The prospect of legislative change haunts the mining industry.

• Author: Richardson, Jeffrey
• Position: Proposed overhaul of the Mining Law of 1872; includes related article - Special Section: Mining's Rough Ride

New Mineral developments and discoveries in Alaska are so geologically and economically exciting that they almost overshadow the political attack on federal mining laws that some say threaten the very structure of the mining industry.

Ask geologists and engineers what they think are the top mining stories of the last year and they will sing the praises of the Red dog zinc mine near Kotzebue and the expanding, multimineral glories of Green Creek near Juneau. They'll marvel at the emerging good news from the Fort Knox gold deposit near Fairbanks and hint at the hidden wealth of a place called Pebble Beach.

Ask the same question of Steve Borell, executive director of the Alaska Miner's Association, and he is bound to launch into a slightly shorter version of his copious comments to Congress on proposals to overhaul federal mining procedures. "Under changes being proposed, the immediate effect would be that many people would cease to look for minerals on federal lands," Borell charges.

He contends that the attack on mining laws which have been the foundation of the nation's mineral industry since 1872 is only the latest offensive by environmentalists bent on driving miners off federal land for good. According to Borell, other recent indignities suffered by the industry include the loss of roughly 300,000 acres of the Tongass National Forest to "big W," his term for wilderness status, under federal legislation passed last year.

At the crux of the nationally debated controversy surrounding the Mining Law of 1872 are several proposals to initiate a system of fees and rayalties to be paid by individuals or companies prospecting federal land. The two main congressional measures, S. 433 and H.R. 918, vary in their approach to fee assessment, but both represent a dramatic departure from existing procedures.

While geologists, engineers, contractors, prospectors and mining company executives keep a worried eye on Washington, D.C., many are preoccupied, and cheerfully so, by a busy field season in Alaska's highly mineralized hinterland. News of more immediate prospects and progress in opening new mines for production makes the gloom of political clouds a little less onerous.

According to those who track the vital statistics of Alaska's mining industry, major indicators are even better than reported last year. Expenditures for mineral exploration increased by more than $15 million from 1989, to $63.25 million last year.

Most exploration efforts focused on hard-rock (as opposed to placer) gold deposits, and some projects evaluations are in advanced stages. About 50 percent of the explorations is credited to Southeast Alaska, where companies have been probing the depths of old mines with an eye to new technologies.

Placer gold mining has seen little recent expansion in Alaska, and its future is uncertain, especially for small operators. But the state still boasts the largest placer industry in the country.

Dick Swainbank, mining and minerals development specialist for the Alaska Department of Commerce and Economic Development, says metal prices aren't hurting the state's mineral picture, either. Last year, for the first time since 1925, the value of base metals produced in Alaska exceeded precious metal values.

"That's going to be a pattern for the foreseeable future. What it indicates is the impact that one operation can have on the whole industry," says Swainbank, referring to the Red Dog zinc/lead mine. "Red Dog and Greens Creek have attracted worldwide attention to the fact that you can mine cost-effectively in Alaska, that we have some big operating mines."

In 1990, after an 18-year span of exploration and development, the joint effort of NANA Corp. and Cominco became the largest producer of zinc in the United States. At full capacity, the Red Dog mine near Kotzebue is expected to produce 560,000 tons per year of zinc concentrate and 120,000 tons per year of lead...