Governor gives Alaska miners the good news

After seeing his daughter Lisa elected to the U.S. Senate, the first place Alaska Gov. Frank Murkowski headed to on Nov. 3 was the Alaska Miners Association convention in Anchorage. Perhaps because of his good mood, Gov. Murkowski promised to request a $700,000 addition to next year's budget for enhanced airborne geophysical surveys. In a speech to the convention two days later, Alaska Department of Natural Resources Commissioner Tom Irwin confirmed the state's enthusiasm for the mining industry.

"Men and women of the Alaska mining industry have again for the eighth straight year in a row added something in the area of over a billion dollars to the economy of this state," said Murkowski. "It remains irrefutable that the future of mining in Alaska is probably as bright, if not brighter than those gold nuggets that some of you folks at the Fortymile are still digging up once in a while."

Mining claims, infrastructure

A total of 4,323 new state mining claims were filed in fiscal year 2004, covering more than 580,000 acres.

Since July 1, 2004 there have already been an additional 2,500 claims, covering more than 300,000 acres.

This upsurge was mainly due to Pogo, near Delta Junction in Interior Alaska, and Pebble, near Lake Iliamna, southwest of Anchorage.

"The big challenge, of course, is energy, and the cost of energy, and the development of potential energy sources nearby, whether it be natural gas or other forms of energy, coal, whatever," said Murkowski.

"Those are going to be the things that are going to make the determination of whether or not the economics will support some of these major developments in very isolated areas."

There are other infrastructure requirements, too, and the state of Alaska has been working to identify port, road and rail projects that could expedite resource development, with its "Roads to Resources" program. Murkowski described a recent visit to Nome, where he saw that a four-mile access road to the Rock Creek mine was already being built, in snowy conditions. One of the more ambitious long-term plans is to build a rail connection to the Lower 48.

"When I became governor of this state 22 months ago, I promised you that mining would remain one of the major economic pillars of my administration, and I've kept my word," Murkowski said. "We've enhanced the large mine permit team within the Department of Natural Resources. … We moved the Alaska coastal zone management planning to the Department of Natural Resources in order to streamline the process, by making it more objective and more accountable. That's a responsibility of government. We've got to be able to give you an answer - yes, no, or here's what you have to do to comply."

Administration will defend projects

The Murkowski administration is establishing what the governor calls "best permitting practices" which will reconcile conflicting state laws affecting resource development, so that permitting is less of a target for litigation by environmental groups; and eliminate unnecessary processes that add time and cost without benefiting the environment. The functions of the Habitat Division have been transferred to DNR to facilitate permitting processes. An Alaska statute has also been amended to enable mineral property holders to pay a penalty to have their mineral locations reactivated if they have been deemed abandoned under law.

"Miners take their livelihood from the land. You know that. You, better than most people, understand the value of a clean environment and responsible development practices," Murkowski said. "I'm going to make a pledge to you. If you follow - which of course you will, because it's good business - all the permitting and production regulations and take your environmental protection responsibilities to an even higher level, my administration will step in and aggressively defend you against those who attack your projects."

The governor complimented miners on their commitment to Alaska hire. "Under my administration we're not going to be hiring people from South America," he said. "Somebody asked me what I meant by that, it means any place south of Ketchikan."

Several other influential Alaskan politicians spoke briefly at the AMA convention. Lisa Murkowski's spokeswoman expressed the U.S. senator's regret that she couldn't be there in person. U.S. House Rep. Don Young told miners that in some cases they left the land better than it was before. "Nature isn't always the best steward," he said. Lt. Gov. Loren Leman was introduced as the grandson and son of miners. State House Majority Leader John Coghill reminisced about growing up near Usibelli coal mine. Although all these politicians are Republicans, Alaska's Democratic legislators have also voted consistently in favor of the mining industry.

Convention timed to coincide with election

"Politicians in Alaska have got their heads on straight," Steve Borell, AMA's executive director, told Mining News. "They know what resource development means." The convention was deliberately timed to coincide with the November election, but not only to take advantage of the political excitement. "It used to be the last week of October, but the dredges at Nome wouldn't be frozen up yet and some of the managers and engineers didn't come," Borell said.

DNR Commissioner Tom Irwin a mineral engineer

The appointment of Tom Irwin as DNR commissioner in January 2003 signaled more good news for Alaska miners. A mineral engineer, Irwin oversaw operations for two large hard-rock gold mines during his career: the Sleeper gold mine in Nevada and Fort Knox in Alaska. Irwin celebrated his birthday at the AMA convention, and his speech could only begin after the presentation of a giant toy fish, in honor of all his fish stories, a cake with candles, and the audience's rendition of "Happy Birthday."

"As you know, I clearly support this organization and the important role it has in Alaska," Irwin said. "Our future's in here, based on our decisions. Think about it for a moment. We have Red Dog, Greens Creek, Usibelli, Fort Knox and True North. They're mining the way we expect mining to be done, and this is a tremendous foundation to build on. … Their track record speaks for itself and that has to be our future. If anyone fouls up, we all pay the penalty. But we've got the foundation. Now we have Pogo under construction, as well as major development projects on the horizon, such as Kensington, Donlin, Rock Creek, Pebble gold and copper, Nixon Fork."

It isn't the scenery that attracts businesses to Alaska, Irwin said. "The fact is, they evaluate their business plans and they invest where they get the best return on their investment, the best cash flow and the best security for that cash flow. Alaska competes with the world. … Look, resource development is the economic future and it is the engine for Alaska. There are no other options, it's the resource development. Each mine creates real wealth. It creates real career opportunities, not just jobs. There's a big difference when you're talking about careers. And it has significant positive impacts on the communities and the boroughs that are around."

Large mine project team working on permitting

The large mine project team has been cooperating with a number of mines on permitting and reclamation, including Red Dog, Greens Creek, Illinois Creek and Kensington. Fairbanks Gold Mining has undertaken the first heap leach closure in Alaska at the Ryan Lode mine, and was praised by the Department of Environmental Conservation for its reclamation efforts. The state backed the developers of the Pogo project when they faced an appeal by a Fairbanks-based environmental group against a federal water discharge permit. The appeal was withdrawn in May of this year.

"The whole team at DNR supported the permitting of this mine, we jumped through hoops to have it come out earlier," Irwin said. "Underground activities are now scheduled to start 30 days ahead of schedule." The large mine project team can also help at the pre-application stage. "We've been meeting with Donlin, Rock Creek, Pebble gold and copper and other projects," Irwin said. "The idea is to help them as much as possible on application submissions, give them information about permitting, information about baseline studies that just facilitates their work."

DNR has also been asked to work on mines adjacent to the U.S.-Canada border in southeast Alaska. "It's for a twofold purpose," Irwin said. "Yes, they're above very critical fish streams. And yes, it has to be done right, but we don't want the state of Alaska to improperly restrict. It just ought to be good business, environmental sense, and so we're involved."

Taiga Mining honored for reclamation

Following Irwin's speech, Bob Loeffler from DNR's Division of Mining, Land and Water presented the 2004 Reclamation Award for exceptional stewardship to Taiga Mining. The company was nominated by the Bureau of Land Management. Taiga has been mining in the Bear Creek Watershed for more than a decade. Bear Creek is located within the BLM's Hogatza River Area of Critical Environmental Concern. Salmon from the Hogatza River provide angling and subsistence fishing opportunities along 800 miles of the Yukon River for residents of over 25 villages.

According to the award citation, "Taiga's mining and reclamation of approximately 200 acres has created stream valleys with adequate floodplain widths and channel locations such that streams were re-established with uniform slopes and appropriate widths and depths. These efforts have reduced stream head-cutting, lateral migration and subsequent sedimentation of new channels. The establishment of riparian vegetation within the active floodplain of Ida Creek is indicative of this channel stability."