Alaska Mining

https://amp.cnn.com/

CNN — One of President Donald Trump’s sweeping executive orders has reignited a debate over the future of Alaska’s vast wilderness and resources, sparking deep concern among some environmental groups and Indigenous communities.

Trump on his first day in office signed an executive order focused on “unleashing Alaska’s extraordinary resource potential.” It includes a directive to develop Alaska’s energy and mineral resources “to the fullest extent possible.”

Read more

https://www.miningnewsnorth.com/

From water pipelines to hydrogen bomb ports, Alaska holds a history of dreamers as big as the Last Frontier state.

As the world steps into a new year brimming with possibilities, a reflection on Alaska’s wildest visions through its relatively brief history can offer a glimpse into humanity’s boundless imagination. From grandiose pipelines spanning oceans to domed cities beneath the shadow of Denali, the Last Frontier has long been a canvas for audacious ideas that dared to reshape the future – and serves as a reminder of how bold thinking can pave the way for progress.

From its earliest days as part of the United States, Alaska has often been viewed as an underdog. Derided as “Seward’s Folly” after its 1867 purchase from Russia, this sprawling wilderness was dismissed by many as a frozen expanse of little value.

Read more

https://alaskapublic.org/

Rick Van Nieuwenhuyse has little patience left for mines that aren’t getting built.After 40 years in Alaska’s mining industry, he is tired of permitting delays, lawsuits and the state’s lack of infrastructure.

So a bell chimed in his head four years ago when he read a vague line in a corporate report proposing an unusual kind of gold mine — one that could be ready for construction in just a couple of years, instead of the dozen or more that some projects take. The idea was simple: Dig a typical pit and mine the ore — but send the rocks somewhere else for the heavy industrial process of separating out the gold.

Read more

https://www.miningnewsnorth.com/

President-elect vows to maximize Alaska’s mining potential; an aligned Congress swings political pendulum in industry’s favor.

With an incoming president that favors “reshoring” over “friendshoring” the nation’s critical mineral supply chains and a Congress positioned to pass permitting reform and other mining-related legislation that has stalled in one chamber or the other for more than a decade, America’s mining sector is poised for growth following the outcome of the Nov. 5 election.

“We are going to have a federal government – with the Senate, with the House, with the White House – that’s going to be fully backing our mining industry,” Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) said during a Nov. 6 impromptu address to a group of attendees at the Alaska Miners Association annual convention in Anchorage.

Read more

https://www.adn.com/

Alaska’s three-member, bipartisan congressional delegation is siding with boosters of the major proposed Donlin mine in an ongoing lawsuit filed by tribal governments that seeks to invalidate the Southwest Alaska project’s federal environmental approvals.

Republican U.S. Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan and Democratic U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola, in documents filed in federal court late Tuesday, called the proposed Southwest Alaska mine one of the state’s “most important and necessary economic development projects.”

Read more