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Initial permits issued for Pogo gold mine Developer still waiting for EPA permits, plans to start mobilization, minor road work after receiving state authorization Patricia Jones Petroleum News Contributing Writer
Alaska regulators issued state permits Dec. 18 allowing development of the Pogo gold mine located about 40 miles northeast of Delta Junction in Interior Alaska.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers wetlands permit is expected to follow soon, according to Ed Fogels, project manager for the Alaska Department of Natural Resources.
Pogo developers Teck-Cominco and Sumitomo Metal Mining are still waiting for permits from the Environmental Protection Agency, which are expected to be issued in late February, Fogels said.
“Consequently, Teck-Pogo plans to limit themselves to mobilization and minor roadwork until the NPDES permit is issued,” he said.
Pogo developers first submitted a development plan and permit applications to regulators in August 2000. A final environmental impact statement was released by agencies three years later, on Sept. 19.
EPA serves as the lead agency for the environmental review and authorization of the Pogo project. The disposal permit is required for mine operation.
“They operate a little slower than I would like down there. But I have no reason to believe these permits will not be forthcoming,” Alaska Gov. Frank Murkowski said, following release of state permits.
One of the first steps for the $250 million hard rock gold development is constructing a 50-mile all-season road to the site from the Richardson Highway. Teck-Pogo officials said that winter road construction and preliminary surveying and site preparation is expected to begin immediately.
Construction is expected to take about two years, and the work force could peak at 500. Once complete, the underground gold mine is expected to employ about 300 full-time workers to produce 375,000 ounces of gold a year, for at least 11 years. Teck battles with EPA Mining industry analysts question whether the permitting delay is linked to Teck’s ongoing debate with EPA regarding drainage from a British Columbia mining project into a lake in Washington state.
According to a Reuters news report, Teck’s battle with the EPA centers on a planned study into the environmental health of Lake Roosevelt on the Columbia River, which carried million of tonnes of smelter waste from Teck’s Trail mine processing site across the border from British Columbia into Washington for nearly a century.
Slag, a waste by-product of the smelting process, is classified as a non hazardous substance in Canada and the United States, Teck said. The firm said the traces of metals left in the glassy substance are generally not released.
Teck, which believes the health risk from the dumped slag to be minimal, has agreed to pay for an ecological risk assessment. but refuses to do it under the aegis of the EPA.
The miner objects on the grounds that a U.S. agency has no jurisdiction over a Canadian operation — a debate that could draw in the Canadian government as it could have wider cross-border authority ramifications.
But Doug Horswill, Teck’s environmental vice president, said his company’s key objection to being ruled by U.S. “Superfund” law was that the scope of the EPA-required investigation and clean-up was considerably wider, going beyond the immediate geography and metal damage.
The EPA has asked a U.S. court to force Teck to comply with its order. Teck, which accuses the EPA of releasing misleading and wrong information on the lake’s contamination, said it would appeal if the ruling went against the firm.
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