The Renewable
Resources Coalition's
Weekly News Updates
Week
of November 21, 2006:
Quote of the Week
“…Pebble has serious negatives compared to other
resource development ideas, such as opening the Arctic National
Wildlife Refuge, and Pebble may be the least favored development
project in the state’s history.”
-From the Kenai Peninsula Clarion (Full story below)
Link of the Week
Check out this NASA photo of Montana’s Berkeley Pit.
http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_697.html
###
For the sake of today's quick riches, we're
liable to undermine the future
Letter to the Editor
Anchorage Daily News
November 20, 2006
http://www.adn.com/opinion/letters/story/8426753p-8321113c.html
On July 31, Galena, Kan., started falling into a sinkhole.
Its founders undermined Galena, originally a lead-mining town.
Now comes the Law of Unintended Consequences.
Alaska is doing the same. For example, remember
when experts said fish farms were safe? Well, it's dateline
Alaska folks. Disease and parasites from fish farms are killing
Alaska wild stocks.
Comes now the Feeble Mind project. Wait, that's
the Pebble mine project, and here we go again. The money folk
are paying experts and politicians to provide rationale and
reassurances. In the end the money folk and money will go.
The diseased earth will stay. Biologists and
geologists will be hired to conjure a remedy, engineers will
be hired to execute it and politicians will take the credit.
The average Alaskan will complain about getting ripped off.
It is simple greed so banal, so pusillanimous,
so recurrent in our storied past and stories current. For
the quick buck we will have undermined our own future.
-George Wilkinson II, Anchorage
###
Reader questions what’s in store for future
Letter to the Editor
Peninsula Clarion
November 15, 2006
http://www.peninsulaclarion.com/stories/111506/letters_20061115003.shtml
The Clarion keeps its readers well informed
about what our industries have in store for the future on
the Kenai. Articles from this past year have informed us about
Northern Dynasty and its plan for destroying a pristine wilderness
across the inlet for gold. They will also ship this ore away
in ships from the Far East that bring invasive marine life
in their ballasts tanks.
Agrium, another Canadian company concerned about
its energy needs, is considering a coal power plant in Nikiski
that uses technology not quite fine tuned enough to guarantee
our air quality in our own back yard.
We can top that off by including our own Homer
Electric Associations plans to collaborate with both of these
industries by generating with carbon based fuels.
The encouraging industry news published in the
Clarion involves two forward thinking companies that will
generate electricity by capturing the ebb and flow of Kachemak
Bay and the Cook Inlet tides. The members of HEA need to let
their board members know how they feel before its too late
to turn this mess around. Think about it.
-John M. Standefer, North Cohoe
###
Kensington will set a precedent for Pebble
Letter to the editor
November 15, 2006
http://juneauempire.com/stories/111506/let_20061115009.shtml
Will the Kensington Mine's plan to use Lower
Slate Lake as a tailings dump set a precedent? It's a controversial
question. Some point out that this is the first mine in a
generation, since the passing of the Clean Water Act, that
has been permitted to dump its waste into a lake. The Alaska
Miners Association and Gov. Frank Murkowski claim that if
mines aren't allowed to use lakes as waste dumps, all mining
in Alaska will be shut down. But Coeur Alaska, the owner of
the Kensington Mine, is saying the opposite; it thinks this
won't set a precedent at all and that every mine is permitted
on a case-by-case basis.
An article in Juneau Empire ("Mine developer
offers vast dams for waste") shows me that mining companies
follow each other's lead, especially if there is money to
be made. Northern Dynasty Mines, the company planning the
Pebble Mine, released plans to build five large damns and
fill lakes (and entire valleys) with mine tailings. It's like
that old saying, "Monkey See, Monkey Do." The Pebble
Mine is already using the example of the Kensington Mine and
wants to put its chemically processed tailings into the headwaters
of the most salmon-rich rivers in Alaska.
The Pebble project and Kensington Mine plans
are too dangerous. Northern Dynasty has made outlandish statements
like, "Over time (the tailings dams) get more and more
stable." What about earthquakes or aging from years of
Alaska rain and snow? With drivel like this, it's hard to
believe the mining industry on anything. They are only looking
out for their pocket books.
Let's not allow Kensington to monkey around
with our waters and the Clean Water Act. The mining industry
has operated and thrived for a generation without using lakes
as mine-waste dumps.
Coeur has a choice to dispose of its waste in
other ways that don't threaten our waters or set such a damaging
precedent. If other gold mines operate without dumping their
waste into a lake, why does the Kensington have to abuse our
clean water this way?
-Mike O'Meara, Homer
###
Easley is wishy-washy about which Outsiders
should butt out of Alaska
Anchorage Daily News
Letter to the Editor
November 9, 2006
http://www.adn.com/opinion/letters/story/8392018p-8287198c.html
Pro-development advocate Paula Easley blames
"Easterners" and "Outsiders" for continually
"shutting down" Alaska's industries and blocking
access to "Alaskan" resources. She insinuates in
her Daily News column that non-Alaskans are blocking development
in our state ("Easterners: Butt out of Alaska,"
Oct. 14).
Easley cites the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska
and Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, which were owned by all
Americans, not just Alaskans, the last I checked. In fact,
there was not one single Alaskan at the table when Seward
bought what is now Alaska from the Russians in 1867.
Easterners and other Outsiders are concerned
about happenings in Alaska for many reasons. Some wish to
preserve wilderness and the environment, which is their right
as stakeholders in the ownership, but it's anti-development
according to Easley.
Some wish for more development. BP is headquartered
4,500 miles from here in London. The Pebble mine prospect
is being promoted by a Canadian company, definitely an Outsider.
Exxon Mobil? All non-Alaskans. Does Easley wish those "butt
out" too?
Easley cites "poorly conceived tax measures,"
obviously referring to Ballot Measure 2 that the oil companies
pulled out all stops to fight, cynically cloaking their efforts
behind something called Alaska's Future. Why? Because the
measure imposes a tax on leaseholders that delay development.
Easley's efforts quickly morph from pro-development
to protecting the investors. I sure wish Easley would make
up her mind.
-- Erik Lie-Nielsen
###
Common sense says Pebble project will be unsafe
for salmon, people
Anchorage Daily News
Letter to the Editor
November 8, 2006
May I offer a differing view of the three points
enumerated by Donald Nielsen's Compass "Pebble project
could offer needed jobs" (Oct. 23) concerning the Pebble
mine:
1. If salmon runs must be protected without
compromise, the only logical course of action is don't build
the mine. The mine's impact on Bristol Bay -- the dams, the
enormous quantity of (toxic) tailings, the water that they
divert from salmon spawning areas -- cannot, by any stretch
of logic or clear thinking, be thought of as protecting the
salmon.
2. The Pebble project could provide a tremendous
opportunity for the residents of Bristol Bay to raise their
families on polluted water and poisonous mine waste. Not many
jobs are worth that, especially when the jobs run out in a
few decades and the polluted water and mine waste last forever.
3. Anybody who believes in the integrity of
the permitting system needs to spend more time examining our
politicians and their corporate sponsors
As a confirmed opponent to the mine, I would
like to go on record as being completely unfunded in my opposition.
I base my opinions on common sense. However, there are some
very generously funded opinions on the mine; the proponents
have backing from Northern Dynasty. If they had to rely on
common sense, they'd have to switch sides.
-Rob Lund, Homer
###
Mining's environmental devastation a consideration
in Pebble proposal
Anchorage Daily News
Letter to the Editor
November 6, 2006
Proponents of the Pebble mine and politicians
who can't seem to make up their minds keep telling Alaskans
to take a wait-and-see attitude when it comes to this project.
Meanwhile, Northern Dynasty, a Canadian company, has filed
for water rights to Upper Talarik Creek and Koktuli River,
and are proposing building a series of massive dams, the largest
of which would span 4.3 miles and stretch 740 feet high. Behind
these earthen dams, in newly formed lakes, would be toxic
waste dumps of mining byproducts.
While insisting we sit by, the company continues
to plan and make promises that they can somehow guarantee
that our fish, wildlife and land will remain pristine and
pure. Yet all one needs to do is simply take a look at the
dismal track record of these foreign mining interests, at
the acid and cyanide runoff that have devastated streams throughout
the Western states and left taxpayers liable for astronomical
cleanup costs.
That we are even considering this type of development
on streams that flow into the Mulchatna drainage and eventually
Bristol Bay, perhaps the largest and most viable fishery in
the world, should be of concern to all Alaskans. In this era
of corporate greed and corruption, can we believe the promises
of a foreign company that says it will safeguard this so precious
of natural resources?
-Dave Atcheson, Sterling
###
Friends of Nome should be aware gold mine intends
to use cyanide
Anchorage Daily News
November 14, 2006
I don’t know if much of Alaska is aware
of what is taking place in Nome right now, but I thought that
if there are some friends of Nome out there, they should be
in the know.
Alaska Gold Co. is opening a pit mining operation
just up the Glacier Creek Road that will use a cyanide-leaching
process to extract gold from the Rock Creek and Big Hurrah
sites. This process is dangerous to the environment and the
people who live in it.
There exists at the Rock Creek site high levels
of arsenic that is naturally formed as well as mercury in
lower levels. Add to these heavy metals (which Nome has had
to deal with in the past) the cyanide that could potentially
leak into the environment of the Snake River Valley and you
have the makings of an environmental mess. The company’s
track record for cleaning up after itself does not leave me
with a sense of ease. If you have a voice, please write to
the Environmental Protection Agency and the Alaska Army Corps
of Engineers and express your concerns.
–– Karen McLane (Nome)
###
Alaska must follow Russian example and take
action to protect salmon
Cheers to Kamchatka, Russia, for proposing to
protect six million acres of watersheds from development.
Essentially, these areas have already been developed by nature
into a long-term economic engine -- the most productive salmon
fisheries in the world. Perhaps one-quarter of Pacific salmon
spawn in Kamchatka.
Alaska and Kamchatka are similar in their salmon
and by pursuing the development of fuel and mineral extraction.
However, in The New York Times on Oct. 15 ("Salmon find
a surprising ally in the rugged Far East of Russia"),
a Kamchatka governor said, "... from the perspective
of the economy, I have convinced myself ... that salmon must
be allowed to return to spawn." Imagine, in the United
States, where most take it for granted that wild salmon are
a relic and that their destruction in the Lower 48 was necessary,
a politician saying something so outlandish.
Our governor recently claimed as an "accomplishment"
his support for the development of the Pebble mine prospect,
dangerously sitting astride extremely salmon-rich watersheds.
We should also view as dangerous the Bureau of Land Management's
proposal to open mining activities on 1.2 million acres within
those same watersheds ("BLM bid to spur mining stirs
ire," Oct. 26).
Proposed refuge status for some watersheds near
Pebble ("Sanctuary may guard fish habitat," Oct.
21) is encouraging but just a baby step toward protecting
salmon measured in many millions, even during lows. True protection
will take the courageous support not only locally but nationally.
The question is, "Will there be salmon
or not?"
-Carl Tobin, Anchorage
Nome residents file suit against mine project
The Associated Press
Published: November 20, 2006
NOME, Alaska (AP) - An open-pit mine project
planned near watersheds outside Nome lacked the proper environmental
review, according to a lawsuit filed last week by residents
who are worried about toxic chemicals used to extract gold.
The plaintiffs allege that the Army Corps of
Engineers violated the National Environmental Policy Act by
issuing a permit for NovaGold's Rock Creek mine and mill project
without preparing an environmental impact statement.
The suit seeks a preliminary injunction to stop
the project, said Vicki Clark, an attorney at public interest
law firm Trustees for Alaska.
"The ACOE did not prepare an Environmental
Impact Statement to investigate the impacts on human health
or the environment, and permitted the destruction of over
400 acres of wetlands without considering alternatives,"
Clark said.
Plaintiffs Austin Ahmasuk, Sue Steinacher and
Jana Varrati also said the Corps failed to consult with local
tribes under the National Historic Preservation Act, according
to the suit filed last week in federal court in Anchorage.
The Nome-based conservation group "Bering
Straits Citizens for Responsible Resource Development"
is also a plaintiff in the lawsuit.
Steinacher told the local newspaper, the Nome
Nugget, that she felt blind-sided by the permitting process.
"The public meeting in June was the first
time most of us heard about anything about the mine's plans
for using cyanide," she said. "Instead of it being
the beginning of a meaningful public process, it was nearly
the end."
Ahmasuk, an Alaska Native, is worried about
the potentially adverse impacts of the mine on subsistence
practices.
"Healthy fish and wildlife, such as the
salmon and moose and berries we fill our freezers with, will
be impacted by the toxic chemicals generated by the mine,"
Ahmasuk said. "An Environmental Impact Statement would
give all of us the opportunity to evaluate the risks this
mine poses to our community."
NovaGold is not named as a defendant in the
suit, however the company said it shared sufficient information
with the public and allowed all stakeholders to be heard before
final permits were issued in August.
"We believe both NovaGold and the U.S.
Army Corps of Engineers followed all necessary procedures
when permitting Rock Creek," said Peter Harris, senior
vice President and chief operating officer at NovaGold.
Bering Straits Native Corporation and Sitnasuak
Native Corporation are business partners with Alaska Gold/NovaGold,
leasing subsurface and surface rights at Rock Creek to the
Canadian gold company.
The Rock Creek mine project proposed two open
pit hard rock mines in two separate watersheds.
The Rock Creek site is seven miles north of
Nome in the Snake River valley.
Alaska Gold began construction of the mine and
mill complex in September.
The mill complex will process 7,000 tons of
ore per day for a projected project life of four to five years
and proposed a cyanide vat-leach process to separate the gold
from the ore.
The second site, the Big Hurrah mine, is located
50 miles east of Nome in the Solomon River watershed. Alaska
Gold plans to mine the ore and truck the material year-round
to the Rock Creek mill for processing.
Help wanted: State's mining industry faces worker
shortage
By Tim Bradner
Alaskajournal.com - Anchorage,AK,USA
Web posted Sunday, November 19, 2006
A shortages of skilled labor is now one of the
major challenges facing Alaska's minerals industry as new
mines are developed, the president of Teck Cominco, the state's
largest mining operator, told an industry conference in Anchorage.
Work force shortages are a serious problem in
Canada, too, Donald Lindsay, Teck Cominco's chief executive
officer, told the Alaska Miners Association's annual convention
Nov. 10. Lindsay said he believes the skills shortage is a
factor in the industry's inability to being enough new mines
into production to meet rising world demand for metals like
copper and zinc. The result has added to soaring metals prices.
"The high prices we're seeing are one result
of a constraint on the supply side, due partly to an acute
scarcity of skilled workers," Lindsay said. The problem
is particularly serious in Canada, where 40 percent of the
mining industry's 87,000 workers are expected to retire in
the next 10 years.
The problem is even more acute among highly
skilled professionals that are critical to the industry, he
said. "Sixty percent of the geologists, geoscientists
and minerals engineers we depend on will be 65 or older by
2015. Who are we going to get to scramble up those slopes
in Alaska or the high Andes?" he said.
Competition for skilled labor is also fierce.
"In Alaska we're seeing mine workers being siphoned off
by the oil industry," Lindsay said.
The industry's response, in Alaska and elsewhere,
is to recruit locally and train. Teck Cominco is now ramping
up production at the new Pogo gold mine northeast of Delta
and is training entry-level miners at the Delta Mine Training
Center. Nevertheless, the company is still having to bring
in experienced underground miners from out of state, said
Karl Hanneman, Teck Cominco's manager of public affairs.
Teck Cominco is working with the Delta Mine
Training Center in Delta, which is operated by a nonprofit
corporation with the assistance of the University of Alaska.
In Southeast Alaska, Coeur Alaska Inc. is working with the
university in training for the Kensington Mine through its
Mining and Petroleum Training Service. The service trains
underground miners in Juneau and the University of Alaska
Southeast, which is training workers for the mill at the Kensington
Mine.
Tim Arnold, Coeur's manager for the Kensington
project, gives the university training program high marks
for training entry-level underground mining skills. However,
there is much more on-the-job training that is still required,
he said.
Operators of large surface mines - like Kinross
Gold's Fort Knox gold mine near Fairbanks and the Red Dog
lead-zinc mine north of Kotzebue, operated by Teck Cominco
- have had somewhat of an easier time with recruiting because
surface mining involves operation of heavy earth-moving equipment.
Training programs for equipment operators have been long established
in Alaska and basic skills are more widespread than those
needed for more specialized underground mining. Both mines
successfully recruited workers from local communities when
they started operations, 17 years ago in the case of Red Dog
and 10 years ago with Fort Knox.
However, surface mines, as well as underground
metals mines, require a mill for processing ore, and the operation
and maintenance of mills require skilled technicians, who
are in short supply.
On the two large mines that are still in development,
the need is mainly to hire and train operators of small, mobile
drill rigs and support staff. Mine operators are finding they
can hire and train workers from local communities.
Barrick Resources, at Donlin Creek, and Northern
Dynasty Mines at its Pebble project have been able to hire,
train and retain good workers from small villages near the
mines, where jobs are scarce, the companies said.
At Donlin Creek, Barrick has seen turnover of
its locally recruited workers, who are mostly seasonal, drop
to 10 percent in recent years. Turnover edged up in 2006,
however, due to a ramp-up of activity, according to George
Gardner, president of Chiulista Camp Services Inc., a subsidiary
of Calista Corp. that provides support services, including
labor, to Barrick.
Barrick counts itself lucky because a number
of its local workers have been with the company since exploration
began in 1996, and now most of the field supervisors are local,
said Bill Bieber, operations manager at Donlin Creek for Barrick.
If a mine is actually developed at Donlin Creek,
by the time it goes into production, the company will have
a core of experienced workers, some with 15 years with the
company, Bieber said.
While companies like Teck Cominco at Pogo and
Coeur Alaska at Kensington are engaged in training entry-level
workers for operations that are now ramping up, Northern Dynasty
Mines is taking a longer-range approach for its proposed large
Pebble copper-gold mine.
The company has also hired from local communities
for its exploration programs, but is also investing in local
schools through the University of Alaska's Alaska Native Science
and Engineering Program, which works with rural schools on
building up math and science programs. Northern Dynasty's
efforts are focused on high school students in the region.
On a statewide basis, mining companies are also
becoming more active in industry training and education coalitions
like the Alaska Process Industries Careers Consortium, which
works with the University of Alaska in programs to train skilled
process operators and instrument technicians. The oil and
gas industry is now relying heavily on programs through APICC,
but the skills are also needed in ore processing mills in
operating mines.
Tim Bradner can be reached at tim.bradner@alaskajournal.com.
###
Dueling polls oppose, support Pebble Mine project
By HAL SPENCE
Peninsula Clarion
November 10, 2006
http://www.peninsulaclarion.com/stories/111006/news_1110new005.shtml
Two public opinion polls commissioned by an
environmental group opposed to the Pebble Mine project are
being touted as proof that Bristol Bay Region residents and
voters statewide believe, by and large, that open-pit mining
is not worth the risk.
But the project’s owners, Northern Dynasty
Mines Inc., say the opinion polling released recently by the
Renewable Resources Coalition (RRC) “flies in the face”
of the mining company’s own research commissioned this
past summer meant to gauge public sentiment and identify key
issues surrounding the Pebble project.
The story appears to be one of dueling polls.
The RRC polls were conducted by Hellenthal and
Associates, which sought the opinions of about 400 Bristol
Bay region registered voters, and by The Cromer Group of Washington,
D.C., which polled 607 voters statewide.
According to the coalition’s CEO, Scott
Brennan, the Hellenthal survey, conducted Oct. 11-18, found
that overall opposition to the proposed Pebble Mine was 70.6
percent in the bay region, with 20.7 percent favoring the
project and 8.7 percent undecided.
That poll also found, according to Brennan:
· In larger population centers, opposition
to mine development was greatest in the Dillingham/Aleknagic
area, where 79.6 percent were opposed, 15.1 percent in favor
and 5.3 percent undecided.
· Even where opposition was least, the
King Salmon/Naknek area, those opposed still made up 50.4
percent, while 43.3 percent were in favor and 6.2 percent
undecided.
· Bristol Bay Native Corp. households
opposed the mine by 71.9 percent, with 17 percent in favor
and 8.6 percent undecided.
· Other data showed the more educated
a person was the more likely he or she was to be opposed to
the mine, and Alaska Natives were opposed to the mine by better
than three to one.
The random-digit dialing survey had a margin
of error of plus or minus 4.9 percent.
“The Alaskans living downstream from the
proposed Pebble Mine have evaluated Northern Dynasty’s
plans, weighed the pros and cons and decided open-pit mining
is not worth the risk,” Brennan said. “We believe
local residents, not Canadian corporate executives, should
decide our state’s future. It is time for all Alaskans
to join Bristol Bay in rejecting this ill-advised project.”
Northern Dynasty Mines Inc. is an American subsidiary
of Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd., a Canadian corporation
based in Vancouver, British Columbia.
The RRC says the Cromer Group survey, conducted
Sept. 25-27, found similar results, including that:
· 53 percent of voters statewide oppose
opening the Pebble Mine, with 28 percent favoring the project
and 19 percent undecided.
· Four of every seven women and half
of all men surveyed oppose the mine.
· A majority of voters in all party affiliations
oppose the mine with Democrats and Republicans nearly matched
at 62 and 61 percent opposed, respectively. About 49 percent
who said they were independents were also opposed.
· Half of all voters polled said they
thought the Pebble Mine was a threat to Alaska’s quality
of life.
· 56 percent felt the mine poses an environmental
threat to the water quality of Bristol Bay and 61 percent
agree that the damage from Pebble mine would forever threaten
the subsistence way of life in the mine area.
· 64 percent of those polled by Cromer
were in favor of halting the mine project because NDM had
first promised to avoid Upper Talarik Creek (an important
salmon and trout spawning area), but later applied for water
rights there.
The Cromer survey, also using a random-digit
dialing method, tapped opinion in six regions — Southeast,
the Kenai Peninsula, the Matanuska and Susitna valleys, Fairbanks
and rural Alaska. It had a margin of error of 4 percent.
On Oct. 27, Northern Dynasty Mines Inc. issued
a response and rebuttal to the RRC’s claims.
According to NDM, a survey commissioned by the
mining company and conducted between July 27 and Aug. 7 by
The Dittman Research and Communications Corp. of Anchorage
sampled opinion from 509 Alaska residents. It found that 45
percent of Alaskans support the Pebble project, while 31 percent
were opposed and 24 percent unsure.
“The polling results that the RRC released
(Oct. 27) are so wildly inconsistent with our own research
findings that we can’t help but question their legitimacy,”
said Bruce Jenkins, NDM’s chief operating officer. He
added that research questionnaires could be developed in such
a way “that they manipulate or ‘push’ public
opinion,” and that he had “serious questions”
about how RRC constructed its surveys.
He did not elaborate specifically on what it
was about the RRC’s surveys that led to those questions,
however. Jenkins did say that NDM’s survey had been developed
“to objectively measure pubic support and opposition
to the Pebble Project in the absence of any supportive or
opposing arguments.”
The Dittman poll asked if respondents were aware
of the project planned for the Lake Iliamna area, and based
on what they knew, whether they favored or opposed approval
of the project. Those questions elicited the 45 percent favorable
response noted above.
Jenkins said the Dittman poll went on to survey
whether respondents’ support for or opposition to the
project was influenced by a series of positive and negative
statements.
When information about economic benefits and
jobs was provided, the number of responses in favor of the
project rose to 67 percent, Jenkins said.
“I’d encourage anybody looking at
the RRC data, particularly the news media, to do so with a
skeptical eye,” Jenkins said.
Brennan said Tuesday that the RRC stands behind
its polling data and that, within the margins of error, the
Cromer determination that 53 percent of Alaskans opposed opening
the Pebble Mine is consistent with the Dittman poll showing
45 percent statewide were in favor of the project.
But he also said Pebble has serious negatives
compared to other resource development ideas, such as opening
the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and that Pebble may be
the least favored development project in the state’s
history.
Hal Spence can be reached at harold.spence@peninsulaclarion.com
Higher prices a boon to Alaska miners
PAYDIRT: The mining industry saw mineral value grow by 8 percent
from 2004.
By RICHARD RICHTMYER
Anchorage Daily News
Published: November 9, 2006
http://www.adn.com/money/story/8392103p-8287277c.html
The value of the zinc, gold, silver and other
minerals mined from Alaska reached $1.4 billion last year,
up 8 percent from 2004, and mining companies boosted their
exploration and development budgets more than 60 percent to
$451 million, according to a new state report.
In its annual statistical report, the Division
of Geological & Geophysical Surveys also found that the
state's mining industry provided more than 2,800 full-time
jobs last year and miners pulled down average monthly wages
of $6,188.
State officials cited high prices as the main
driver of the growing value of mining. That more than offset
lower production of all the state's minerals except zinc,
which grew slightly.
The Red Dog mine, about 90 miles north of Kotzebue
and the world's largest zinc mine, was the state's biggest
money-maker, accounting for more than 60 percent of the value
of Alaska's mineral production last year, according to the
report.
The Greens Creek mine on Admiralty Island, which
has a mix of silver, gold, zinc and lead, ranked a distant
second, accounting for about 14 percent of the state's mineral
value. The Fort Knox gold mine about 15 miles northeast of
Fairbanks was third, with roughly 11 percent, the report said.
Last year was the second highest on record for
development spending, which totaled $348 million. Much of
that was on construction of Teck Cominco's Pogo gold project
near Delta Junction and Coeur Alaska's Kensington mine near
Juneau, the report said. Pogo started production this year,
and Kensington is still being built.
The record for mineral development spending
was $394 million in 1996, according to the report. That's
when Fort Knox was being built.
Meanwhile, mining companies spent a record $104
million looking for mineral deposits last year, most of it
in Southwest Alaska, where Northern Dynasty's massive Pebble
copper and gold prospect and Calista Corp.'s Donlin Creek
gold deposit were the largest projects, the report said.
Miners staked more than 5,300 new claims covering
nearly 752,000 acres of state land and more than 400 claims
on about 8,200 acres of federal land last year, according
to the report.
Mining companies paid more than $37 million
in state and local taxes last year, up more than 40 percent
from 2004. Mining license taxes, which are tied to mines'
profits, nearly doubled, largely due to strong yields at Red
Dog, the report said.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Daily News reporter Richard Richtmyer can be
reached at rrichtmyer@adn.com or 257-4344.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Big mines
Alaska miners dug up $1.4 billion worth of zinc,
gold, coal and other minerals last year. These were top-producing
mines:
Red Dog, near Kotzebue: zinc -- 64 percent
Greens Creek, near Juneau: silver -- 14 percent
Fort Knox, Fairbanks: gold -- 11 percent
###
Gold mine owners hope cyanide can prolong life
FORT KNOX: Heap leaching could extend the mine's
operation by at least 5 years.
By ELIZABETH BLUEMINK
Anchorage Daily News
Published: November 11, 2006
The owners of the Fort Knox gold mine want to
cut costs and extend the mine's life up to five years by using
cyanide heap leaching.
The Fairbanks open-pit mine has been the state's
dominant gold mine since it opened 10 years ago. Last year
it processed a record 173,000 tons of ore per day. But the
gold mined from the ore fell to 329,320 ounces, down 20 percent
from the peak five years ago, according to the state.
If nothing changed, the mine would likely close
in 2010, according to state records.
The project is running out of high-grade ore.
Company officials are also worried because the cost of electrical
power to the mine is spiralling.
"We can't control everything," said
Delbert Parr, the Fort Knox mine's environmental manager,
while showing a chart depicting the escalating costs to an
audience at the Alaska Miners Association conference in Anchorage
on Friday afternoon.
The gold mine is about 26 miles northeast of
Fairbanks and sits on state and Alaska Mental Health Trust
land.
Owned by Toronto-based Kinross Gold Corp., the
mine already uses cyanide in its milling process, but it doesn't
have the permits needed to start heap leaching.
Heap leaching is a process in which lower-grade
ore is piled and a cyanide solution is dripped or sprinkled
over the ore. The solution causes the gold to leach out of
the rock. The technique has been controversial at some other
mines.
The Army Corps of Engineers is completing an
environmental assessment of the company's heap-leach proposal.
The heap-leach pile would be contained inside
the company's current mining footprint. While Fort Knox would
need a dredge-and-fill permit for the leach pile, it wouldn't
need a water discharge permit because Fort Knox doesn't release
contaminated wastewater into the environment, state officials
said Friday.
Company officials said Friday that they hope
to get their permits by next year and start construction in
late fall 2008.
They said the new process will allow the mine
to start processing lower-grade ore, potentially extending
the mine's life until 2015.
"Heap leach offers a new future for Fort
Knox," Parr said.
Daily News reporter Elizabeth Bluemink can be
reached at ebluemink@adn.com or 257-4317.
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