Producing mines prosper: extracting gold, silver, zinc, lead, and coal.

• Author: Stricker, Julie
• Position: SPECIAL SECTION: Mining

Step onto one of Alaska's six producing mines, and the first thing people hear is a talk about safety procedures as they're being handed a hard hat. Safety is a serious topic at workplaces that employ hundreds of people, many of whom are handling explosives, driving oversize trucks and shovels, and moving tons of rock, dirt, and ore daily.

So when Sumitomo Metal Mining's Pogo gold mine northeast of Delta Junction recorded its 365th day without an injury on August 28, it was cause for celebration. That's a total of 750,000 injury-free man-hours, says Pogo External Affairs Manager Lorna Shaw.

"We're very excited," she says.

Pogo is part of a network of underground mines in the United States Northwest that are members of a central mine rescue. Kensington and Greens Creek mines in Southeast Alaska are also members.

"Every underground mine is required to have a mine rescue team," Shaw says, noting Pogo has more than one to accommodate off-camp rotations and vacations. If staff at a mine happens to be short when an incident such as an underground fire occurs, safety teams from other mines will travel to help out.

"Should a situation arise, our priorities are people," Shaw says. "We're going to take care of them before anything else. Having this expertise on staff is critical."

Mining continues to be a major economic player in Alaska. Although only six large mines are in production, they account for some of the state's highest-paying jobs, averaging $100,000. The mines directly employ about 4,800 workers.

Pogo is the largest of the three producing gold mines in the state. The other two are Coeur Mining's Kensington mine forty-five miles northwest of Juneau and Kinross' Fort Knox mine east of Fairbanks. Hecla Mining Company's Greens Creek mine is a lead-zinc-silver-gold mine on Admiralty Island in Southeast Alaska; Teck Alaska's Red Dog mine in Northwest Alaska produces zinc and lead; and Usibelli near Healy is the state's only producing coal mine.

Pogo

Pogo is a remote underground mine that produced 337,393 troy ounces of gold in 2013, with similar production expected for 2014, Shaw says. Of the mine's 308 employees, 227 are from Alaska communities. They live on-site during their shifts. The ten-member management team has an average of eighteen years in Alaska and twenty-four years in mining, she says.

Another 80 permanent contracts for camp services and about 100 project-specific contractors are also at Pogo.

The most recent reserve report notes the mine has 13.594 million short tons of ore with an average gold grade of 0.366 ounces per...