The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
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Two judicial rulings have been handed down recently which bode well for the future of mining activities in Alaska. The first concerns the Kensington Mine north of Juneau. In June of 2005, after 17 years of trying, the operators obtained all the permits necessary to start mining. The Southeast Alaska Conservation Council then sued to challenge the dredge and fill permit issued by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The so-called "404" permit was suspended temporarily in order to...
Alaska's placer mining industry has been almost wiped out by the Clean Water Act. In addition, every surface and subsurface lode mining operation has been forced to go through the dreaded process of getting a "404" dredge and fill permit from the Army Corps of Engineers. From Kensington to Pogo, access roads have been engineered and redesigned at great cost to minimize the impact on Alaska's "wetlands," even where the road is miles away from any water body. Since 1972, when...
We who live in Alaska are unusually fortunate for, among many other things, the fact that so much of the recorded history of the state is still within the recollection of friends and neighbors still alive. As each day passes, however, those cherished witnesses pass on and each such case is a page in time that is turned. Whether Native or Pioneer, scoundrel or statesman, Alaskans get to rub shoulders with our newsmakers. From time to time we choose to memorialize those who...
If you enjoy reading upbeat news, I draw your attention to an article in the May 2006 issue of Alaska Economic Trends by Susan Erben of the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development that describes a mine training program being conducted in Southeast Alaska. In that program, 78 students, ranging in age from 18 to over 60, were afforded the basic training necessary to gain entry level jobs in Alaska's evolving mining industry. With new major mines coming on line in...
Once again, the Anchorage Daily News has come out with a hand-wringing editorial worrying about the threat of global warming on Alaska. In the meantime, the state Legislature is forming a committee to look into the matter. It seems to me, however, that bemoaning the inevitable is counter-productive. Without minimizing for a moment the social costs that will result here in Alaska from extended significant global warming, this phenomenon has been ongoing, to one extent or...
I was reminded of the famous quotation by Friedrich Nietzsche last week when I had occasion to visit the recently completed Pogo mine near Delta. This impressively huge, modern facility will mine gold and pour bars for the next decade without spilling a drop of wastewater, while providing 230 or more quality jobs for the people of eastern Alaska. It is a tribute to how technology has combined with public policy to advance Alaska's economy without adversely impacting the...
Capitalism is good; its excesses are to be tolerated. Freedom of expression is good; and its excesses are likewise to be tolerated. When a successful capitalist uses his financial power to express himself, it truly represents the confluence of two very American very positive forces. When those forces are marshaled to achieve an evil objective, it is to be tolerated. As Thomas Jefferson observed, "error should be tolerated where truth is free to combat it." Environmentalism...
When I heard that Barrick Gold Corp. had made an unsolicited offer on Oct. 31, 2005, to purchase Placer Dome Inc. my first move was to purchase 100 Barrick shares. Although the acquisition was initially rejected, on Dec. 22 a follow-up offer was greeted more favorably. This appears to be a fortuitous marriage. In the 60 days I have held the stock it has gone from $25.05 per share to $29.48, an increase in value of 17.68 percent (106 percent annualized). I like that kind of...
I'm certain that I shall go to my grave without ever having unraveled the mystery of why otherwise bright people are so lacking in the most rudimentary vestiges of common sense. An illustration that proves the point is an article which appeared in the New York Times recently, and which was picked up by the Anchorage Daily News, bemoaning the social costs of mining gold. While the Times may, perhaps, be forgiven for its commitment as the self-styled voice of its political...
For those who thought radicals wore their baseball caps with the bills firmly cocked to the right, a leak out of the U.S. House of Representatives Resources Committee proved that the green men and women of the environmental movement can be radical too. Draft legislation was circulated in September proposing, in part, to sell off units of the national park system. The environmentalists' response made it clear that such a move would be equivalent to plunging a dagger through...
There has recently been a great deal of talk about how the hard rock mining industry in Alaska "needs to pay its share." One proposal is that this industry should be singled out for the imposition of a severance tax. In discussing this matter with a friend who is not involved with the hard rock mining industry, I was somewhat amazed by her support for this type of taxation. When I suggested to her that major mines often take more than a decade to go from discovery to...
In the waning days of his administration, then President Jimmy Carter passed through Anchorage en route to a meeting in Asia. His shocking and draconian use of the Antiquities Act to implement his vision of how Alaskans should be concentrated in isolated parcels surrounded by inaccessible, withdrawn lands had already been implemented. His execution of ANILCA was yet to be. Mr. Carter took a few minutes to meet with several business leaders during his brief stopover, and in...
