The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
Says successful gold mine restoration shows enviro laws work North of 60 Mining News – October 30, 2020
The True North site after Kinross had mined 11.7 million tons of ore but had not yet begun the six-year reclamation process.
The site of the former True North Mine site after the reclamation and restoration completed by Kinross Gold.
Alaska Department of Natural Resources and Department of Environmental Conservation Oct. 27 announced that reclamation of the True North gold mine north of Fairbanks has been successfully completed and certified.
Kinross Gold Corp. operated the True North mine under a lease of state- and University of Alaska-owned land. Over a roughly four-year span ending in 2004, the company produced more than 490,000 ounces of gold from 11.7 million tons of ore trucked seven miles from True North to the mill at Fort Knox.
In 2009, Kinross began a six-year process of reclaiming and restoring the 2,050-acre mineral development site. The work included grading and recontouring 149 acres, seeding and fertilizing 270 acres, planting vegetation on 52 acres, and removing all mining buildings. All was largely completed by 2014. The operators also began a long-term monitoring program to ensure long-term stability of the landscape.
Earlier this month, the state agencies certified the completion of this work.
"Alaska's founders knew responsible resource development was key to a secure and prosperous state, and our experience with True North shows that they were right," said DNR Commissioner Corri Feige. "The developers leased state land, produced a valuable commodity to serve global markets, employed Alaskans, and paid state taxes and royalties. When they were done, they remediated the effects of their work and returned the land to the state for its next use. The system works."
DEC Commissioner Jason Brune praised the operators of True North for meeting both the spirit and letter of state environmental protection laws and demonstrating the wisdom of supporting responsible mineral production in Alaska.
"I always say, 'Think globally and develop locally,' because Alaska has some of highest environmental standards in the world," he said. "The successful reclamation of this mining site is the perfect example of why it's more environmentally conscientious for Alaskans to encourage mining here, rather than allow projects to go to parts of the world that don't undertake the protective efforts that we do."
True North is one of the first – and largest – modern hard rock mines on Alaska land where operators have completed their work, the state has accepted the operator's request to relinquish the land back to the state for management consistent with current land use plans.
Brune and Feige expressed appreciation to True North's managers on a job well done, and thanked the many state permitters and regulators, some now retired, whose dedicated work ensured protection of the public interest at every step in the process.
Over his more than 16 years of covering mining and mineral exploration, Shane has become renowned for his ability to report on the sector in a way that is technically sound enough to inform industry insiders while being easy to understand by a wider audience.
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