An application for a gold mining exploration project near Delta Junction and the Delta River may be taking its final steps. It’s part of the Richardson project, a proposed hard rock and lode mining venture southeast of Fairbanks, and would involve searching for gold deposits by drilling into bedrock to collect samples.
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Fairbanks Gold Mining Incorporated would carry out the work. It’s owned by Kinross Gold Corporation, a Canadian mining company that also operates the Fort Knox Gold Mine near Fairbanks.
Questions about water use and salmon runs
But a local environmental group has questions. Krystal Lapp, who directs the Northern Alaska Environmental Center in Fairbanks, said the organization isn’t opposed to exploration, but they see some holes in the application. Lapp is especially concerned about the company’s plan for environmental mitigation on a river system that is already experiencing devastating salmon declines.
“We’re not implying that this project would mean that it would be responsible for additional declines,” Lapp said. “But it does mean that these agencies and corporations should be very careful about water withdrawals and erosion, sediment, and activity near these streams and rivers.”
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Lapp noted that the application gave different maximum water use figures in different sections, and she hopes the state makes sure that inconsistency gets reconciled before allowing the company to proceed.
The comment period for the project closed on Wednesday after getting fewer than ten comments, according to the state Department of Natural Resources. The department is set to review those responses and make its final recommendations in the next few weeks.
Kinross Gold Corporation did not respond to requests for comment before press time.
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