Kensington Mine Supreme Court Update.

Current  Mining Activity in Southeast Alaska

Producing Hardrock Mines  

Greens Creek Mine: The Greens Creek Mine is owned by Hecla Mining Company and produces silver, zinc, gold, and lead.  Despite the fact it is located within a National Monument where strict environmental standards apply, the mine has had issues with acid and heavy metal pollution.  According to the EPA, the mine is Alaska’s second largest producer of toxic waste.  For more information, check out High Stakes for the Fortress of the Bears.  

Hardrock Mines Under Construction

Kensington Mine:  Owned by Coeur d’Alene Mines, the Kensington would be an underground gold mine.  SEACC and our allies were successful in stopping Kensington’s plans to dump its toxic tailings into lake perched above Berners Bay, an amazing natural area.  The 9th Circuit Court determined the plan violates the Clean Water Act.  SEACC has worked to protect Berners Bay by pushing for a land disposal of tailings that is outside of the Berners Bay watershed.  Coeur has applied for permits for this new “Paste Tailings” plan.  To learn more about beautiful Berners Bay, check out Berners Bay - A Treasure Worth Saving.

Tulsequah Chief Mine:  Redcorp Ventures is pushing to reopen the Tulsequah Chief Mine, an abandoned mine just across the BC-Alaska border that has been leaking acid and toxic heavy metals into the Taku watershed for decades.  It plans to use an amphibious tug boat and a hovercraft like barge to access the mine via the Taku River.  This barge would carry supplies and hazardous materials up and down one of Southeast Alaska's most productive salmon rivers.  Their operation raise questions about potential negative impacts on salmon and interference with the Taku gillnet fleet.  For more information, check out Taku and Stikine, Southeast's Big Fish Rivers.

Everything under control on the Taku?  This is a RedCorp barge and tug on the Taku in 2008.

Proposed Hardrock Mines    

Galore Creek Mine:  After receiving approval for this large open-pit gold, copper, and silver mine near the Scud River in British Columbia, NovaGold Resources and Teck Cominco halted development because of rising construction costs.  The corporations underestimated construction costs by around 3 billion dollars.  A large part of the construction expenses involve a massive tailings dam.  The Galore Creek Mine would produce around 500 million tons of toxic and acidic material to be kept behind a 900 ft tall dam.  If that dam were to fail the pollution would drain into the Stikine.  The cumulative impacts this mine and other developments would have on the Stikine River is a major concern.

Schaft Creek Mine: CopperFox Metals is in the planning phase for development of this copper, gold, moylbdenum and silver deposit.  The large open pit and tailings waste this mine would produce could pollute the Stikine River.  

Other Activity

Yakutat D-1 Lands:  The Bureau of Land Management is planning to open 215,000 acres of land around Yakutat to mining and drilling.  The proposed plan has been opposed by the borough and a coalition of national, state, and regional environmental groups.

Salt Chuck: Research is being done to determine what type of clean up is needed to contain pollution at this abandoned mine owned by Pure Nickel.  Exploration activities are also occurring at this site.   

Mineral Exploration

Bokan Uranium:   Landmark Alaska is prospecting around this abandoned uranium mine that is contaminated with gamma radiation.  For more information, please take a look at Bokan Mountain Uranium Exploration:  Things You Should Know.

Duke Island:  Avalon Development is exploring for precious metals.  

Herbert Glacier:  Quaterra Alaska is exploring for precious metals.  

Hollis-Craig:  Full Metal Minerals is exploring for precious metals.

Kasaan:  Full Metal Minerals is exploring for precious metals.  

Niblack:  Niblack Mining is doing advanced exploration for precious metals.  The operations involve tunneling, drilling, and storage of acid producing waste and fuels.    

Palmer:  Constantine Metal Resources Ltd.’s exploration for precious metals in the Upper Chilkat Valley.   

Wowoedski: BravoVentures is exploring a massive sulfide deposit for metals.  

Zarembo: Small scale exploration for precious metals. 

Placer Mining

Yakataga Placer:  Beach placer mining

Schnabel Placer:  Haines area placer operation.

Grizzly Bar:  Bulk sampling for potential placer mining.