Socioeconomic Effects of Mining: The industry's resilience supports local communities amid the pandemic.

• Author: Simonelli, Isaac Stone
• Position: MINING

The mining industry and the positive socioeconomic impact it has on local communities statewide managed to remain steady in the face of the world's ongoing pandemic.

There were 28,900 fewer jobs in Alaska in October 2020 than the previous year; however, COVID-19 resulted in relatively little change in mining employment, according to Dan Robinson, a chief researcher at the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development.

'An Economic Development Director's Dream'

In 2019, the mining industry employed 4,600 people directly and 4,800 people indirectly, according to a McKinley Research Group (formerly McDowell Group) report commissioned by the Alaska Miners Association.

As an officially recognized critical infrastructure industry, mining companies' rapid roll out of COVID-19 safety protocols and a strong market for precious and base metals played a significant role in the sector's ability to continue to employ Alaskans, injecting much-needed capital into local economies during the pandemic.

Mining projects at various stages of development in the state primarily bolster local economies through employment (direct and indirect), taxes, and local development funds.

Though at a state level employment and especially tax revenue from mining is much smaller than from the oil and gas industry, its impact on the state and especially on local economies is significant, Robinson says.

"A mine is an economic development director's dream project. A mine is labor intensive, so they bring lots of jobs-hundreds of year-round jobs. They're high paying jobs," says Jim Calvin, a senior consultant with McKinley Research Group.

Mines are typically capital intensive, which means that they can be the source of very substantial property tax revenues for communities in the area. And, in fact, in Juneau, the two mines are the two largest property taxpayers in the community.

Hecla's Greens Creek Mine is the largest property tax-payer in Juneau, says Mike Satre, the mine's government and community relations manager. The next largest is Coeur Mining's Kensington gold mine.

About 200 of Hecla's 440 employees live in Juneau full-time, increasing the economic impact of the mine as they buy property, pay taxes, and spend their hard-earned money within the state capital.

Beyond providing direct employment to miners in the community during the pandemic, as well as helping mining vendors keep their doors open, Hecla Greens Creek Mine has propped up some businesses reliant on the city's tourism industry.

"We were expecting 1.4 million cruise ship visitors," Satre says. "This year, we effectively got zero. The visitor industry has been devastated here."

But increased production costs associated with COVID-19 safety protocols have led to an increase in spending in local communities, Satre says.

For example, the strict hotel and catering quarantine protocols Hecla put in place are helping keep some hotels booked up with mine employees in lieu of tourists.

The company is also using transportation companies that would normally be...