State working on half dozen mining road, port projects

The first of two-seasons of construction is under way on the Nome Glacier Creek Road realignment in western Alaska. This is just one of a number of mining road and port projects the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities has carried into Phase II, Mike McKinnon, the project's manager, told the Alaska Miners Association annual conference in Anchorage Nov. 4.

For five years, he said, the department has "been looking at the issue of industrial development roads with the idea that there are situations where the state of Alaska could make surface transportation investments in ports and roads" that would give a push to "projects that are feasible and economic at the site" but need access, thus speeding up getting minerals to the market. Both mining and oil and gas projects are included (see story on oil and gas access projects in Nov. 21 issue of Petroleum News).

Phase I of the department's resource transportation analysis, in 2000-2002, looked at traditional long-distance, overland routes for mineral resources, but found that in today's conditions they are "too expensive to build and operate," McKinnon said.

But with a combination of a port and a short road, you had something - like the Red Dog mine transportation system - that works on Alaska's western coast he said.

Mine road and port projects carried into Phase II include: the Delong Mountain terminal port expansion at Red Dog; the Point Lay deadfall syncline coal mine access; the Noatak Airport and Red Dog Mine access road; the Nome Glacier Creek Road to Rock Creek Mine; Yukon-Kuskokwim rivers ports and roads; and the Pebble gold-copper port and road.

Improving Red Dog access

At the Red Dog zinc mine, the department is working with the NANA Regional Corp., Teck Cominco and the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority on a proposed expansion of the existing port facility. Currently, barges deliver to ships offshore, but with the proposed port expansion ships would come directly into port through a dredged channel and turning basin.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is working on a draft environmental impact statement and McKinnon said the EIS should be out for review in early 2005.

The department is working with Arctic Slope Regional Corp., NANA and Teck Cominco on finding a route between the Deadfall Syncline coal mine near Point Lay and the Delong Mountain Terminal, with a goal of moving 1 million to 2 million tons a year of high-quality coal to Asian markets for manufacturing use in coal-blend formulas.

A 90-mile road to Delong Mountain Terminal appears most practical, as grades and terrain breaks appear to preclude rail. McKinnon said reconnaissance engineering is expected to be complete by mid-May, and the project will then go into standby mode until ASRC and others move the coal project forward.

A third project is also Red Dog-related. The airport at Red Dog is closed or at marginal operations about 40 percent of the time, McKinnon said, and the department is looking at Noatak for a jet airport with a 20 to 35 mile road to the Red Dog mine.

Having a 5,000-foot jet-capable runway at Noatak would improve air carrier operations, and the road would benefit Noatak, which could get fuel deliveries by truck from the port. A reconnaissance engineering report on this project is due in March.

The Nome Glacier Creek Road realignment will improve access to the Rock Creek Gold Mine, remove traffic from the Nome watershed and improve state maintenance and operations costs. This project is funded through the Federal-Aid Highway program and the two-season construction project is under way and will be completed by the fall of 2005.

Roads and ports: the big projects

The big mining road and port projects include a Yukon-Kuskokwim transportation corridor and road and port access to the Pebble gold-copper prospect near Lake Iliamna in southwest Alaska.

Work on an environmental impact statement began in September for the Yukon-Kuskokwim transportation corridor, with a draft EIS expected in December 2005, a final EIS in December 2006 and construction in the summer of 2007.

There are navigation constraints for this project, McKinnon said: the Yukon allows larger barges but the Kuskokwim operates longer in the year. A May 2004 phase II analysis shows ports on the rivers, and a road network linking the ports to the region's mineralized area, are practical construction projects with positive economic values to the region.

A port on the Kuskokwim and a 24-mile road linking the port to the Donlin Creek mine would likely be the first project, with the second phase a mainline barge port on the Yukon River and a 65-mile road to Donlin. Over time, a road could be built north from Donlin to the McGrath/Ruby area, providing access to other known deposits.

The department said in an October report: "The EIS process is committed to ongoing work with Yukon and Kuskokwim river villages to ensure the project incorporates safeguards to protect the region's subsistence resources.

Work on access to the Pebble gold-copper prospect has already incorporated local knowledge, McKinnon said. The draft reconnaissance engineering review the department began working on in November has already pulled the road back away from the lake shore in response to village concerns and because snow drift conditions are worse near the lake.

The Pebble gold-copper transportation corridor includes a west Cook Inlet port and an 80-mile road for freight, fuel and concentrate transport. Work on a benefit/cost analysis is scheduled to begin this February, and final reconnaissance engineering will be complete in May.