tial mineral properties, only the po- tential Donlin Gold project is close to production and is also on Native land, owned by the Calista Corporation (an Alaska Native Regional Corporation). If the Donlin Gold project goes into pro- duction, payments shared by Calista may make up part of the revenue lost when Red Dog ceases operation on Na - tive land. If that project does not begin mining, Native Regional and Village Corporations are likely to lose signif- icant funding shared from mining. This loss is likely to be especially con- sequential for the many Alaska Native Village Corporations without another source of funding. Critical and Energy Minerals Minerals are necessary for the U.S. economy. Today, Alaska provides: n Eighty percent of the U.S. pro- duction of zinc, mostly from the Red Dog Mine, n Forty-four percent of the coun- try’s production of lead, and n Approximately half of the coun- try’s production of silver. The USGS ranks these minerals as important for the U.S. economy, but only zinc is described as “critical min- erals” because these minerals have
limited potential for disruption, large- ly because of domestic production, much of which is from Alaska. In the Favorable Scenario, Alaska’s mines can also produce several min- erals that are listed as critical by the USGS for domestic manufacturing, and particularly for the deployment of clean energy technology. These min- erals are critical for renewable energy and the increasingly electrified econ - omy. n Alaska has the potential to pro- duce more graphite than is currently produced in the country today. Graph- ite has important applications in lu- bricants and batteries for electric ve- hicles. n Cobalt is another key input for electric vehicle batteries and is today mostly produced from the Democratic Republic of Congo by Chinese-owned companies. Alaska has the potential to more than double current domes- tic production of cobalt in the United States. n The state also has an opportu- nity to produce some of the country’s important rare earth elements, used in a variety of industrial processes, n Barite is used as weighting agent in oil drilling.
MINING, CONTINUED from PAGE 28
Red Dog Mine, of which $1.5 billion has been redistributed to other Alas- ka Native Regional Corporations. Be - tween 2014-2020, NANA distributed over $126 million per year to Regional Corporations. This is 69 percent of all the distributions made by all Native Corporations during these years. Half of the shared amount is re- shared with Alaska Native Village Cor - porations. This is important income for those corporations. According to the Alaska Native Village Corporation Association (ANCVA), this income, “accounts for all or nearly all of the revenue collected by approximately two-thirds of the 177 village corpora- tions that are ANVCA members.” Revenue from the Red Dog Mine source is expected to end in 2031 when mining at the Red Dog Mine ends on NANA’s Native Corporation land. The mine is exploring other reserves to ex- tend the mine’s life, but they are on state land. Revenue from state land is not shared with other Alaska Native Corporations. For this report’s review of poten-
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The Alaska Miner
Spring 2022
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