December 2020 Transboundary Rivers Update

While COVID-19 wreaked havoc throughout Southeast Alaskan communities, BC mines continued development near our shared salmon rivers.

• Taku River: Tulsequah Chief and New Polaris mines
  • Despite nominal efforts to begin cleaning up the abandoned and polluting Tulsequah Chief mine, the BC government has taken no action to hold accountable — Teck Resources — the original owner -  for the at least $100 million total cleanup bill. In Canada, because BC does not require financial assurances, the polluter does not pay, and Alaskans deal with Canadian pollution.
    
    
  • New Polaris is a proposed mine, just a few miles away from the Tulsequah Chief mine, at the confluence of the Taku and Tulsequah Rivers. New Polaris would require 100 barge loads to travel up the transboundary, salmon-rich Taku River each year from Juneau. 
    • The State of Alaska did not review or comment on the plans for renewed drilling at New Polaris. The State also failed to notify Alaskans. 

 

• Stikine-Iskut River: Red Chris, Galore Creek, and Shaft Creek mines
  • BC has staked 47% of the Iskut River, the largest tributary of the Stikine River, for mining.
    
    
  • Red Chris mine: Newcrest Metals purchased over 100 thousand acres with 93 mineral claims near its Red Chris mine (co-owned with Imperial Metals), increasing its footprint in the region. Newcrest also recently bought into the Red Chris South mining claim, located 3 miles from its Red Chris mine site.
    
    
  • Galore Creek mine: Newmont Metals purchased 50% of the Galore Creek project (Teck Resources owns the other 50%). A feasibility study completed in 2011 envisioned a mine at Galore Creek producing 6.2 billion pounds of copper over an 18-year span, which would rank as the largest copper operation in Canada.
    
    
  • Schaft Creek mine is being revisited in a joint venture between Teck Resources and Copper Fox Metals 

 

• Unuk-Nass River: Kerr-Sulphurets-Mitchell mine project (KSM)
  • KSM mine would rival the size of the proposed Pebble mine in Alaska.
    
    
  • Seabridge Gold, the owner of KSM, has been busy working to secure an extension on its substantially started designation. If granted, this extension will allow them an extra two years, on top of the five-year extension they recently received, to break ground on KSM without updating their permits. 
    • But Alaska Tribes and a B.C. First Nation not only say an extension is not warranted but are calling for a whole new impact assessment for KSM. Salmon Beyond Borders supports these requests.
      
      
  • Seabridge Gold is also expanding its footprint near the Unuk-Nass watershed headwaters with the recent purchase of the Snowfield property, a mining prospect neighboring the site for KSM.
    
    • These recent moves show Seabridge Gold is actively moving forward with the KSM mine while the State of Alaska remains silent. 
      
      

In case you missed it earlier this year, the concern is also rising, generally, about the risk of mine waste (tailings) dam failures.

• August 6, CoastAlaska – Global mine tailings standards rest on voluntary compliance 
• August 20, Science Magazine — Catastrophic failures raise concerns about dams containing muddy mine wastes

We always come back to Mount Polley mine, and the lessons that can be learned from its catastrophic mine waste dam failure in 2014: 
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• August 11, Juneau Empire — Opinion: We are poisoning our future. There’s a better way.
• August 13, CBC — Contamination from Mount Polley spill continues to affect waterways, study finds

For more information on what we’ve been up to this year, visit our webinars page here.

As always, your continued engagement is what makes our collective efforts possible.
Please take action here and help us defend and sustain our transboundary rivers, jobs, and way of life.

With gratitude,
The Salmon Beyond Borders Crew
Jill, Bre, MC, and Heather