A Message from the Executive Director
Dear AMA Members and Friends, Even after almost 85 years, we at AMA can break some new ground! And that’s exactly what we did early this month with our first ever Juneau Mining Forum! We Alaska miners love to get together each spring, after a long cold winter, and before heading afield for a long summer mining season. The great attendance at our past spring conventions in Fairbanks, and last year’s Mining Day celebration reinforced that. So, this year, and not just because the Legislature is in session, we teamed up with the Council of Alaska Producers to hold our spring event in Juneau. We sometimes forget, and most Alaskans never knew, that there’d never have been a Juneau without mining. Our state capital today still sits upon the tailings of historic mines that were once the largest in the world and which heralded modern Alaska. It all began in 1880 when Chief Kowee showed prospectors Joe Juneau and Richard Harris the presence of gold in Gold Creek in Silver Bow Basin. The city of Juneau was founded there that year. The strike sparked the Juneau gold rush which resulted in the development of many placer and lode mines. The largest early mines were the Treadwell complex and the AJ lode mine. The first claims of what was to become the Treadwell complex were staked in 1881. Mining the Treadwell site began by sluicing residual placers over the lode deposits. Underground mining began with a five-stamp mill operating in 1883. In the mid-1910s, with 960 stamps
families in Southeast Alaska. Through the day, it was a great time to catch up with the current challenges we are facing, as well as see the opportunities before us. And throughout the day we heard from the state agencies who everyday work with us to develop Alaska’s resources. We are blessed to have a strong partnership with our state agencies who are committed to both protecting Alaska and defending our constitutional duty to develop Alaska’s mineral resources. We also had an in-depth review from officials from British Columbia about the safeguards they have in place and the collaboration they’re providing to resolve concerns over Transboundary Mining. Throughout the day, it was compelling and gratifying to see and hear the commitment from members of the Alaska Senate and House, who were not just involved for this one day summit, but who work every day to support what we’re doing on your behalf. That collaboration extended into the evening for our traditional reception, which we hosted with the Associated General Contractors of Alaska, and Alaska Trucking Association. See inside this issue of The Journal and our spring issue of The Alaska Miner for a lot more details from the Juneau Summit … a good reminder that we continue to write our new history of Alaska mining every day.
grinding ore and tunnels reaching as far as 2,400 feet below the surface and extending under the sea, Treadwell was one of the most technologically advanced mines of its day. Up to 2,000 people worked at the mine before a collapse allowed the rising tide to flood the tunnels in 1917. All operations at the Treadwell ceased by 1922. As the Treadwell mines declined and closed, the AJ (Alaska Juneau) mine rose in prominence in the 1920s until WWII as a key component of the Juneau and Alaska economies. The Juneau mining district has produced over 7 million ounces of lode gold and 80,000 ounces of placer gold. The Greens Creek and Kensington Mines in Southeast Alaska continue that tradition to this day, while being among the most successful and environmentally conscious mines in the world. During our Juneau Mining Forum, the leadership from those two mines updated us not just on their continued production success but also their success at developing a skilled workforce supporting more than 1,000
PROUDLY PROVIDING ALASKA with underground, surface and helicopter supported core drilling for mineral exploration and geotechnical work.
Deantha Skibinski, Executive Director
Executive Board Bartly Kleven, President Lorali Simon, First Vice President Blake Bogart, Second Vice President Kim Aasand, Treasurer
Branch Chairmen Ted Hawley, Anchorage
The Alaska Miner is the official journal of the Alaska Miners Association, published eight times a year exclusively to our members.
Rich Sivils, Denali Ken Hall, Fairbanks Liz Cornejo, Haines Jim Clark, Juneau Houston Morris, Kenai Ken Hughes, Nome Robert Fithian, Ketchikan/Prince of Wales
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Committee Chairmen Kevin Adler, Convention
Howard Grey and JP Tangen, Federal Oversight Mike Satre and Lorali Simon, State Oversight
4 March 2023 I The Alaska Miner I www.alaskaminers.org
www.alaskaminers.org I The Alaska Miner I March 2023
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