Alaska Mining - No Longer Just a Dream.

• Author: Borell, Steve
• Position: Theme of 1996 annual convention of the Alaska Miners Association - 1996 Alaska Miners Convention

After several decades of anticipation, mining in Alaska is no longer just a dream. Recent developments in the mining industry are a dream come true for many areas of the state. The theme of the Alaska Miners Association 1996 annual convention is "Alaska Mining - No Longer Just a Dream," and it is important to understand why this is occurring now.

A Brief History

From the late 1890s until World War II, mining was a major industry in Alaska with both placer and lode (hardrock) mines operating. At the start of the war a presidential order closed gold and silver mining throughout the country so the skilled miners and the mining equipment would be used in the war effort.

But after the war, mining in Alaska did not return to its former level. Base metal mines in the Lower 48 and Canada that had been producing for the war effort had excess capacity and as a result companies did little exploration. Equipment prices and wages had increased during the war but the price of gold was set by law at $35/ounce, so many placer mines were no longer economic. And in Alaska, costs were higher, there was very little infrastructure and a harsh climate with a short exploration season.

The result was that some placer gold mines again began operating after the war, but until 1989 there was no hardrock mining in the state.

Recent History

Other factors in the late 1970s and 1980s affected mining, and land status uncertainty was the most significant. The Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA), of 1971 added uncertainty for a while. Then came pressure for special use restrictions and federal set-asides of Alaska lands. In 1978, President Carter, using the Antiquities Act, closed all of Alaska to new mining claims until passage of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act, in 1980. ANILCA took a total of 104 million acres (the total area of California is 100 million acres) that had previously been available for mineral exploration and placed it in parks, preserves, refuges, wilderness, wild & scenic rivers and other federal land designations. This put numerous major mineral deposits permanently off-limits. And where deposits were still outside these set-asides, the set-asides often isolated the deposits so they had no chance of reasonable road access.

At least two actions added to the land status uncertainty for state lands. The first was a land-planning approach that closed huge areas of state land to mining with little or no justification. This practice...