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Transportation, power hurdles for Donlin Creek development
Patricia Jones, PNA contributing writer
Developers of the remote Donlin Creek deposit, located 175 miles from Bethel and 12 miles north of the Kuskokwim River in rolling hills, must carefully calculate costs to provide basic infrastructure for any mine that would operate at the 28 million ounce gold resource. (See related story this page.)
That’s because there’s little in the way of existing infrastructure on-site, and what is currently available has been developed in the past by exploration crews.
NovaGold Resources Inc., a Vancouver-based exploration company that currently owns 70 percent interest in the property, has studied logistical needs that a remote, large-scale open-pit mine and mill would require. In a presentation to the Fairbanks branch of the Alaska Miners Association Feb. 21, Doug Nickolson, NovaGold’s senior projects engineer, talked about the company’s “base case scenario” for Donlin Creek.
A work force of 300 to 400 employees, likely working 12-hour shifts, would process about 20,000 tons of ore a day, he said. Gold-rich rock would be crushed and processed, with gold bars shipped out, said Greg Johnson, vice president of corporate development. Power an obstacle Electric power is one of the key obstacles for such a development. Currently, NovaGold executives have looked at diesel generation on or near the site, but are open to other alternatives, such as a regional power plant or running power lines from the existing Railbelt grid.
“We would just as soon be someone’s customer,” Nickolson said. “Anything else is gravy — we would love for someone else to come in and provide power, as long as it meets the economic perimeters of the project.”
Several studies are in the works that are considering the Donlin Creek power needs along with regional electric demand for the rural area, Johnson said. “There’s a lot of interest from the state and the Denali Commission about a regional solution, such as a regional electric grid.”
Calista Corp and the Kuskokwim Corp., Native corporations which own the mineral rights and land at Donlin Creek, are also looking at ways to provide power to the deposit as well as to shareholders in the area.
“One of the ideas is if the villages in the Alaska Village Electric Cooperative got together and build something that’s a cooperative plant for the region,” Johnson said. “There’s also talk about a new power plant in Bethel, or a line over to the (Railbelt) Intertie.”
Should these plans fall through, a diesel generation plant on-site would require substantial shipments of fuel, Nickolson said. “It would require 30 million gallons of fuel a year, just for a power plant,” he said. A barge a day Fuel shipments, combined with consumable items needed at a mine and mill site, would require seven tug and barge deliveries a week during the 122-day river shipping season on the Kuskokwim River, he said.
“Basically there would be one barge a day being unloaded at Crooked Creek, To us, that’s not an excessive amount of traffic on the river, but we recognize it is a significant change to those people who live there,” Nickolson said. “It’s also a significant opportunity for locals as it would lower fuel costs into that area.”
Access to the remote site also would require improvements to the existing dirt runway, now approximately 6,000 feet long, but with a substantial dip in the middle.
The existing winter trail from the Kuskokwim River to Donlin Creek also needs upgrading, and the state has already allocated about $4 million to improve it to an all-season road, Johnson said.
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