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OLYRP]Z`^ [L]_ LMZ`_ L ʭP]d ]PPY_]d with a space ship composed largely of LRTLY__LYVZQʮLXXLMWPWT\`TO?SZ^P L]POP_LTW^LYO_SL_ɪ^bSL_PYRTYPP]^L]P QZ] _LVTYR L RPZWZRT^_ɪ^ M]TWWTLY_ TOPL^ and making them work. But that seem- ingly crazy thought is not so far-fetched _ZOLdYZ]bTWWT_MPTY dPL]^
U`^_TʭPOTQT_[]PaPY_^Z]N`]_LTW^XTYTYR Eliminating this form of brain washing has been and will continue to be a huge challenge but the rewards of meeting _SL_NSLWWPYRPL]PbZ]_S_SPPʬZ]_ What does AMA mean to you? 4Y PL]Wd $#$ ,WL^VL LYO ,XP]TNLY Mining Hall of Famer Dr. Earl Beist- line gave me a copy of the minutes of _SPʭ]^_,8,-ZL]OZQ/T]PN_Z]^XPP_ - TYRSPWOTY $ $>LOWd4YZWZYRP]SLaP that document but I read part of those XTY`_P^ _Z _SP $#$ ,8, NZYaPY_TZY in Anchorage. What I read was a short WT^_ZQ_SPT^^`P^QLNTYR_SP $ $,WL^VL Mining industry. Change the date, and a few names and that list of issues is virtually the same today. Access, infra- structure, water use, Federal overreach, State regulations, staking laws, etc. I am not saying the AMA has done nothing in the last 75 years, quite the opposite. I see AMA as the voice of an organiza- tion that is stronger than the sum or its [L]_^4_ɪ^]ZWPL^LYLOaZNL_PQZ]_SPTY - dustry, as an educational forum for the jobs and products we create, is critical to a resource-rich state like Alaska.
FREEMAN, CONTINUED from PAGE 17
Where do you see mining in Alaska in 50 years? Despite the fact that every new tech- nology we have seen progress in the last dPL]^ SL^ ]P\`T]PO XZ]P LYO XZ]P mined products, mining has become XZ]P`Y[Z[`WL]ZaP]_TXP4Y dPL]^ we will still need mined products, per- haps using them at an even more vo- racious rate than we do today. So I see us mining extra-terrestrial sources, the planets and asteroids in our solar sytem. ,W_SZ`RS ɭ0L]_S 1T]^_ BPɪWW 8TYP _SP :_SP] ;WLYP_^ 7L_P]ɮ bL^ XPLY_ L^ L political lampoon on the Earth First movement, that statement has recently taken on a new and much more serious tone. When I was in grade school, I had _Zb]T_PL^NTPYNPʭN_TZY_SPXPO[L[P] as a homework assignment. I conjured up a giant space ship that regularly went to Saturn or Jupiter and scooped up huge volumes of liquid methane that was then ʮZbY MLNV _Z PL]_S LYO `^PO _Z [Zb - er the world. I skippped over the whole PL]_Sɪ^ R]LaT_d _STYR LYO _SP ^WTRS_Wd
What do you see as our biggest challenges? And opportunities?
The biggest challenge we face as an industry is also the single biggest op- portunity available to the mining indus- _]d% PO`NL_TYR _SP LaP]LRP NT_TePY _SL_ XTYTYR T^ YPNP^^L]d LYO XTYTYR can be done responsibly, both from an environmental and a social standpoint. That education process would be sim- ple if we were dealing with a populace that simply knew nothing about min- TYR 4YQZ]XTYR [PZ[WP ZQ _SP MPYPʭ_^ and impacts of mining can be done, L^ Z]RLYTeL_TZY^ ^`NS L^ Z`] ZbY ,=0 have shown. Unfortunately, our primary and secondary educations systems are teaching students that mining is evil, that we no longer need mining to thrive as a society, and the use of any means is
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The Alaska Miner
July 2020
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