Geologic Materials Center opens in Alaska

The state of Alaska’s geological  collection has a new home in Anchorage.

The Geologic Materials Center (GMC) will house specimens that are catalogued, preserved and made available to the public.

“With the new GMC, Alaska now has a state-of-the-art facility to house our geologic materials for the maximum benefit of the public, industry and our educational system,” Alaska Department of Natural Resources Commissioner Joe Balash said in a statement.

The 100,000 sq. ft building’s collection will include thin section, core and cuttings representing 4 million metres of oil and gas drilling, 90,000 metres of core drilling from mineral projects, 115,000 surface rock samples and 96,000 pulps.

“Maintaining and protecting this collection will result in tremendous benefits to future generations of Alaskans, supporting both an educated workforce and new resource discoveries,” Balash said.

The collection was previously housed in a facility at Eagle River, Alaska, but that building’s poor condition and limited space made a new location necessary.

The original project design envisioned a $45-million dollar endeavour, taking up to nine years to build.

But authorities opted to buy and renovate a former Sam’s Club store, which cost a total of US$24.5 million. The project took under two years to finish.

The new GMC has expanded and improved core-viewing facilities, large private viewing rooms, conference rooms as well as new microscopes and sampling equipment.

The relocation of the collection began following the ribbon cutting in late October. The GMC is scheduled to be open for business in the first half of 2015.