NANA splits departments

As reported in the October edition of North of 60 Mining News, a sister publication to Petroleum News, NANA Regional Corp. said Oct. 21 that it had separated its lands and natural resources department into two separate departments to better serve the more than 12,000 Inupiat shareholders who belong to the Native regional corporation and to take advantage of current and future opportunities.

Long-time NANA employee Walter Sampson now serves as vice president of NANA’s new Department of Lands & Regional Affairs, and Lance Miller serves as vice president of the new Department of Resources.

Miller came to the regional corporation from NANA subsidiary, WHPacific, where he served as a geoscientist. His past positions include work as a project manager for NovaGold; executive director of the Juneau Economic Development Council; Eurasia project manager for Placer Dome; and chief geologist for Echo Bay Mines on the AJ project.

In a Dec. 9 interview with Petroleum News, Miller said what prompted the creation of two separate departments was NANA’s board of directors “recognizing how important resources are for the region.”

The company, he said, is “focused on both lands and subsistence, as well as responsible resource development. It’s sort of new but in a way it is not. Years ago there used to be two department — lands and resources. It folded into one for a number of years.”

NANA has the Red Dog mine, which began producing in 1989, but “it will not last forever. We’re planning for the future,” Miller said.

It took nearly a decade of discussions with the region and villages before Red Dog moved into development.

Miller does not see that long of a timetable for Trio, which first heard about the area in 2000 and “began serious discussions with NANA in 2006. … It’s not like we did a quick deal with them.”

And “Red Dog was a much bigger project,” he said,

Still, NANA’s philosophy, he acknowledged, is “very inclusive,” to “consult with the villages and the region … so on a big project it does take time to make sure all the stakeholders are reached, if you will. But Trio and Arlen (Ehm) did village visits this past summer, and depending on their financing, the goal is still to drill the first well in the winter of 2010-2011.”

—Kay Cashman