INTRODUCTION
The Kensington Gold
Project is located approximately 45 air miles north
of Juneau and 35 air miles south of Haines, Alaska.
The mine site is within the City and Borough of Juneau
and the Tongass National Forest. The proposed mine
will produce approximately 2,000 tons of ore per day
and 400 tons per day of development rock over an estimated
10 years. The project will employ approximately 300-400
people during the 22 months required for construction
of the facilities and 225 full time employees to operate
the mine and processing facilities.
HISTORY
Historically, development
and ore production occurred at the Kensington mine
site from 1897 through 1938. The adjacent Jualin project
was discovered in 1895 and operated from 1896 to 1928.
All told, both mines produced 40,513 ounces of gold
from 75,208 tons of ore. More recent exploration activity
has taken place during the 1980s and 1990s.
CURRENT PROJECT
The Kensington Gold
Project now encompasses and includes both the Kensington
and Jualin prospects. The Kensington Gold Project is
located on federal land overseen by the U.S. Forest
Service (USFS), on State of Alaska tidelands, and on
private patented property.
In July of 1992, the
USFS approved a Plan of Operations for the Kensington
Gold Project. The plan called for underground mining;
ore process, including onsite cyanidation; a tailings
impoundment; marine discharge of process wastewater;
and various support facilities, including the use of
liquefied petroleum gas for power generation.
In August 1997, the
USFS approved a revised Plan of Operation for the Kensington
Gold Project. The modified plan called for offsite
processing of floatation concentrates; placement of
tailings in a dry tailings facility accessed through
a pipeline, with 25% of tailings to be paste backfilled
in the underground workings; diesel fuel would be used
for power generation; and tailing slurry would be piped
to a dewatering plant and the reclaimed water returned
for reuse.
In November 2001, Coeur
Alaska, Inc. (Coeur) submitted an amendment to its
approved 1998 Plan of Operations to the USFS. The amendment
modified site access and eliminated the dry tailings
facility in favor of placing the tailings into an impoundment
in Lower Slate Lake. In December of 2004, the USFS
finalized the Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement
and issued the Record of Decision for the modified
Kensington project.
The Alaska Department
of Natural Resources is the lead State agency involved
in permitting mine projects in Alaska. State agencies
involved in the Kensington Project include the Departments
of Natural Resources, Environmental Conservation, Fish & Game,
and Law. A large mine project team has been established
with representatives from these agencies to coordinate
state permitting activities for the Kensington Gold
Project.
If you would like to find out more about the state’s permitting process for the Kensington Project, please contact:
State of Alaska Large Mine Permitting Team
Tom Crafford
ADNR / Office of Project Management & Permitting
550 West 7th Avenue, Suite 900D
Anchorage, AK 99501-3577
Phone: (907) 269-8629
Fax: (907) 269-8930
Email: tom.crafford@alaska.gov
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