The department shall appoint for each public assay office a competent person to make assays and analyses of Alaskan ores and minerals. No charge shall be imposed for an assay or analysis. When an assay and analysis are made, the person requesting them shall state upon forms furnished by the department: (1) the person's permanent residence address; (2) a description, as precise as possible, of the location where the sample was taken; and (3) other information that the department by regulation may require that may be beneficial to evaluation of the state's mineral resources. Information received and assay results shall be kept confidential for a period of two years. At the end of that period the information and results shall be open to public inspection and may be published by the department.