{"id":62,"date":"2026-05-18T18:07:51","date_gmt":"2026-05-18T18:07:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\/?p=62"},"modified":"2026-05-18T18:07:51","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T18:07:51","slug":"proposed-mine-raises-concerns-about-taku-river-salmon-mining-company-assures-safeguards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\/?p=62","title":{"rendered":"Proposed mine raises concerns about Taku River salmon. Mining company assures safeguards."},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Canagold Resources, the company proposing to open the New Polaris gold mine on the Tulsequah River in British Columbia, says it\u2019s taking steps to protect the environment.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Read more State lawmakers approve Alaska Railroad land sale to port town of Whittier<\/a><\/p>\n

The Tulsequah is a tributary of the Taku River in Alaska, which is known as the salmon stream in Southeast. All five Pacific salmon species spawn in the river, including the largest Chinook run in the region. Although there hasn\u2019t been a concerted effort to study whether mining has affected Taku River salmon, some are concerned it could.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\nChris Pharness is the senior vice president of sustainability and permitting at Canagold. He said the company plans to operate in ways that avoid harming the watershed and the fish in it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\nFor instance, he said Canagold originally planned to use cyanide to separate gold on-site.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cWe were going to produce dor\u00e9, which is unrefined gold, on site,\u201d Pharness said. \u201cBut, you know, in consideration of the fisheries values and water quality values and things like that, we decided against that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nInstead, Pharness said they\u2019ll use another method that involves less chemical processing, called flotation. A foaming agent creates bubbles to concentrate gold out of waste rock. He said the gold concentrate will be shipped somewhere else for further processing.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\nThe mine site still has old infrastructure from its past, including five mine portals, a small airstrip, storage tanks, a barge landing and more than 700,000 cubic feet of mine tailings. To rebuild the site \u2014 which was formerly called the Polaris Taku mine \u2014 Canagold expects to excavate tailings stored near Whitewater Creek, a salmon spawning ground connected to the Tulsequah River. The excavation must be done carefully to avoid mobilizing pollutants or disturbing the creek.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cProtecting Whitewater Creek \u2014 that\u2019s definitely, you know, that\u2019s what\u2019s going to make our mine very unique, is having a salmon-bearing stream right in the middle of the mine site,\u201d Pharness said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Fish in Whitewater Creek have likely been exposed to contaminants from past mining activities. Dolly Varden collected in Whitewater Creek in 2018 and 2019 had greater concentrations of arsenic, cadmium, lead and mercury than fish sampled downstream, in the Tulsequah River. That\u2019s according to as part of a joint sampling program between Alaska and British Columbia.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Pharness said citizens from the Taku River Tlingit First Nation will monitor the environmental status of the operation. In 2023, Canagold signed an agreement that the mine won\u2019t move forward without consent from the First Nation.<\/p>\n

In its environmental review filings with British Columbia, Canagold to build a new airstrip and barge landing where the Tulsequah and Taku Rivers meet, haul roads, storage facilities for explosives, fuel and reagents, an ore crushing mill, a water treatment plant, a hydroelectric powerstation, a combined storage facility for tailings and waste rock and a camp that can house 300 workers.<\/p>\n

At a House State Affairs Committee hearing on transboundary mining last week, Alaskans voiced concerns over a lack of engagement with people on the U.S. side of the border and fears that potential pollution could affect salmon.<\/p>\n

\nPaulette Moreno is vice president of the Central Council of the Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska. She said the state of Alaska must work with tribes to monitor and restore transboundary rivers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\u201cAnything less is not under control,\u201d Moreno said. \u201cIt is a failure to act in the face of known risk to some of the most productive salmon rivers in the world and the Indigenous communities that depend on them. Our people have stewarded these waters for generations. We are more than stakeholders.\u201d<\/p>\n

Many concerns stem from decades of inaction on the Tulsequah Chief Mine. That mine was abandoned in 1957 and has been visibly polluting the watershed on the ever since. That\u2019s just across the river from the New Polaris site.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Read more Legislature looks to add workforce housing to Alaska development agency\u2019s priority list<\/a><\/p>\n

Doug Vincent-Lang is the commissioner of the Alaska Department of Fish & Game and participates in biannual transboundary watershed meetings with officials in British Columbia. Those meetings happen under a non-binding and the state and province signed a decade ago, which are meant to keep Alaskans informed about water quality beneath existing mines and to engage them in the public process for developing new ones.<\/p>\n

\nAt the hearing, he said the derelict mine\u2019s reputation has been looming over proposals for new mines.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cEvery time we meet with Canada, we talk about Tulsequah Chief,\u201d Vincent-Land said. \u201cIt\u2019s a black eye, and whatever they do in any other mines is going to be influenced by the inability to make progress on Tulsequah Chief. So they\u2019ve heard us loud and clear.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said he\u2019s starting to see on the cleanup, which has been taken on by Teck Resources Limited. Teck is a Canadian mining company that runs the Red Dog mine near Kotzebue and has proposed the Galore Creek mine in British Columbia within the Stikine River watershed, upstream from Wrangell.<\/p>\n

Vincent-Lang also said he\u2019s confident future mines in British Columbia will be managed properly, since the province created an interim policy in 2022 designed to make mining companies pay the of cleanup.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\nHe said mining pollution on the Tulsequah River hasn\u2019t reached Alaska.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve never found violations of water quality in our side of the border from DEC\u2019s water quality sampling, and we\u2019ve never seen contamination in fish on our side of the border,\u201d Vincent-Lang said. \u201cBut one of the questions we always get asked is, \u2018What is the baseline?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Patrick Moran is a biologist who manages the Alaska transboundary rivers monitoring program at the U.S. Geological Survey. He said more work still needs to be done to distinguish sources of metal contamination, since the watershed is known to have some naturally occurring metals.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\u201cThe question everybody really wants to know is, what contributions are coming from the mine and what contributions are just coming from naturally elevated background,\u201d Moran said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\nHe said metals generally don\u2019t break down in the environment. Instead, they accumulate.\u00a0<\/p>\n

According to collected in 2018 as part of the joint sampling program, Taku River sediments in Alaska exceeded NOAA guidelines for arsenic, copper and nickel.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Although salmon don\u2019t spend their whole lives in the river, Moran said they are there at a sensitive time in their life cycle.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\u201cJuvenile salmon are known to be more vulnerable to metals than adults, and that process of going from freshwater to saltwater transition \u2014 smoltification \u2014 is particularly challenging and the added stressors need to be considered during that particularly critical life stage,\u201d Moran said.<\/p>\n

But there hasn\u2019t been a concerted effort to study the effect of mining on Pacific salmon in the Taku River, specifically. Just four individual salmon from the Taku River, three Chinook and one sockeye, were included in the by the joint sampling program.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Moran said researchers typically test Dolly Varden char and sculpin for contamination since they move less. <\/p>\n

Read more Solar farm to be built in Wrangell to address high demand, reduce energy costs<\/a><\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 KTOO<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Canagold says it will avoid harming the Taku River amid concerns from tribal members about protecting salmon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":61,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-62","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nProposed mine raises concerns about Taku River salmon. Mining company assures safeguards. - Alaska Moving Network<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\/?p=62\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Proposed mine raises concerns about Taku River salmon. Mining company assures safeguards. - Alaska Moving Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Canagold says it will avoid harming the Taku River amid concerns from tribal members about protecting salmon.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\/?p=62\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Alaska Moving Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-18T18:07:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/986d7a4f03f964f7902827792c4fd77e.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"650\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"477\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\\\/?p=62#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\\\/?p=62\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/4e09896005b88414084eb4bd3215ab0a\"},\"headline\":\"Proposed mine raises concerns about Taku River salmon. Mining company assures safeguards.\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-18T18:07:51+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\\\/?p=62\"},\"wordCount\":1201,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\\\/?p=62#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/986d7a4f03f964f7902827792c4fd77e.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\\\/?p=62#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\\\/?p=62\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\\\/?p=62\",\"name\":\"Proposed mine raises concerns about Taku River salmon. Mining company assures safeguards. - Alaska Moving Network\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\\\/?p=62#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\\\/?p=62#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/986d7a4f03f964f7902827792c4fd77e.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-18T18:07:51+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/4e09896005b88414084eb4bd3215ab0a\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\\\/?p=62#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\\\/?p=62\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\\\/?p=62#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/986d7a4f03f964f7902827792c4fd77e.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/986d7a4f03f964f7902827792c4fd77e.jpg\",\"width\":650,\"height\":477},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\\\/?p=62#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Proposed mine raises concerns about Taku River salmon. Mining company assures safeguards.\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Alaska Moving Network\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/4e09896005b88414084eb4bd3215ab0a\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Proposed mine raises concerns about Taku River salmon. Mining company assures safeguards. - Alaska Moving Network","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\/?p=62","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Proposed mine raises concerns about Taku River salmon. Mining company assures safeguards. - Alaska Moving Network","og_description":"Canagold says it will avoid harming the Taku River amid concerns from tribal members about protecting salmon.","og_url":"https:\/\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\/?p=62","og_site_name":"Alaska Moving Network","article_published_time":"2026-05-18T18:07:51+00:00","og_image":[{"width":650,"height":477,"url":"https:\/\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/986d7a4f03f964f7902827792c4fd77e.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\/?p=62#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\/?p=62"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\/#\/schema\/person\/4e09896005b88414084eb4bd3215ab0a"},"headline":"Proposed mine raises concerns about Taku River salmon. Mining company assures safeguards.","datePublished":"2026-05-18T18:07:51+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\/?p=62"},"wordCount":1201,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\/?p=62#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/986d7a4f03f964f7902827792c4fd77e.jpg","articleSection":["News"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\/?p=62#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\/?p=62","url":"https:\/\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\/?p=62","name":"Proposed mine raises concerns about Taku River salmon. Mining company assures safeguards. - Alaska Moving Network","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\/?p=62#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\/?p=62#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/986d7a4f03f964f7902827792c4fd77e.jpg","datePublished":"2026-05-18T18:07:51+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\/#\/schema\/person\/4e09896005b88414084eb4bd3215ab0a"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\/?p=62#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\/?p=62"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\/?p=62#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/986d7a4f03f964f7902827792c4fd77e.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/986d7a4f03f964f7902827792c4fd77e.jpg","width":650,"height":477},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\/?p=62#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Proposed mine raises concerns about Taku River salmon. Mining company assures safeguards."}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\/","name":"Alaska Moving Network","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\/#\/schema\/person\/4e09896005b88414084eb4bd3215ab0a","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/alaskamovingnetwork.com"],"url":"https:\/\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=62"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/61"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=62"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=62"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=62"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}