Alaska’s New Mining Rush Chases Something More Coveted Than Gold

ESTER, Alaska—At a mining site here, Rod Blakestad cracked open a shiny rock with his pick. He found quartz, a sign that the rock may contain gold.

But Blakestad, a veteran gold hunter, tossed the rock aside. He and his team of geologists were searching for something even more sought-after: antimony, an obscure element widely used in the defense industry that is now at the center of the bitter U.S.-China trade fight.