A major Canadian mining prospect upstream from Southeast Alaska is drawing legal challenges from both sides of the border, as tribal groups fear the project could pollute their ancestral waterways.
At the river’s mouth
The Southeast Alaska Indigenous Transboundary Commission, or SEITC, is worried about the region’s rivers. The commission represents 15 Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian nations that came together because they believe mining in British Columbia poses a threat to their spawning salmon and hooligan habitats, like the Unuk and Stikine Rivers.
The transboundary commission’s attention is currently on the Kerr-Sulphurets-Mitchell project, a proposed gold and copper mine at the foot of a glacier just across the Canadian border. “KSM is on a whole other scale of mining, one of the world’s largest open pit mines, if it’s ever built,” said Guy Archibald, SEITC’s director. “Our tribes and communities are directly downstream. We rely on fish and the food security opportunities that the Unuk provides.”
For the rest of this article: https://alaskapublic.org/news/environment/2025-01-28/worlds-largest-undeveloped-gold-mine-faces-legal-challenges-from-canada-and-alaska-tribal-nations