recious minerals sparkle in hills and streams all across Alaska. Prospectors have staked claims from the sands off the shore of Nome to the south end of Prince of Wales Island. The federal government manages almost 7,000 claims and 137 active mines (mostly sand and gravel), while the State of Alaska has records for more than 39,000 claims. Many of these tracts are lumped together, so the number of actual projects is fewer.

Fewer still is the number of active mines. There are only six major ones, plus a rookie that just began its brief career. Too few players for a baseball team, but exactly enough for, say, water polo. Most of them are powerhouses in their home turf, the MVPs of their respective regions.

Clip these cards and shuffle them whichever way makes sense. Rank them by annual output or estimated reserves. Order them by rookie year. Sort them by mine type or by number of workers. Get to know the industry that rocks heavy metal every day.