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Alaska Mining

Alaska Gold Mine Dispute Stayed as Operators Look to Trump – by Stephen Lee (Bloomberg – January 5, 2017)

https://www.bna.com/

Backers of the proposed Pebble Mine in Alaska agreed to pause their lawsuit against the Environmental Protection Agency, a move many are reading as a bid for friendlier terms under the incoming Trump administration.

In 2015, the EPA proposed under the Clean Water Act to limit where the massive mine would be allowed to dispose its waste, in order to protect the nearby Bristol Bay salmon fishery.

In response, the mine’s backers filed suit in a U.S. district court, alleging that the EPA colluded with three federal advisory committees to arrive at a predetermined conclusion that handicapped the proposed gold and copper mine.

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British Columbia to clean up mine near Juneau (Washington Times – January 5, 2017)

http://www.washingtontimes.com/

Associated Press – JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) – Canadian officials say they will take action to prevent polluted water from a decades-old mine from entering the Taku River, a key source of salmon caught in southeast Alaska.

British Columbia Ministry of Energy and Mines Minister Bill Bennett told CoastAlaska News (http://bit.ly/2iGcewN) experts will explore different options, including plugging leaking tunnels from the defunct Tulsequah Chief Mine. The acidic water has been carrying pollutants into the Tulsequah River, which is a tributary of the Taku near Juneau.

The mine hasn’t operated since 1957, and the two companies that tried to reopen it in the last 20 years have been unsuccessful.

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Year in Review: Mining: Transboundary concerns, Icy Cape prospect, Red Dog tax battle – by Staff (Alaska Journal of Commerce – December 2016)

http://www.alaskajournal.com/

Alaskans worried about the potential impact of upstream Canadian mines on Southeast Alaska fisheries officially got their voices heard by the State Department after years of asking for federal intervention.

An assistant secretary of state wrote in an October letter to the Alaska congressional delegation that the State Department is actively engaged with Canadian officials to protect the “transboundary” watersheds that bisect the U.S.-Canada border along Southeast Alaska.

The October letter was in response to a September request from Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan and Rep. Don Young to Secretary of State John Kerry requesting the State Department to establish a formal way for Canadian officials to consult with U.S. federal and state agencies and Alaska Native tribes during Canada’s mine permitting process, similar to the domestic environmental impact statement process. It was the second such letter the delegation had sent to Kerry since May.

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Trump win ignites hope for stalled Alaska copper, gold mine – by Nicle Mordant(Reuters – December 21, 2016)

http://www.reuters.com/

VANCOUVER – A small Canadian miner is confident Donald Trump’s U.S. presidential win will let it proceed with an application for a copper and gold mine in Alaska that has been stalled almost three years by environmental regulators aiming to protect the world’s biggest sockeye salmon fishery.

Ronald Thiessen, chief executive officer and president of Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd, said he expected the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to announce in the first quarter of 2017 that it will let the application process proceed for the controversial project. He said the company has held discussions with Trump’s transition team, including Myron Ebell, who heads the EPA transition.

Shares in Northern Dynasty, which owns the massive Pebble deposit in southwest Alaska’s Bristol Bay region, have more than doubled since the U.S. election on Nov. 8. The shares surged 23 percent on Nov. 9 alone.

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A golden anniversary for Fort Knox: Alaska’s highest-producing gold mine celebrates 20 years in operation – Editorial (Fairbanks Daily News-Miner – November 4, 2016)

http://www.newsminer.com/

News-Miner opinion: The traditional gift on a 20th anniversary is china, but for Kinross Fort Knox Gold Mine, every anniversary is golden. This year, the massive open-pit mine north of Fairbanks poured its 7 millionth ounce of gold, a milestone the company initially thought it might never reach. For two decades, the mine has been a major employer for the Interior. New techniques and prospects may yet push its lifespan further than expected.

The claim to the land where Fort Knox now sits was originally staked more than 100 years ago, in 1913. But though other nearby lands close to Fox were subject to heavy placer and dredge mining during Fairbanks’ early decades, the Fort Knox land sat idle until it was restaked in 1980 and purchased in 1992 by Amax Gold.

Construction on the mine began in 1995, and the next year, it poured its first bar of gold. In 1998, Amax merged with Toronto-based Kinross Gold Co., and in the 18 years since, millions more ounces of gold have been poured at the mine.

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U.S. State Dept has interest in upstream Canadian mining projects – by Elwood Brehmer (Alaska Journal of Commerce – October 17, 2016)

http://www.alaskajournal.com/

But the issue is far from resolved says Alaska’s congressional delegation

The U.S. State Department has taken a positive step to recognize the concerns some Alaskans have with upstream Canadian mining projects, but the issue is far from resolved, according to the members of Alaska’s congressional delegation.

Assistant Secretary of State for Legislative Affairs Julia Frifield wrote in an Oct. 6 letter to the delegation that the State Department is actively engaged with Canadian officials to protect the watersheds that bisect the U.S.-Canada border along Southeast Alaska.

“The Department of State intends to continue to work, in coordination with other U.S. government agencies, to ascertain what the Canadian federal government is doing to meet U.S. concerns about protecting this sensitive shared ecosystem from potential transboundary pollution during mine development, operation, impoundment design, and post-closure, and through bonding practices,” Frifield wrote.

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B.C., Alaska sign agreement boosting protection for shared waters on mine projects – by Rob Shaw (Vancouver Sun – October 6, 2016)

http://vancouversun.com/

VICTORIA — B.C. and Alaska have formalized a deal to work together on cross-border mining projects and help protect waterways straddling both jurisdictions.

B.C. mines minister Bill Bennett said the “Statement of Cooperation on the Protection of Transboundary Waters” puts in writing requirements for the province to notify Alaska if there is any unplanned accidental discharge by a mine that could impact streams or waterways in the U.S. state. It establishes a bilateral working group and includes the Americans in the planning, design, environmental assessment and permitting processes for mines.

“So it’s not that this agreement changes how B.C. does this from a scientific or environmental or mining point of view. It’s that we are sharing a lot more information and we are agreeing that the things that we were not doing, which is making sure we had good baseline information on the rivers, we will in fact get that done in the near future,” Bennett said.

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Immediate Review of B.C. Mining Safety Demanded by Alaska Native Leaders – by Richard Walker (Indian Country Today – September 15, 2016)

http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/

An organization of Alaska Native leaders wants the U.S./Canada International Joint Commission, formed by a 1909 treaty, to ensure British Columbia mines use best practices to prevent contamination of rivers that cross from Canada into Southeast Alaska.

They also want Alaska Native governments to be consulted because their territories, economies and environmental health are at stake. The United Tribal Transboundary Mining Work Group, a union of 15 federally recognized Alaska Native governments in the state’s southeast, takes issue with a September 8 letter to Secretary of State John Kerry from Alaska’s congressional delegation.

The congressional delegation asked that the federal government “partner with Alaska to press Canada on policy answers” regarding mining, “encourage British Columbia officials to consider the cumulative impacts of mining and their potential impacts on transboundary waters,” and determine whether the International Joint Commission “is a suitable venue to determine whether Canadian mines are following ‘best practices’ in treatment of wastewaters and acid-producing mine tailings.”

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Transboundary mine developer shutting down – by Ed Schoenfeld (Alaska Public Radio Network – September 14, 2016)

The company trying to reopen the controversial Tulsequah Chief Mine, upstream from Juneau, is being taken over by an investor that’s owed millions of dollars. It means polluted water could continue to drain from mine tunnels into a Taku River tributary. But there are disagreements over what, if any, damage is being done.

Toronto-based Chieftain Metals has been trying to reopen the historic Tulsequah Chief Mine for about six years. The zinc, copper and gold mine is in northwest British Columbia, about 20 miles from the Alaska border. It’s next to a waterway that drains into the Taku River, near the capital city.

Biologists call it one of Southeast Alaska’s largest salmon-producing watersheds. But a major investor wants its debt repaid. Chieftain Metals doesn’t have enough money to do it. So, it’s going into receivership, which can lead to bankruptcy.

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[Alaska] Southeast tribes voice mining concerns to State Department – by Kevin Gullufsen (Juneau Empire – August 17, 2016)

http://juneauempire.com/

Southeast tribal groups met with officials from the Department of State and the Environmental Protection Agency last week in Juneau and Ketchikan to discuss ongoing issues with Canadian mining projects on Southeast Alaska watersheds.

The Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska called for the meetings to address concerns over Canadian mines diverting potentially-toxic water to Southeast Alaska rivers. So-called “transboundary” mines are proposed on the Stikine, Taku, Alsek and Unuk River watersheds.

“What we’re trying to do is elevate our concerns and make sure they’re heard at the appropriate levels,” Central Council president Robert Peterson said in a Tuesday phone interview with the Empire. “We’re not against mining, what we’re concerned about are the mining practices that are proposed. … We’re concerned that all measures are taken and we want to ensure that our voices are heard.”

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Federal judge rules against Wishbone Hill mine prospect – by Alex DeMarban (Alaska Dispatch News – July 9, 2016)

http://www.adn.com/

A federal judge has dealt a blow to an Alaska mining operator hoping to extract coal from the Wishbone Hill prospect near Palmer, ordering a federal agency to revisit a 2014 decision that allowed Usibelli to hold onto its 25-year-old permit though development had not occurred in a timely manner.

State officials said the next step is an administrative process by the Office of Surface Mining and Reclamation and Enforcement that could determine the validity of the permit. Conservation groups involved in the lawsuit said the next logical step will be a cessation order stopping the project because the company has no valid permit.

“The Office of Surface Mining will have to issue a cessation unless the state finds new evidence that mining happened within the proper time frame,” said Katie Strong, staff attorney at Trustees for Alaska, which represented conservation groups in the case. “But the state and Usibelli said no mining started until June 2010, so there aren’t circumstances here that will cause the permits to still be valid.”

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Alaska Natives, environmentalists add to push for action on nearby Canadian mining – by Erica Martinson (Alaska Dispatch News – June 28, 2016)

http://www.adn.com/

WASHINGTON — Alaska Native and environmental groups on Monday petitioned the Interior Secretary to launch a formal investigation into whether pollution from mines in British Columbia is causing problems for wildlife across the border in Southeast Alaska.

The groups pointed to a 1971 amendment and several international agreements to argue that Interior Secretary Sally Jewell has a duty to launch an investigation into the potential Alaska environmental impacts from six hard-rock mines in British Columbia. And they want the agency to support a joint United States-Canada commission to hash out the issue.

Earthjustice attorney Kenta Tsuda charged the U.S. government with “waiting on the sidelines” as Canadian mine companies barrelled ahead, and Frederick Olsen Jr., chairman of the United Tribal Transboundary Mining Work Group, called the state of affairs “federal under-reach.”

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Alaska group raises international concerns in Ottawa over B.C. mine operations – by Bruce Cheadle (Vancouver Sun – June 16, 2016)

http://vancouversun.com/

Ottawa — A delegation from Alaska says it is time to enforce the century-old Boundary Waters Treaty between Canada and the United States when it comes to northern British Columbia mining activity. The group is in Ottawa this week seeking to enlist federal help in stopping B.C. copper and gold mines from polluting the headwaters of key salmon rivers that flow from Canada into Alaska.

They’re also pushing the U.S. State Department to refer the matter to the International Joint Commission, which was created under the 1909 Boundary Waters Treaty to help resolve disputes along internationally shared waters.

Frederick Otilius Olsen, an indigenous tribal vice-president from Kassan, Alaska, says the catastrophic failure of the Mount Polley mine tailings dam in 2014 was a “huge wake up call” that galvanized concerns over what he sees as British Columbia’s lax mining regulations.

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Opinion: B.C. mines threaten Alaska fisheries – by Cynthia Wallesz (Vancouver Sun – May 25, 2016)

http://vancouversun.com/

Cynthia Wallesz is executive director of the United Southeast Alaska Gillnetters.

For two years, I’ve been learning about B.C.’s mining industry and how it is threatening water, ecosystems, salmon and jobs downstream in Southeast Alaska.

It’s been shocking to realize the significant inadequacies of B.C.’s mining regulatory processes. For example, mining companies are not required to use best available technologies or practices to reduce risks, nor do they provide compensation to those affected by pollution from large-scale open-pit projects at the headwaters of world-class river systems.

These inadequacies were confirmed recently in an email I received from B.C. Mines Minister Bill Bennett in response to my question, “How would our fishing fleet be financially compensated if we suffered financial losses from real or perceived water quality contamination from B.C.’s projects?”

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Alaska asks John Kerry to raise B.C. mine pollution concerns with Canada – by Mark Hume (Globe and Mail – May 15, 2016)

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/

VANCOUVER — British Columbia’s downstream neighbours in Alaska have long been concerned about mining pollution flowing across the border. Now that B.C.’s Auditor-General has confirmed that those fears are well founded, issuing an audit recently that found the province is doing a poor job of regulating its mines, three Alaskan politicians have elevated the issue in Washington.

In a letter sent on Thursday, Senators Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan, and Congressman Don Young, urged U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry to talk about it with the Canadian government.

“We write to express our continuing concerns about the development of several hardrock mines in British Columbia and their potential effects on water quality in the transboundary rivers that flow from Canada into southeast Alaska,” the letter states.

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