William T. (Bill) Ellis

(July 29th, 1947 to March 18, 2022)

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Widely respected minerals exploration geologist William (Bill) Ellis died March 18, 2022 at Providence Alaska Medical Center after a hard-fought battle with cancer. Throughout the modern history of Alaska, many nameless and oft unrecognized explorers have contributed to the Last Frontier State in ways that future generations will never be able to truly appreciate. Bill Ellis practiced his trade for half a century and personified the attitude needed to succeed in mineral exploration.

Early Years and Education

Bill was born in the historic gold mining town of Grass Valley, California, July 29th 1947 to Allan and Mary Ellis. He grew up hunting and roaming in the woods and canyons around Grass Valley, collecting rocks and wondering about the many old mines that he ran across. Bill would recall:

"I was always interested in rocks, collecting them as a very young kid in my driveway in Grass Valley. All the driveways were essentially mine tailings, so I'd go out and look for quartz and pyrite and things like that. I guess I had an affliction for it."

Bill graduated from Sparks High School, Sparks, Nevada in 1965 and that same year enrolled in the Mackey School of Mines Geology program at the University of Nevada. He put himself through school by working in the produce department at a Safeway grocery store between 1963 and 1972. But before Bill completed his college education, he was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1967 and would go on to fight in A Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Infantry, 101st Airborne Division. Staff Sergeant Ellis was awarded the Silver Star for his actions on Hill 937; also known as ‘Hamburger Hill’ to many Vietnam veterans. He was awarded other medals for valor displayed in combat during his two years of duty overseas (Bill’s son, Danny Ellis describes those years later in this summary). Upon his discharge from the Army, Ellis completed his BS Degree in Geology at Mackay School of Mines in 1972.

Bill Ellis Begins Career in Mineral Exploration

After graduation, Ellis was contacted by the Terra silver mine in the Great Bear Lake area of Northwest Territories, Canada. He immediately accepted the job, and shortly thereafter hopped on a flight out of Yellowknife. Bill recalled:

"It was a very enlightening job playing mine geologist in a small but very high-grade operation. It was a very good learning experience”.

In addition to learning underground mapping in a crash course, he gained dual citizenship for his working in Canada over the next two years. It was during his time working in the vast barren lands of the Northwest Territories that he met the chief geologist for Sunshine Mining Company. The man had come to the Terra Mine to examine it and other silver deposits in the region. He eventually offered Bill a job in Sunshine’s mines in the Cour de’ lene District of Idaho.

Bill Ellis with Sunshine Mining Company

Carl Hale recounts that both he and Bill went to work for Sunshine Mining Company (Sunshine) around the same time and were working underground at the Bunker Hill and the Lucky Friday mines in Idaho.

At the time Bill was not only working for Sunshine Mining as a geologist but spent his off time experiencing the Silver Valley culture which resembled the Old West days, rife with bars and bordellos. Ellis would go skiing with Hale and others at Jackass Ski Hill (now known as Silver Mountain) for $7/day. In between ski seasons, Ellis checked out different historic silver and gold mines for fun. Bill met his first wife Kathy in 1974, when she and others worked for several mining companies and on a Forest Service fire crew for one season. Bill and Kathy eventually married and moved from their Sunshine Company house near Kellogg in 1978 to Alaska, where Bill bought a house in Eagle River.

Both Hale and Ellis were sent to the Ambler Mineral Belt by Sunshine and eventually so was Geoff Garcia, where they all worked staking claims and completing assessment work. It was an exciting time with crews from Noranda Exploration, Sunshine, Anaconda Minerals and BP-Minerals competing for pieces of the Ambler Mineral Belt.

As a historical note, Kennecott Exploration (aka Bear Creek Mining) was the first mining company to acquire and drill-test the Arctic copper-zinc-polymetallic deposit within the Ambler District (in 1965). Previously, Kennecott had purchased the Bornite copper-cobalt deposit from Rhinehart Berg in the mid-1950s. After recognizing that Kennecott was proving the potential for silver and associated metals in the Ambler Mineral Belt, Sunshine Mining began sending people to the Brooks Range and began exploring for other VMS properties in the Ambler Mineral Belt.

Bill recalled:

“Sunshine had a leg up on most of the other companies, as the crew had been in the district earlier and had some ideas of where known prospects were at the time. Despite the advantage, most of the prospects found in the Ambler District did not meet the high-grade standards that Sunshine was looking for. We recommended that Sunshine seek a major company to partner with, Anaconda Minerals, the exploration arm of Anaconda Copper Company, a big player up in Alaska for many years, as the group to come in and take over the claims that Sunshine controlled”.

Bill Ellis with Anaconda Minerals

Much of what we know about Bill’s career with Anaconda Minerals has been provided by his long-time colleague, John Proffett, who stated:

“Dave Heatwole and I first met Bill in 1974 while he was working for Sunshine Mining staking claims, mapping and prospecting in the Ambler district, and we were getting Anaconda's exploration program for Alaska started. Bill gave Dave a tour through the district and at the end of the field season Dave and I traveled to Idaho where Bill showed us all the data. Based on that, Anaconda made a deal with Sunshine for their Ambler district claims. Bill's work in 1974 and our follow-up work in the next couple of years, revealed all the significant mineral occurrences that had not previously been discovered. Part of the Anaconda-Sunshine deal was that any claims Anaconda did not want to keep would revert to Sunshine. So, Bill came up to Anaconda's camp in the next several field seasons (1975, 1976, 1977) to look after the claims that Sunshine got back”.

Proffett got to know Bill well then and found him a valuable source of information while evaluating numerous Ambler district prospects. When Anaconda began planning to expand the Alaska staff, Bill was one of the first geologists hired (about 1978). He moved from Idaho to a fixer-upper house in Eagle River. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Bill worked on several Anaconda projects, including several Southeast Alaska projects with Proffett, mostly based on a boat or barge. Ellis helped with the mapping that eventually resulted in discovery of the Lookout deposit in Niblack Anchorage, and helped with reconnaissance mapping, including Zarembo Island between Wrangell and Petersburg, where he mapped the Frenchy prospect.

Anaconda Minerals established a statewide reconnaissance project with Cook Inlet Region Inc. (CIRI) to assist the native regional corporation with statewide land selection targets containing high mineral potential. Ellis was put in charge of the team that worked in east-central and southern Alaska.

One of Bill’s projects was the evaluation of the previously productive, strategic chromium mines near Seldovia on the Kenai Peninsula. During 1979-1981, Ellis managed the Anaconda Minerals exploration program at Red Mountain near Seldovia. Prior to 1958, about 30,000 tons of high-grade chromite concentrates were mined and shipped for domestic consumption, with some of the production subsidized by the Defense Minerals Exploration Administration or DMEA. An additional 8,000 tons were shipped to a Japanese buyer in 1976.

In a report delivered at the 1981 Alaska Miners Convention in Anchorage, Ellis reported systematic drill-testing indicated a very large resource of low-grade chromite mineralization that occurs within specific intervals of the Red Mountain ultramafic complex. He surmised that exploitation of this resource seemed possible if prices increased and domestic needs required chrome production. (editors note: chromium prices have significantly increased since 1980).

CIRI had agreed to include in the exploration agreement some property they had already selected; one of those was the Johnson River area on the west side of Cook Inlet, where Resource Associates of Alaska (RAA), while doing work for CIRI a few years earlier, had identified the outcropping gold-base metal mineralization at Johnson, and had collected stream sediment anomalies in the surrounding area. Bill put some of his geologists on the Johnson River project in a fly camp in 1981 and his team quickly realized the potential there. Bill recalled:

"In 1982, I collared the discovery drill hole at the Johnson River prospect,"

By 1982 Anaconda had drilled the first four holes into the Johnson orebody with excellent results. They had a large camp in 1983 and 1984 and drilled and completed 27 holes in total. Bill and his crew also discovered outcropping gold mineralization at Difficult Creek, where RAA had identified anomalies, and drilled some holes that intersected gold-bearing vein mineralization.

Despite some good results in the Alaska program, ARCO decided to liquidate Anaconda in early 1985. Hunt, Ware and Proffett took over the Johnson property on behalf of a client, Howard Keck. Bill went on to work with other companies after Anaconda's demise, but we would hire him as a consultant on the Johnson project whenever he had time available. One of those times was the 1992 field season, when Proffett hired Bill to do additional work at Difficult Creek, among other areas. John Proffett and his shared private equity group held onto Johnson Tract until optioning to Westmin Resources Ltd., which planned to process the high-grade gold-silver-polymetallic ore zones outlined by Anaconda at the Johnson River prospect at the mill of the Premier Mine near Stewart, British Columbia. The stars were not quite aligned because of weak precious metals prices and the plan was never executed.

But decades later, Canadian-based High Gold Mining optioned the Johnson River property and made the Johnson Tract Property their ‘flagship asset’, drilling more high-grade holes into the veins Bill had identified at Difficult Creek. They confirmed the high-grade mineralization there and named it the "Ellis Zone".

Bill Ellis with Battle Mountain Gold

For two years after the shuttering of Anaconda, Bill remained in Alaska, "playing consultant." Then, in 1987, he went to work with Battle Mountain Gold (Battle Mountain), where his exploration travels would send him throughout the Alaska Peninsula, far away from and quite a different geological setting from ‘Mainland Alaska’. During his days with Battle Mountain, Ellis spent much of his time traveling along the Alaska Peninsula and Aleutian Islands -- from Unga Island, home to one of Alaska's first hard rock gold mines, to Popof Island and many others.

Reflecting on his work with Battle Mountain, Bill said:

"I was essentially the project geologist for that area of the state for Battle Mountain, and was fortunate enough to make, what I think, are discoveries that someday might be mined. They (the deposits) were kind of small but of reasonable grade gold deposits that are currently being optioned by new firms. The Centennial gold-silver deposit is one that I discovered while with Battle Mountain and it's right off the runway at Sand Point. I named it the Centennial because it was the 100-year anniversary of the town,"

Sam Dashevsky, a geologist for Battle Mountain Gold in the late-1980’s and early 90’s, remembered that Bill explored numerous volcanic terranes of the Alaska Peninsula and the Aleutian Islands and tested numerous epithermal gold systems. Former State Geologist Steve Masterman remembers early experiences prospecting for Bill and Battle Mtn on Unga Island, recalling that Bill ran an excellent exploration camp.

Ellis worked for Battle Mountain for about the same stint he had worked with Sunshine and Anaconda, about five years each, before moving on and working for American Copper and Nickel (ACNC) – a North American subsidiary of INCO (International Nickel Company) that was later purchased by Vale Limited, the largest nickel producer in the world – in 1994.

From Precious Metals to Batteries

Spreading throughout much of Alaska, American Copper and Nickel (ACNC) sought to re-evaluate old prospects while also introducing new concepts to rethink the geology of the state.

During his period with ACNC, Ellis was involved in the discovery of an intriguing nickel-copper-cobalt-platinum group element play in the Paxson Amphitheater Mountain country of the central Alaska Range. Bill recalled:

"INCO was active there for several seasons until they pulled out of Alaska, but essentially I was with them for six years," he recalled. Most of that time was involved with exploration in a nickel-copper- and PGE-rich district that is likely to see more interest since those commodities are very important to the development of the EV industry. This property has those elements."

According to Ellis, the geology that comprises nickel and cobalt – ultramafic rocks – in this region has the largest accumulation of ultramafic rocks in the Wrangellia terrane.

In 1994, Sam Dashevsky recalled Bill’s help sorting out geology and ore controls during ACNC’s re-awakening of the Delta-Volcanogenic Massive Sulfide project in the Eastern Alaska Range. Bill led ACNC’s boots on the ground geology team in 1994, proving validity of the very real potential for the “Big Nickel” exploration concepts floated out of Inco’s Sudbury based Geo-Think Tank. By 1995, when Inco/ACNC opened an office and built a staff in Anchorage, Bill became a key advisor and lead prospector for the new venture.

Exploration manager Greg Beischer recalled:

“I was transferred to Anchorage, Alaska in 1995 to become Exploration Manager for American Copper & Nickel Company (US subsidiary of INCO). Bill was employed by ACNC and in 1994, had generated a nickel project that INCO liked. I arrived in the summer of 1995, drove to Summit Lake just north of Paxson and flew by helicopter westward onto the project that Bill called ‘Nikolai.

ACNC’s exploration target contains the critical minerals nickel, copper, cobalt, and platinum group elements in a very large, layered mafic-ultramafic intrusion. Beischer recalled that Ellis and Jim Adler had just discovered that morning a new prospect during follow-up of a soil geochemical anomaly from the prior year. The new prospect was named Tres Equis Prospect after the Dos Equis beer which was popular in camp at the time.

Ellis and Beischer worked together for six years on the Nikolai project. ACNC found a lot of low-grade sulfide mineralization, but not the high value, massive sulfide deposit that ACNC was looking for in what became known as the Fish Lake Complex by others, including Anglo-American Exploration, Inc.

More than two decades later, Beischer is back at Bill’s Nikolai Project and it looks like that the low grade nickel-copper-cobalt-platinum metal deposit could be very large. His company is betting that an extremely valuable ore body in today’s market will be proven soon.

Beischer would recall:

“Bill was a huge help to me as a young (exploration) manager new to Alaska. He had seen just about every metal prospect in the State and was a huge (walking) wealth of knowledge. Bill’s enthusiasm for Alaska and its amazing mineral potential helped me fall in love with Alaska! I am grateful to have known Bill and for the help he generously gave me”.

Bill Ellis and Alaska Earth Sciences

It was in 1999 when Bill checked in with Rob Retherford at Alaska Earth Sciences to see if they could use his help. American Copper and Nickel had just shut their doors and left the state and he was available. “Of course” was the quick response and it didn’t take long for Bill to place his pack and his long handled hammer in one the available rooms in South Anchorage.

Founded more than 30 years ago, following 12 years with C.C. Hawley and Associates, Alaska Earth Sciences (AES) had been busy exploring for minerals for many years. The partners of AES all knew and respected Bill professionally despite, at times, being competitors.

As a partner in AES, he not only helped mentor the younger staff and advise our clients he was also able to follow up on many of the properties that he had worked on in earlier years. Bill’s skills helped fill the gap when AES lost partners Toni Hinderman to heart failure in 2001 and Dave Lappi to cancer in 2011. Among the following list of projects and associated clients, Bill sometimes conceived the project, sometimes lead a field the program, sometimes simply participated with his advice, but was always looking for the next great discovery. His enthusiasm often helped kindle the initial interest to generate exploration projects by AES for a variety of clients.

Examples of Exploration Projects that Bill Ellis Worked on while with Alaska Earth Sciences

Time Duration	Client	Brief Description
1987-1991	WestGold	Regional exploration in southwest Alaska
1992-2001	Placer Dome U.S.	Donlin, Nyac, and Innoko Districts, Western Alaska
2004-2018	Aleut Corporation	Port Moller Quadrangle
2002-2005	Ahtna Corporation	Region-wide assessments
1995-2000	Bristol Bay Native Corporation	Region-wide assessments
1997-1999	Doyon Limited	Region-wide assessments
2005-2013	Full Metal Minerals	South Pebble, BBNC Properties; McGrath and Innoko Districts
1995-2023	CIRI Corporation	Regional assessment of mineral proprties
2008-2014	Metallica, Antofagasta	Alaska Peninsula
2003-2019	Chugach Alaska Corporation	Mineral and quarry site assessments region-wide
2001-2023	NANA Corporation	Fairhaven District
2007-2009	Andover	Sun Project
2000s	International Tower Hill/Corvus	Terra project in Farewell District; Chisna Porphyry Belt
2001-2015	Kennecott	Groundhog Property near Pebble
2016	Ormat	Mount Spurr Geothermal
2014-2016	MMG	Ultramafic terranes in Central Alaska
2022	South 32	Ambler Mineral Belt

Ellis respected the importance placed on the preservation of Native lands and how to balance that with mineral exploration and development.

Bill Ellis Personnel Life and Legacy

Bill Ellis met his beloved second wife Carolyn in Alaska and they married on March 23rd, 1990 in the Cook Islands. They shared four children: Brian, Morgan, Melissa, and William, and six grandchildren. At the time of his passing, Bill was survived by his siblings Victor, Richard, Susan and Karl. Bill loved fishing and traveling with Carolyn and their two dogs Rosie and Lily.

At Bill’s retirement party, John Proffett reflected:

"Most geologists spend their whole career and never find anything--they never find an ore deposit. If you're going to be successful in this game, you have got to be optimistic; those are the guys that find the ore. Bill was optimistic in exploration and believed he was going to find something. That attitude resulted in a number of important mineral discoveries”.

Danny Ellis Talks about His Father’s Military Service

Thank you all for coming out tonight. I’m Danny, Bill’s son. I had the privilege of sharing some of Bill’s experiences as a geologist during my childhood, and they made for great memories! Not many kids get to hitch a helicopter ride and get dropped off on their own private stretch of the Kenai for salmon fishing or find Native American artifacts on the Aleutian Islands! Of course, I also occasionally had to serve as Bill’s pack mule for interesting rocks, and there was that time I bear-maced myself at Canyon Lake.

Tonight, however, I would like to share another aspect of Bill’s life with you that preceded his career as a geologist. As many of you may know, Bill is a Vietnam War veteran. What you may not know is that he is the recipient of several awards for valor and bravery as a result of his actions while deployed. Having myself fought in two different theaters of war, I know how hard it is to share and relive some of those experiences.

The Silver Star Medal (SSM) is the United States Armed Forces' third-highest military decoration for valor in combat. The Silver Star Medal is awarded primarily to members of the United States Armed Forces for gallantry in action against an enemy of the United States.

Bill was awarded the Silver Star for his actions on Hill 937 (also known as Hamburger Hill). The citation reads:

“For gallantry in action in the Republic of Vietnam on 20 May 1969. Sergeant Ellis distinguished himself while serving as a platoon sergeant in Company A, 2nd battalion, 506th Infantry, during combat operations in the A Shau valley. His platoon began the assault of hill 937 as the lead element in a company size operation and it immediately began to receive intense rocket propelled grenade and small arms fire from a well-entrenched enemy force. Sergeant Ellis deployed his men using fire and maneuver tactics. His precise commands enabled his men to move through the intense fire toward the bunkers at the summit of the hill as he organized an effective base of fire from his machine guns and 90mm recoilless rifles. He also organized and supervised the evacuation of the wounded personnel. When his element reached the summit of the hill, he immediately moved to the front of the platoon and personally led the assault against an enemy bunker complex. Courageously moving through the intense fire toward the bunker, he destroyed it with an accurate shot from his M-72 light antitank weapon. Sergeant Ellis’ personal bravery and devotion to duty were in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit upon himself, his unit, and the United States Army.”

In addition to the Silver Star Medal, Bill was also awarded the Bronze Star Medal for outstanding meritorious service in connection with ground operations against a hostile force in the Republic of Vietnam, Purple Heart for injuries sustained when a booby-trapped grenade exploded near him, the Air Medal for meritorious achievement while participating in aerial combat operations, and the Army Commendation Medal with V device for valor displayed in combat leading up to being wounded.

I hope you will all join me now in a round of applause for a true American Hero, William Thomas Ellis.

Written by Robert Retherford, with significant contributions by Carl Hale, John Proffett, Sam Deshevsky, Greg Beischer, Dave Hedderly-Smith and Bill’s son Danny Ellis. Edited by Tom Bundtzen. This biography benefited significantly from an excellent interview with Bill Ellis conducted by A.J. Roan of North of 60 News.

Additional References Used in Writeup

Bundtzen, T.K., Eakins, G.R., and Conwell, C.N., 1982, Review of Alaska’s Mineral Resources: Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys and Department of Commerce and Economic Development Office of Mineral Development Special Report, 247 pages.

Bundtzen, T.K., Eakins, G.R., Clough, J.G., Lueck, L.L., Green, C.B., Robinson, M.S., and Coleman, D.A., 1984, Alaska’s Mineral Industry 1983: Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys Special report 33, 56 pages.

Foley, J.Y., and Barker, J.C., 1985, Chromite deposits along the Border Ranges Fault, Southern Alaska—Part 1: U.S. Bureau of Mines Information Circular 8990, 58 pages

Hughes, R.A., and Szumigala, D.J., 2006, Alaska’s Mineral Industry 2005: Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys Special Report 60, 82 pages.

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