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Red Dog: Release ranking misleading Alaska’s largest mine and world’s largest zinc source says EPA report misleading because naturally occurring metals contained in waste rock and tailings counted as toxic releases Patricia Liles Mining News Editor
Alaska’s largest mine and the world’s single largest source of zinc counters its national top ranking by the Environmental Protection Agency for toxic releases, saying that naturally occurring minerals contained in mine tailings are included in the count at the Red Dog mine.
Located in the remote northwestern region of Alaska, Red Dog produced 579,300 tonnes of zinc and 124,300 tonnes of lead concentrate in 2003, milling more than 3 million tonnes of ore to extract those valuable metals.
Remaining mineralization which is of a low grade and not economically recoverable is classified as waste rock, which must be moved to access the higher grades of ore. In addition, some trace amounts of metals remain in Red Dog tailings, which are stored under strict monitoring from environmental agencies.
Even though that mineralization remains locked up in its host rock, the metals must be counted in Red Dog’s annual report to EPA for its Toxic Release Inventory. Red Dog’s volume of lead and zinc mineralization puts the mine at the top of the nation’s Toxic Release Inventory. Federal regulations don’t distinguish “Federal regulations do not distinguish between natural materials locked away in rock which is safely stored on the plant site from hazardous releases of man-made chemicals from an industrial plant which is released into the environment,” Rob Scott, general manager at Red Dog, said in a June 23 press release.
“As a result, the TRI numbers paint an inaccurate and misleading picture of what actually happens at one of the most regulated mines in the world.”
Red Dog, 90 miles north of Kotzebue and about 55 miles from its shipping port on the Chukchi Sea, is on land owned by NANA, the Native regional corporation in the northwestern part of Alaska. Teck Cominco leases land from NANA and operates the mine and mill, and markets the mineral concentrates.
The state-owned Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority owns the mine’s transportation system, which consists of a road system, the port and storage facilities.
Editor’s note: For more detailed information, look for a report in the July issue of North of 60 Mining News, a monthly special publication of Petroleum News.
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