountain project could bring about similar positive results in southern Southeast.

Bokan Mountain was once home to the Ross Adams uranium mine which operated from the late 1950s through the early 1970s. Years after this mining activity had ceased, federal geologists assessed the area and in additional to documenting a large remaining uranium deposit, noted the presence of rare earth elements. A company called Ucore has bought the Bokan Mountain claims, and it is now poised to continue mining activity. Because Bokan Mountain is within the Tongass National Forest, expect the very highest level of scrutiny for all exploration and development activity to ensure environmental quality while also generating huge economic benefits.

One of the best things going for Bokan Mountain is its proximity to Ketchikan and a history of operations there that give the development prospects a head start. Environmental groups have ensured that the public is aware of Bokan’s past and have advocated for keeping nearby Kendrick Bay clean from the effects of past uranium mining activity. Future mining activity at Bokan Mountain for rare earth elements will have to use the best available technology, and every necessary step will be taken to develop this unique resource in manner that protects and preserves. This has been done successfully at Kensington and Greens Creek, and can be done the same way father south.

There is still great uncertainty facing the oil and gas industry in Alaska as the flow through the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System declines. We currently don’t know where the oil to reverse this unappealing trend will come from, and much less do we know when and how Alaska will extract and sell its natural gas. These quandaries make a strong and extremely promising prospect like Bokan Mountain all the more alluring. Let’s hope the current assessments and studies underway will generate concrete information on which progress can be made. And a little bit of Alaska will someday be a part of computers, mobile telephones, and gizmos that don’t even yet exist.

• Brown is an attorney who lives in Juneau.