Promise and peril mark the start of a boom decade.

• Author: Richardson, Jeffrey

The Alaska mining industry is in a mild state of euphoria. Prices are rising, exploration budgets continue their two-year upward trend and the first loads of Red Dog ore were shipped this summer. Not even fury at Environmental Protection Agency decisions regarding the Quartz Hill mine seem to dampen the mood of optimism.

Things are pretty active right now,' says Chuck Hawley, a veteran geologist and mining consultant.

An exultant Steve Borell, executive director of the Alaska Miners Association, says exploration in Alaska 'is probably more active this summer than any year since 1980.' He also points out the importance of two newly operating hard rock mines, Red Dog in Northwest Alaska and the Greens Creek gold/silver/lead/ zinc mine in Southeast Alaska.'Those two mines are effectively the first two hard rock mines in Alaska since World War II. That's a major, significant change for the state of Alaska,' he says.

Borell feels the success of the mines will be closely monitored by an industry that pulled back a decade ago from falling prices and what some contend was the chilling effect of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act. ANILCA designated millions of acres of federal land as conservation units off limits to mineral exploration.

Paul Glavinovich, a consultant who has been involved with the Greens Creek project, notes, We've seen a definite increase in the number of companies working up here, primarily due to optimism on the part of mining companies that the price levels are going to hold. Everything is up considerably in the base metals - copper, lead, zinc.' Those prices are up as much as 40-60 percent over levels of the last decade, according to Glavinovich.

They have expanded exploration budgets and with this they're looking at new areas instead of sticking with their own backyards, although properties found in this cycle may not be developed for 10-15 years,' he adds.

The precious metal gold continues to dominate Alaska's offerings. Often it is mixed with other metals, as at Greens Creek.

Hawley says the price of gold is fair at $350, but nothing to write home about.' In addition to gold exploration in Southeast, development continues in the Interior's venerable mining districts, typically utilizing new technologies that are economically viable at current price levels.

Coal, Alaska's third major mineral category, has seen some regulatory progress toward facilitating development of the Beluga field. But more significantly, the Wishbone Hill mine near Sutton is on track, thanks to legislative approval for purchase of $9 million worth of coal cars by the Alaska Railroad. The rolling stock is needed to make the project feasible for developer Idemitsu Kosan. Also, the progressive Usibelli Mine Co. is pursuing a number of initiatives to make Alaskan coal more competitive in world markets. Assessing Impact. Since territorial days, on a statewide basis, mining in Alaska has never produced revenue or economic spin-off comparable to oil and gas development. Though it has often been equally, or more, controversial. Tracking the industry's economic contribution to Alaska is complicated by a lack of current, reliable data.

According to state agency figures, the mineral industry in 1989 employed 4,179 people. Thirty-one percent, or 1,316, of those workers were employed on mechanized placer mining production; 19 percent (785) in mineral development; 1 0...