Inside Alaska industry: facts and figures from around the state.

• Author: Woodring, Jeannie

MINING

Coal Contract Signed. A new three-year contract selling Usibelli steam coal to the Korean Electric Power Co. started up Oct. 29, sending sighs of relief throughout Alaska.

The contract, in effect since 1984, has moved between 640,000 and 700,000 tons of coal annually from Usibelli Coal Mine in Healy to the Korean market, the only export outlet for the Alaska mineral.

To keep Alaska coal competitive on the world market, the Alaska Railroad has hauled the coal from Healy to Seward at a loss for the last two years. From Seward, Suneel Alaska Corp. has shipped the coal to Korea.

Trouble began brewing this fall when the coal contract came up for renewal on Oct. 31. Bucking low coal prices on the world market, Suneel asked for a $3.27-per-metric ton decrease for the Alaska coal. Suneel and Usibelli agreed to absorb the expense of the decrease, hoping the railroad would keep its transportation prices the same to make the contract work.

The Alaska Railroad refused, estimating that its coal haulage rates should increase from $8.62 per metric ton to between $9.13 and $9.50 a ton to cover the cost of transporting the coal. On Sept. 30, citing the fact that Suneel owed $1.4 million in transportation charges, the Alaska Railroad stopped hauling the Healy coal and laid off 15 employees.

If a new contract agreement failed to come through, Usibelli officials announced that up to 40 of their 120 employees could lose their jobs. Suneel faced terminating 14 employees at its Seward facilities.

In a last-minute agreement, Suneel and Usibelli kept their promise to take on the $3.27 cut per ton of coal, and the railroad consented to hold shipping charges to $9.13 per metric ton.

Other mining news nuggets:

* The defunct Windy Craggy copper mine proposal in British Columbia may have new life. Though the B.C. government declared the 2.3-million-acre site a wilderness area in late summer, Chaimpagne and Aishihik First Nation Indians have filed a Native land claim on the site. If it turns out the Natives own the land, negotiations could reopen for the Windy Craggy mine.

TIMBER

PACFISH Put Off. A PACFISH policy, developed by the Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service to increase "no-harvest" zones around fish streams, may not take hold in the Tongass National Forest this year.

Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens announced that he received commitment from a joint legislative committee that current stream protection in the Tongass would be studied and an...