President’s Message From Bartly Kleven
Exciting projects are on the way in 2022
“What we do is not easy; it takes intellect, grit, perseverance, and the willingness and ability to work incredibly hard to achieve production. These are traits that are found in miners from small placers to large corporations.” H appy New Year to my fellow Alaska Miners! Here is wishing each and every one of you a safe, productive and profitable 2022. I am support mining used
d. Methods of mining and reclamation to be
honored to be serving as AMA President. The two most important things you should know about me: I love our industry and I love producers! What we do is not easy; it takes intellect, grit, perseverance, and the willingness and ability to work incredibly hard to achieve production. These are traits that are found in miners from small placers to large corporations, and the folks who offer services to support our efforts. Congratulations to one and all and a big Thank You — we need more of you! I’ll get straight to the point — prices are up and there are a lot of exciting projects happening in Alaska ranging from exploration to full development. However, there is one thing that all these projects require — permits! Now is the time to be submitting those applications to avoid the dreaded Spring Crush! To that end, here are my Top Five Permitting Tips: 1. Schedule an appointment with your permit writers and any consultants or contractors you are using to review and develop the project, respectively. An introduction to the proposed project is greatly appreciated by team members. It also fosters a working partnership within the team whether they are agency representatives or consultants and contractors. The following is recommended for the project’s introduction: a. Location (see No. 2) b. Streams, lakes or other wetlands or other water in the area c. Baseline data in hand or to be collected to
e. Timing — scheduled application submittal
date, proposed date to start mining and project duration and milestones.
f. Schedule out a couple of one-hour meetings
to brief the regulatory team on progress.
2. Orient permit writers to your project: a. For larger projects try to get as many of the folks who will be actually writing the permits to your site. This is not a dog and pony show for the higher- ups (although they are always invited) – this is for the folks in the trenches that will be writing your permit conditions. b. For smaller projects or if you can’t easily get folks to your site — drone footage and/or aerial maps are imperative. 3. Gather enough baseline data to submit a complete application. a. If you even think you will need an air emissions permit for this proposed project iget the meteorological station set up as a first step. Lack of having this data in hand for permitting has delayed many projects. b. Next, get your wetlands delineation going or planned early for the next field season. This delineation should help guide and direct your project design. c. Start collecting surface water data ASAP. Figure out where your groundwater wells should be
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The Alaska Miner
Winter 2022
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