Greens Creek Mine Near Juneau Still Largest Silver Mine in North America
Usibelli Coal Mine Continues to Produce Vital Resource for Power
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infrastructure needed to advance exploration at Anarraaq and Aktigiruq. With the issuance of the permit, Teck has begun the construction of 12 miles of roads to these large deposits that could extend the world-class Red Dog zinc-lead- silver-germanium mine deeper into the 21st century. “We are advancing studies to extend the life of the operation, having commenced construction of an all- season access road to more efficiently drill the nearby Anarraaq and Aktigiruq deposits, which are critical to the extension of the mine life of Red Dog,” Teck wrote. Development of these deposits is also critical to galvanizing Alaska’s position as a globally significant zinc producer deeper into the 21st century. America’s largest silver mine While the roughly $427 million of silver recovered at Alaska mines during 2024 pales in comparison to the value of zinc and gold produced in the state, the Greens Creek Mine near Juneau is the largest primary silver mine in North America and one of the biggest in the world. “It’s hard not to love Greens Creek because it’s just a fabulous asset,” said Rob Krcmarov, who was appointed as Hecla Mining President and CEO in November. This world-class mine about 20 miles south of Alaska’s capital accounted for approximately 9 million of the approximately 15 million ounces of silver produced in the state last year. Most of the balance was produced as a byproduct at Red Dog. The silver-forward Greens Creek and zinc-forward Red Dog mines also produced a combined 126,000 metric tons (277.8 million lb) of lead as byproducts last year. Roughly 110,000 metric tons (242.5 million lb) of this lead was recovered at Red Dog, with the balance coming from Greens Creek. Hecla has also added copper to the traditional gold, zinc, and lead byproducts of the silver produced at Greens Creek. While copper has long been present at Greens Creek, it has never been a payable metal in the silver concentrates produced. As a result of being considered a payable metal, 400 tons (800,000 lb) of byproduct copper was produced at the Southeast Alaska mine during the third quarter. While Hecla has not yet released its final production numbers for 2024, it is anticipated that the Southeast Alaska mine’s copper output is expected to be north of 1,000 tons (2 million lb) for the year. While the value of the copper recovered at Greens Creek does not move the dial when it comes to the total mine production value in Alaska, it marks the first recordable production of the energy transition metal in the 49th State in recent years. Considering the billions of pounds of copper hosted in
ounces of gold last year, a 10% increase over the 254,492 recovered during 2023. The ongoing improvements in performance at Pogo are expected to continue into 2025. “The Pogo plant is forecast to operate at a targeted throughput of 1.4 million tonnes per annum,” said Northern Star Resources Managing Director Stuart Tonkin. This milling rate, with ore grades similar to last year, would put Pogo on the cusp of hitting 300,000 ounces of gold during 2025. “So, we’re pretty happy with where Pogo is at,” Tonkin said. Three hardrock mines in Southeast Alaska – Coeur Mining Inc.’s Kensington, Hecla Mining Company’s Greens Creek, and Sundance Mining Group’s Dawson – produced approximately another 162,000 ounces of gold last year. When you add in the gold recovered from around 150 placer operations across the state, Alaska mines were on the cusp of producing 1 million ounces of gold during 2024 – a milestone that is expected to be reached this year. Alaska zinc output dips While zinc relinquished its status as the most valued metal produced in Alaska, both the quantity and value of the critical galvanizing metal produced in the state rose last year. Red Dog Mine produced 555,600 metric tons (1.22 billion pounds) of zinc during 2024, a 3% increase over the 539,800 metric tons (1.19 billion lb) produced in 2023. When you add in the roughly 47,000 metric tons (103.6 million lb) produced as a byproduct at the Greens Creek silver mine, Alaska operations accounted for around 5% of the global supply of zinc, a metal considered critical to the U.S. Teck anticipates that Red Dog’s zinc output will drop to about 450,000 metric tons (992,000 million lb) this year, 18% lower than in 2024. Red Dog zinc production is currently expected to drop to 300,000 (661,400 million lb) by 2028 and to zero when the current reserves are exhausted. However, the Aktigiruq and Anarraaq satellite deposits on state lands held by Teck could elevate the Northwest Alaska operation back to a top global zinc producer in the coming years. Aktigiruq, which lies about nine miles north-northwest of the current Red Dog operation, is one of the largest undeveloped zinc deposits on Earth and hosts grades similar to the deposits that made the Northwest Alaska mine a world-leading zinc producer. In mid-December, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers approved permits for the construction of road and other
Photo Courtesy Usibelli Coal Mine
Unleashing Alaska’s mineral potential Unleashing Alaska’s mineral and other resource potential is so high on the Trump administration’s priority list that the President signed an executive order addressing this on his first day back in office. “President Trump singled out Alaska out of all the 50 states for its own series of Executive Orders,” Gov. Dunleavy said during his State of the State address. “This is unprecedented — and demonstrates his view of the importance of Alaska as a solution to America’s energy, manufacturing, and national security issues.” On the minerals side of that solution, DGGS has identified 110 projects on the Alaska mine development pyramid — 55 early-stage mineral exploration projects, 37 mid- to advanced-stage exploration projects, six mineral projects in the economic evaluation stage, four in permitting, and eight in production pinnacle of the pyramid. According to preliminary data compiled by DGGS, roughly $205 million was invested last year into pushing mineral exploration projects toward the top of this pyramid. This figure, which is slightly lower than the approximately $230 million invested in 2023, will rise somewhat when late-year exploration figures are included. Alaska’s 2024 mineral exploration numbers would have been higher if the federal government had not reversed previously issued federal permits to build a road to the Ambler Mining District, a region of Northwest Alaska enriched with copper, zinc, silver, gold, cobalt, germanium, and other minerals critical to America’s economic well-being and national security.
Arctic, Bornite, Caribou Dome, Pebble and other deposits across the state, the newly payable byproduct at Greens Creek could mark the beginning of a new era of producing the essential energy transition metal in Alaska. Usibelli keeps Railbelt lights on For residents, businesses, and communities living along the Alaska Railbelt, the roughly 1 million tons of coal produced at Usibelli Coal Mines operations near Healy has a greater significance than the roughly 2% it contributed to Alaska’s mineral production value in 2024. Usibelli’s significance rests on a paradox that is similar to the discrepancy between Alaska’s world-class copper resources and nearly non-existent production. The paradox that makes Usibelli so valued to Alaska Railbelt energy customers is Alaska has both world-class reserves and a shortage of natural gas. The natural gas shortage has become so dire that Alaska Railbelt utilities are having a tough time delivering electricity and natural gas to their customers. To help boost the energy supply and help ensure it does not need to initiate a rolling blackout, GVEA is leaning on increased output from its coal-fired power plants at the mouth of Usibelli Coal Mines operations in Healy. Usibelli delivers roughly 1 million tons of coal per year to GVEA’s two Healy power plants at the mouth of its mining operations, capable of generating a combined 57 megawatts of electricity, plus three other Interior Alaska power plants capable of generating another 70 MW of electricity.
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February 2025 I The Alaska Miner I www.alaskaminers.org
www.alaskaminers.org I The Alaska Miner I February 2025
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