Faces of Mining
FACES, CONTINUED from PAGE 17
am proud to have played a small part in its success. What do you love most about this business? And about Alaska? First of all, I truly love Alaska. It will always be my home, and I am so honored to have been born and raised in this great State. I love working in the resource de- velopment industry and the min- ing industry in particular because of all the great economic oppor- tunities that it provides our en- tire state. I love the people and the natu- ral beauty of Alaska. I always feel like Alaska is one small commu- nity, no matter where we are. Ambler faces significant chal - lenges with the recent no-decision on the road. What is the path for- ward you see? The reason I joined Ambler Metals was because I believe in this project, and I also believe strongly in what this project means for Alaska. Alaska fac- es out-migration both from ru- ral Alaska into our larger cities, but also out-migration from the State. To reverse this, we must ensure that we have job opportu- nities and economic development across our State. Ambler Metals will provide critical jobs for Alaska and critical economic opportunities that our state needs. The economic ben- efits will extend far beyond the road and mining district, creat- ing trucking jobs, port job and jobs in adjacent businesses and sectors. These are good jobs that will help many Alaskans gain the economic footing they need to re- main in Alaska. Because Alaska is a young state, we don’t have the infra- structure of other U.S. states. When I was Senator Murkows- ki’s Chief of Staff negotiating the Infrastructure Bill, I would often remind my colleagues that while
Ephraim and Kaleb Froehlich at their house in Juneau.
they are working on infrastruc- ture to renovate and replace ex- isting infrastructure, we Alaskans were working on this bill to build infrastructure for the first time. It is really disappointing that Alas- ka has such difficulties building infrastructure and developing our resources, even infrastruc- ture that’s written in law such as the surface transportation to the Ambler Mining District which was which was included in ANILCA by Senator Stevens. Where do you see mining in Alas- ka in 50 years? I truly hope that responsible resource development continues to be one of the pillars of Alaska’s
economy in 50 years. The benefits that the resource development industry has provided our State are vast and the mining industry especially has a great opportuni- ty to build upon that, whether it is Donlin, Manh Choh, or expan- sions at Red Dog and Greens Cre ek. As an Alaskan and an Amer- ican, I strongly believe that we should be developing our resourc- es here where we have some of the strictest environmental standards as well as workplace safety and oversight, rather than relying on countries who do not take human rights or environmental cleanup
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The Alaska Miner
Summer 2024
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