Producing, Permitting, and Prospective Mines: Alaska's big mining picture.

• Author: Kay, Alexandra

Six. The question "How many large mines are operating in Alaska?" can be answered with one hand plus an extra finger. Six large-scale mineral producers collectively employed nearly 2,700 workers in 2019. Alaska's mines produced nearly $4 billion worth of non-fuel minerals in 2021, from vast quantities of zinc and lead to precious gold and silver. More projects are lined up to join them, aiming to enlarge the statewide mineral portfolio to a second or third handful of mines, extracting copper, cobalt, and rare earth elements (REE). What follows is an overview of Alaska's mines, those in production and in the advanced exploration or permitting stages.

Producing Mines

FORT KNOX

Fort Knox is an open-pit gold mine northeast of Fairbanks. The mill has the capacity of processing up to 45,000 tons per day, with large volumes of lower grade ore and mineralized waste materials processed in the heap leach. In December 2021, Fort Knox celebrated its 25th anniversary.

Kinross Fort Knox spent a total of $377 million in Alaska in 2021, a contribution of 6 percent to the gross domestic product of the Fairbanks-North Star Borough. Between contractors and Kinross employees. Fort Knox accounts for approximately 4 percent of jobs in the Interior region. The company also received the Business of the Year award from the Greater Fairbanks Chamber of Commerce.

GREENS CREEK

As of September 2022, Hecla's Greens Creek mine, located on the City and Borough of Juneau's slice of Admiralty Island, had produced 4.8 million ounces of silver, nearly 24,000 ounces of gold, 10,000 ounces of lead, and almost 26,000 ounces of zinc. Last year Hecla conducted underground drilling in the Southwest Bench, 200 South, East, and West ore zones focused on resource conversion and performed exploratory drilling in the East and Gallagher Fault block zones.

Assay results from Southwest Bench, 200 South, East, West, and 9A areas confirm and expand the mineral zones. Also over the past year, Hecla Mining made a significant investment in infrastructure, working on a camp expansion and upgrade as well as the reconstruction or replacement of road bridges. Eighty-seven percent of the mine's power was generated by hydro, which significantly reduced the operation's carbon footprint. In partnership with Sandvik Mining and Rock Technology, the company completed the longest automated underground truck haulage route in North America.

The company expects the US Forest Service to begin taking public comment in January on its Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement for a request to expand the mine's tailings storage facility by approximately 13.7 acres. For the only mine operating inside a national monument, it's a tricky project, but one that could extend Greens Creek's operations for another decade. According to a Hecla spokesperson, "The expansion is designed to avoid any new Monument disturbance outside the existing lease boundary, avert any disturbance to the fish-bearing reaches of Tributary Creek, eliminate the need to construct a new, 'remote' tailings facility, and continue the use of a 'dry-stack' tailings disposal method."

KENSINGTON

North of Juneau, Coeur Alaska's Kensington Mine is the second largest private employer in the capital city, with more than 400 full-time employees.

In its 2022 second...