Donlin Equals Disaster
— Quentin Simeon
Donlin Gold is more than just a mine, it is a disaster waiting to happen… If completed, the Donlin project would be the largest open-pit gold mine on Earth, located in one of the more remote places in the world. The 25-square-mile open pit mine will need the infrastructure of a small city to support its operation where no city is located. The nearest village with a paved runway is about 50 miles away, has 500 people, and is about 90 miles from the coast. The mine’s operations would require tripling barge traffic on the Kuskokwim River, constructing a 315-mile long pipeline originating from Cook Inlet across arctic muskeg – which holds countless and uncatalogued salmon streams – and a 471 ft tailings dam holding toxic slurries that must stand through perpetuity. All of these variables are a recipe for a disaster. A catastrophic event will be devastating for many Alaskans while greedy, foreign, extractors walk away with the profits.
“Donlin Gold is a refractory ore, meaning that microscopic particles are held within – arsenopyrite and some pyrite. And so it requires a very energy-intensive process to extract the gold,” Woolston (vice president of external affairs for Donlin Gold) explained. “We will be milling roughly 59,000 tons per day – requires an awful lot of power.” The article also went on to explain, “Thom Leonard is Vice President of Corporate Affairs for Calista. He said the project has gone through a few different ideas of how to power such a hard-to-access site.”
The latest proposal is to steal natural gas from residents of Cook Inlet, where there are limited accessible and affordable reserves. The amount of natural gas needed to supply the Donlin Gold mine is 50% more than what’s required to electrify over half of Alaska’s population. The financial burden of increased usage will fall on the shoulders of small businesses and the hard-working residents of Southcentral Alaska.
Donlin’s mine site is extremely remote. From Anchorage, one must take a prop plane charter to reach the nearest village, which is still several miles from the proposed site. Reportedly, to supply the site,
“Donlin would have to ship everything in barges, not just materials for buildings, but also fuel, diesel fuel for all the equipment and power and heat,’ Leonard said.”
Hundreds of tons of infrastructure supplies and materials would be shipped from Dutch Harbor across the well-known “Deadliest Catch” waters to the Kuskokwim Bay. Then, every ton continues its journey about 150 miles up the wildly changing Kuskokwim River channel the entire summer season – including peak fishing seasons, clogging the Kuskokwim River to transport materials and supplies alone. Outbound would be the processed ore, following that same danger-filled route to get the processed gold to market. The product’s primary purpose will be for wealth management used for jewelry and banking, not for the high-demand expansion of electronics and technology markets.
My family has a cabin on the river where we frequently haul supplies on our little boat to fish camp; with a large load, the process is very challenging. With the Donlin project’s barging requirements, safely harvesting fish, bringing our kids to fish camp, and living life safely on our rivers will be nearly impossible.
Numerous resolutions against Donlin exist, passed by over a dozen individual tribes and tribal organizations representing the entire region, showing our strong opposition. Yet, state & federal agencies have failed to listen to our sovereign governments who simply want meaningful government-to-government consultation.
There are a number of logistical nightmares, including but not limited to; the transport of necessary infrastructure, mining equipment, hazardous materials, demands for food, and influxes of transient workers. We Alaskans get stuck with the cleanup, loss of salmon, loss of culture, loss of natural resources, and expensive energy costs. The only winners of the short-term profits will be Donlin Gold’s co-owners, Barrick and Nova Gold.
We must come together as we navigate the complexities of our energy situation, helping our neighbors keep fish camps alive, supporting the longevity of our healthy villages, and maintaining our clean waters and healthy rivers. Let’s be the generation of great Alaskans who embrace community across our great state. Together, we can prevent this disaster from our state’s future.