Mark Huffington retires from Kinross Fort Knox Photo Courtesy Mark Huffington Mark Huffington receives the 2016 AMA Volunteer of the Year Award for his many years of support and work on AMA conventions, presented by Lorali Simon and Deantha Skibinski.
Mark Huffington, a long-time AMA member and convention chairman of the past several Fairbanks spring AMA conventions, has retired from his role at Kinross Fort Knox Mine in Fairbanks. “On July 9, an integral member of the Fort Knox Environmental Team will retire, taking with him incredible knowledge, wisdom, and dedication to the company,” Kinross said in a release. “Mark Huffington has served as the Environmental Superintendent at Fort Knox since 2011 where he has worked diligently to ensure that Fort Knox maintains its exemplary environmental compliance record. During the last ten years, the site has seen many positive projects and expansions that were in no small way a result of Mark’s diligence. In addition, Mark was a very active member of the Alaska Miners Associa- tion. He donated countless hours of his own time spearheading the AMA Spring Convention for the past ten years that a huge success. Mark took great pride
in showing visitors Fort Knox. He never turned down a chance to lead a tour and to educate the community about min- ing. Mark also donated his excellent photography skills, taking pictures at many company events. “Mark will be missed and we wish him the best in his retirement!” At AMA, Mark’s contributions were seemingly endless. He generously pho - tographed each Annual Convention in Anchorage, and Biennial Conven- tions, providing hundreds of images which have appeared in past issues of the Alaska Miner magazine and Min- ers Journal. He provided much personal time in Chairing the Fairbanks Conven - tion Committee, coordinating all efforts to ensure successful events that helped get mining’s story out to the public and helped fundraise to bolster AMA’s ef- forts year-round. For the past two years, he served as the Fairbanks Branch Chair and delegate to AMA’s Executive Com- mittee, and in particular helped guide
AMA efforts and policy throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Mark’s constant and significant contributions to AMA earned him AMA’s Volunteer of the Year Award, presented at the Annual Con- vention banquet in 2016. “When it comes to an organization like AMA, we all know it is those who donate their time, talent, and treasure who are responsible for our successes. Mark exemplifies that. He was really the jack-of-all-trades volunteer: he could run a committee and account for deliv- erables, he could fundraise, he contrib- uted to technical comments submitted to regulatory agencies, and connected AMA to the community. Plus, and I hope this will make him laugh when he reads it, he was an excellent shoulder to cry on or person to vent to when tensions ran high! I will really miss working on all things AMA with Mark,” said Executive Director Deantha Skibinski. In a previous profile in The Alaska Miner, Mark spoke eloquently about his
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The Alaska Miner
Summer 2021
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