If Kinross is allowed to use public roads, it will set a precedent for other companies eager to expand - one in which significant health and safety risks are underwritten by taxpayers. While gold is not a critical mineral, Alaska holds large reserves of cobalt, copper, and rare earth minerals essential to the green transition.
Supporters point to the economic boost it could bring to the Native Village of Tetlin, which is leasing the land to Kinross, as well as to nearby Tok, home to 1,200 people.īut Manh Choh is just the beginning of a surge in mining projects in the state. Kinross, which declined repeated interview requests and told others not to speak to Grist, says the project will create more than 400 jobs. Others question the state’s ability to impartially oversee the permitting process when it has invested $10 million from a state fund in the mine. Residents in communities along the route worry about the increased violence and housing shortages that often follow the arrival of such projects. But unlike most other mines in the state, there has been no environmental impact statement prepared for Manh Choh. The mine and its tailings at Fort Knox, the state’s largest gold mine, have the potential to pollute the air and waterways. “So, accidents happen,” she says.īarbara Schuhmann’s face reflects out of the side-view mirror while parked on a stretch of road on the haul route just north of Fairbanks. Her husband lost his mother, brother, and sister on that highway when a truck crossed the centerline, hitting their car head-on. She doesn’t often bring it up, but Schuhmann knows just how dangerous the road can be. “It just seemed unbelievable that this would be allowed without special permitting and safety considerations.” “It sounded pretty crazy at the time, moving a mountain from one area of Alaska to another,” she recalls. These trucks will soon rumble by homes and businesses every 12 minutes, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, with trial runs starting this summer. Kinross’ contracted trucking company, Black Gold Transport, will use customized 95-foot tractor-trailers with 16 axles, which will weigh 80 tons apiece when fully loaded. When Schuhmann first heard about the project about a year ago, she was surprised. Eighty-ton trucks will soon be driving across it as part of Kinross’ 250-mile ore haul. Trumpeter swans land on the Chena River near a bridge on Peger Road.
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