U.S. Supreme Court gives Kensington green light: final construction phase under way, 2010 production slated.

• Author: Liles, Patricia
• Position: MINING

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After a protracted court battle that required a ruling from the nation's highest court, the Kensington gold mine in southeast Alaska received approval this summer for construction of a tailings storage facility, which will allow the underground mine to begin production in the latter part of 2010.

Construction of all other aspects of the hard-rock mine project, including underground workings and surface processing facilities, concluded in mid-2007. But the new industrial production facility located 45 miles northwest of Junean has since remained shuttered. That's due to permit challenges filed by environmental groups after State and federal regulators approved the developer's construction and operating plan in 2005.

JUNE RULING

The court case--and the previously approved tailings storage plan--was argued through a variety of court proceedings, concluding with a U.S. Supreme Court decision announced in late June that affirmed the previously issued permit for tailings storage.

"We are pleased with today's decision by the Supreme Court. It confirms that the thoroughly studied and permitted plan is lawful and the best environmental choice," said Dennis E. Wheeler, president and CEO of Coeur d'Alene Mines Corp., developer of Kensington, in a June 22 press release.

"We expect that the environmental organizations who had challenged the mine plan in court will now stand behind their commitment to support the immediate economic impact and job creation that Kensington will provide," he added.

LONG-TERM PROJECT

Coeur has been working on the Kensington gold project since 1990, initially developing an original plan of operations with partner Echo Bay Exploration. Now, Coeur is the sole developer of the project.

The regulatory agency review of Kensington under the National Environmental Policy Act during the earlier part of this decade was the third time since the original plan of operations was submitted in 1990. While receiving past regulatory approval, no mine has ever been built at Kensington.

LOWER SLATE LAKE

Low gold prices in the late 1990s caused Coeur to look for ways to reduce capital costs and to accomplish that, the company modified its proposed development. Coeur submitted an amendment to its approved 1998 Plan of Operations, including changes to the proposed tailings disposal system. The company proposed placing some of the leftover rock in the Lower Slate Lake, a 23-acre alpine lake that currently does not meet state...