Platinum | village, community

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Platinum (Arviiq in Central Alaskan Yup'ik) is a city in Bethel Census Area, Alaska, United States. The population was 61 at the 2010 census.

Platinum was named in the 1930s due to the platinum ore found in the area. The site was a mining boomtown by 1937 boasting a roadhouse, two trading posts and a population of fifty. A post office had been established in 1935. An earlier Eskimo village called Agvik had been abandoned. The town was incorporated as a city in 1975.

During World War II, the Alaska Territorial Guard served to safeguard it against Japanese attack as it was the only source of the strategic metal platinum in the Western Hemisphere.
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Coordinates:   59°0'39"N   161°48'59"W
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This article was last modified 7 years ago