Profiles in Mining: GBA Assaying & Refining g y g f g Changing how business is done
SPECIAL TO THE ALASKA MINER Lee St. Pierre is direct about the XT^^TZY ZQ 2-, ,^^LdTYR =PʭYTYR% It’s giving Alaska miners a fair deal on gold they sell. Lee has been in Alaska 53 years, in business for 40 years with the last 10 OPOTNL_PO_ZM`dTYRLYO]PʭYTYRRZWO “I’ve been a master jeweler most of my life,” he said. “When things got rough in the jewelry business, I started M`dTYR^N]L[Zʬ_SP^_]PP_4bL^OPLW - TYRbT_SL]PʭYP]d_SL_bL^YZ_aP]d transparent with me, which spurred me into doing it myself. I didn’t have LNW`PLMZ`__SP]PʭYTYRM`^TYP^^M`_ knew that I wanted to change the way it was being done here in Alaska. “When I started doing scrap, a miner came in with some of the same T^^`P^4bL^OPLWTYRbT_S]PʭYP]^LYO GBA was in essence born. I started buying from the miners and opened a store front in Nome Alaska, Eagle Riv- er and then Fairbanks.” 4_ɪ^LQLXTWdLʬLT]bT_S7PPɪ^bTQP Melinda, and two sons, Nicho and Slayton, helping run the business. “We started with $5,000 in cash and an assay gun. Now we’re one of the big- gest in Alaska, which required a really big investment. We’re very straight- forward, will smelt gold while the cus- tomer waits. That’s what has really given us the success that we have. “We started in Nome in 2011 and there was such a demand that we looked at Fairbanks in 2014. We had a jewelry store in Eagle River and added the assay business there in 2010.” He’s passionate about being honest with his customers, including miners. “You have to be transparent. They work very hard for their money. We’ve been very strong and tight to the line for that, which is what gave us such success. I travel the state from Chick- en to Circle to Ruby to Nome and ev- erywhere I go, miners are some of the
greatest people in Alaska.” Those miners are well repre- sented by AMA, he adds. “AMA is a great platform to get the word out, about what we do, about mining informa- tion and just tying everything together in one place so we can stay informed. Find products, what’s coming up in the market and what we can expect. “They’ve done a hell of a job, especially for us. And they don’t care whether you’re a $5,000 or $5 million guy — you get the same attention.” Lee is a strong supporter of more mining education for young Alaskans and for local police statewide. Gold Brokers has helped police with crime
rings stealing gold. “It’s time for people to step up and not turn a blind eye to what our police go through on a daily basis. “I feel very good about the future. The volume of the min- ing business is dropping, some- what due to price and some- what due to the political arena we are in. But we’ve also got to keep in mind in 2011 when gold was $1,900 an ounce and every- body mined everything that was availalbe, even if it was mar- ginal. So we’re pretty restricted as far as volume, but I think we will see a runup in gold again. “The political arena has a lot to do with this, and I’ve got a good outlook for the mining future!”
More Than Copper www.trilogymetals.com Naturally Diversified
Focused on Developing the High-Grade Ambler Mining District An Emerging World Class Copper, Zinc, Cobalt and Precious Metals District
July 2019
The Alaska Miner
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