Executive Director’s Report
Dear AMA Members and Friends, The photo you see on this page is me with my new friend, Fritz Ward. We met at a recent Resource De- velopment Council breakfast featuring Ambler Metals and AIDEA. RDC typically starts each meeting with self-introductions where attendees state their name and company, and Fritz jumped up enthusiastically and said, “Fritz Ward. Mining Fan.” (Shout out to Ja- son and Sarah Erkmann Ward for raising a great kid!) Fritz’s personality is especially endearing to me be- cause he reminded me of what it was like to be raised as an Alaska kid. My parents were and oil and gas and transportation, and our dinner table conversations were frequently centered around what was responsi- ble for the food on our table. Many a time, I sat in the back of an RDC meeting my mom was participating in and listened to conversations about Alaska’s resource economy. I am sure I complained about it as a young child (I was much brattier than Fritz). But as I got older, I realized the immense benefit of that education, as I had direct contacts to help with research and Carl Portman to proof my final college papers on ANWR and the Roadless Rule (some issues never go away). We frequently talk about the need to get young people involved in our industry, a common goal among us because there are so many benefits to doing so. We can set our young people up for success by highlighting their opportunities to work in mining, ranging from a high-paying skilled trade job right out of high school to degrees in geology, engineering, and more. We can bring young people into our discussions and use their ideas to do things differently, more effi - ciently, and probably more fun. After two years of generally not seeing each other, AMA is approaching its events this year with a mind- frame of making them full of content that newcomers will want to see, and making them accessible to those outside of mining companies and agencies. We’re starting with the 10th Annual Alaska Mining Day event in Fairbanks on May 10. As many of you know, but there are lots of new people that you should tell, Alaska Mining Day was created through legislation in 2013 sponsored by Sen. Cathy Giessel, R-Anchorage, “to recognize and honor the intrepid individuals and industry that played an enormous role in settling and developing the territory and the state and that continue to contribute to the economy of the state.” On May 10, 1872, the General Mining Act of the United States was approved — it governs mineral de- velopment on federal lands. This law has been amended more than 50 times, but its essential principles remain in place: If a citizen explores and with their own energy, intellect, finances and hard work finds a valuable min - eral deposit, that citizen, after obtaining the required environmental and operating permits, has the right to
develop that deposit. The Act has served as a founda- tion of our industry, and of course, since its passage we have seen dozens of environmental laws that govern our industry’s development, operation, and closure standards and provide for the environmental and safety excellence we see at Alaska’s miners every day. We’d like to share stores of that excellence at Alaska Mining Day and all of our events this year. Peek at the Events Calendar at the back of this issue, and visit our website alaskaminers.org to learn what we have in store and how you can help bring new faces in to learn and share our story. Please consid- er bringing in your child, your niece or nephew, the neighbor kids, and your young employees, and start them on a path to knowing Alaska’s mining industry. We will all be better for it.
Deantha Skibinski AMA Executive Director
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The Alaska Miner
Spring 2022
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