Alaska accepts rare earth challenge

Alaska officials are seeking to turn the national challenge of securing domestic supplies of critical minerals into an opportunity.

"Alaska has accepted the challenge," Gov. Sean Parnell told participants in the Strategic and Critical Minerals Summit held Sept. 30 in Fairbanks. "Where China has said, 'We're going to curtail exports,' … Alaska is accepting the challenge of saying, 'We've got them here, and we want to provide them to our nation and to the world beyond."

The Department of Natural Resources organized the daylong summit to bring together national security experts, state and federal policy makers, scientists, and industry officials for discussion; brainstorm ways to encourage mineral development; and provide an opportunity for networking.

Parnell used the gathering to renew the state's commitment to helping develop strategic minerals - including rare earth elements (REEs) - in Alaska. The governor also unveiled a strategy with five components:

• Conduct a statewide assessment of strategic mineral potential.

State lawmakers this year agreed to spend US$498,000 to compile existing geologic information and survey new areas for mineral potential.

Rare earth elements have already been found at 71 sites, including 14 sites on the Bokan Mountain property near Ketchikan.

But Parnell described Alaska as "one of the most underexplored regions of the world" and claimed Alaska's potential for REEs is "huge." The assessment will cover material already gathered on state, federal, and private land in Alaska, and will include surveys of select state lands.

Parnell said he recently urged Interior Secretary Ken Salazar to conduct a similar survey focusing on federal lands in the state.

• Provide incentives for mineral development. Parnell noted the state's support for a road to the Ambler mining district, and the granting of bonding authority for mining projects to the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority. "You've got a state government - both in the legislative branch and the executive branch - that is focused on making this happen," he said. Parnell said the state is exploring ways to support the development of the Bokan Mountain site and the nearby Niblack exploration site with shared facilities built on state land.

• Improve permitting processes.

Parnell touted the state's Large Mine Permitting Team, but said the permitting process must be made more efficient.

"We can't afford these 10 or 20-year delays before mines come along," he said.

"We can't afford another two decades for a Kensington (Mine)." He said the Department of Natural Resources will study how state requirements interplay with federal requirements; modify agency public notice requirements to complement each other; standardize procedures for calculating bond requirements; identify regulatory hurdles specific to strategic mineral mining, processing, and transport; and work with federal regulators to change shipping restrictions on the radioactive elements thorium and uranium, which commonly occur with REEs.

Parnell also said some of the US$4 million appropriated this year to address a permitting backlog will go toward improving the permitting process.

• Deepen coordination with stakeholders. As minerals are likely to be found on federal and Native corporation land as well as state land, strong working relationships with federal agencies and private landowners will be critical, Parnell said. (Alaska's most promising REE site, Bokan Mountain, is on federal land.) Joint research projects and even the REE summit itself will aid relationship building, he said.

• Attract new investment. Parnell said the state will publicly promote its mineral resources, "favorable fiscal structure," and commitment to environmentally responsible development. "Know that we are open to your investments," he told summit attendees. "We want you to get a return on that investment, and in doing so, we will be maximizing that resource for Alaska's benefit as well."

Understanding REEs

While the state is committed to a "soup-to-nuts" permitting review, as DNR Commissioner Dan Sullivan put it, some elements of permitting an REE mine remain a mystery to state regulators.

Ed Fogels, deputy commissioner of DNR, said in an interview that the agency is developing a series of white papers addressing the permitting of unconventional activities, including geothermal drilling, shale oil development, and REE mining.

DNR has a good understanding of how to deal with wastes from conventional gold, copper, lead, and zinc mines, Fogels said. But REEs will involve different processing techniques and different waste products. "We don't have a lot of experience with that, and not a lot of people really do," he said.

Fogels said REE permitting will focus largely on processing and waste disposal. "When Bokan Mountain wants to go, they're going to give us their applications and we're going to go, 'Where are you going to put all your waste? Is that going to stay there forever? Is that going to leak some radioactive material?'"

Regulations relating to the transport of radioactive material will likely depend on how much processing is done on site, he said.

REE expert Jack Lifton and other speakers at the summit advocated keeping as much processing as possible in-state, adding value to the commodity and creating jobs. Michael Silver, president of American Elements, noted how Molycorp's "mine-to-magnets" approach led the international mining company to go into business with a wind turbine manufacturer. "Add value," Silver said. "Build those facilities up here."

Parnell said he would have to learn more before setting goals for in-state processing or considering incentives, but said he would do whatever he could to develop the minerals for the benefit of Alaska and the U.S.

Filling in the map

Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys Director Bob Swenson said the statewide assessment of critical minerals will be a multi-stage project taking place over at least the next two years.

The project will include the review and presentation of existing geophysical data on REEs, as well as new geochemical analyses of samples at the state's Geologic Materials Center in Eagle River.

It will also include new geophysical surveys and other field work at select areas with REE occurrences or potential. This summer, DGGS conducted fieldwork in the Moran area west of Tanana and an REE assessment near William Henry Bay in Southeast Alaska.

Swenson said DGGS will release information on its public database and website as the information becomes available. The agency will also release any new reports based on the data.

Making it a national priority

Several speakers at the summit described the federal government as dangerously lax in addressing supply threats related to critical minerals.

"As a country, we have some very real problems on our hands," said U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski. "We rely on minerals for the smallest computer chips to the tallest skyscrapers. … The fact of the matter is, nothing happens unless we've got these elements."

Earlier this year, Murkowski introduced the Critical Minerals Policy Act (S. 1113), requiring the U.S. Geological Survey to develop a list of critical minerals - minerals that are important to the economy and subject to supply disruptions - and a comprehensive strategy to encourage the domestic production of those minerals. The bill also tasks USGS with assessing domestic critical mineral resources and creates a working group to review permitting processes.

S. 1113 was heard in June in a subcommittee of the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, of which Murkowski is the ranking Republican. Murkowski tried unsuccessfully in early October to add provisions of the bill to a bill on currency exchange oversight.

At the summit, Murkowski also spoke forcefully of the need for federal permitting reform and a solution to "the constant barrage of litigation" on development projects. She said she is working to block the Environmental Protection Agency from imposing bonding requirements in addition to those already required.

Jeff Doebrich, director of USGS's minerals program, outlined steps USGS is already taking to assess critical minerals. He said the agency would embark on a new research project in October titled Critical Mineral Resources for the 21st Century. The project will evaluate mineral inventories, assess supply risks, and develop a method for designating critical minerals.

Dwight Bradley, a research geologist at USGS's Alaska Science Center, said the agency also would conduct geological investigations of six different REE deposit types. Bokan Mountain will be one of the case studies.