Mine training center leases state rock quarry

The Delta Mine Training Center, a non-profit organization based in Delta Junction, Alaska, has finalized a lease with the state for its training property.

The 40-acre site about 30 miles east of Delta Junction near the Alaska Highway has been used by the training center under a land use permit, according to Executive Director Whit Hicks.

The former rock quarry, first used by the Alaska Department of Transportation for an industrial minerals site, was closed by the state when an archeological site was discovered nearby.

Mine training classes from Delta have been working on a portal being dug into the rock face, providing hands-on experience in working with specialized underground mining equipment, Hicks said.

The recent announcement transfers the property into a lease, with no charge for the training center, he said.

Delta Mine Training Center first began offering basic geological instruction in the late 1990s when developers of the Pogo deposit kicked off large exploration programs, including construction of an underground tunnel to access mineralized material.

Now the training center offers instruction required by the Mining Safety Health Administration, 40 hours for underground mining and 24 hours for surface mining. The center also offers a four-hour course, mandatory for vendors delivering items to the project.

Pogo, being developed as an underground mine, will require a substantial number of workers with those skills and training.

"Alaska does not have a heritage of underground mining here, where you have the second or third generation of family working in the mines," Hicks said. "A majority of the folks around here have not seen a large scale underground mine. They have skills of operating equipment, but it's a unique, very different environment working in an underground mine."

Once complete, Pogo will employ about 300 workers, mill operators as well as underground miners. "We want Alaskans to have a chance to get a shot at those jobs," Hicks said.

Since July 1, 2003, 523 people have completed either the underground or the surface mining classes at the center, said Al Carr, program coordinator at the training center.

In addition, contractors working to build the Pogo mine site are required to employ people who have completed the 24-hour surface mine training, as well as a first aid and CPR training.

Hicks and his staff of 12 have been busy in recent weeks, providing that training, he said. "It's been non-stop since Christmas," he said. "We keep getting promises of a lull … but it hasn't come yet."

He expects a continued need for the surface and underground mining training, even after Pogo construction is complete and mine operations begin.

Expansion of the Pogo mill throughput could generate a need for more miners, Hicks said, and the center plans to offer refresher and advanced training courses.

In addition, plans to restart the Nixon Fork underground gold mine in the Interior and development of the Kensington gold project near Juneau could provide an additional stream of workers needing underground mine training.

Construction of a mine at the Donlin Creek gold deposit in southwest Alaska could also provide another large source of mining-related jobs. "We're here to support all of that," Hicks said.