About 50 people circulated through the Noel Wien Public Library auditorium on Friday as Felix Gold hosted the latest in a series of community listening sessions on the planned antimony mine off Old Murphy Dome Road.
However, most people were there to voice concerns and frustration about the proposed Grant Mine, an Ester Dome gold prospect located near neighborhoods.
Felix Gold is considering several prospects, including the Northeast Array, Scrafford Mine, the Northwest Array, and the Grant Mine west of Fairbanks.
Catherine Kim, the general manager of MDG Global, which oversees Felix Gold, fielded questions during the Friday listening session. MDG is a major shareholder of the Australian-owned, U.S.-based mining company.
“These sessions have obviously grown as people found out about it and garnered more interest,” Kim said. “I would say for 99.9% of these discussions, people have really great commentary that is useful for us.”
The 45-square-mile Treasure Creek project area has two historically antimony-producing mines — the Scrafford and Goodwin mines. It’s considered the best prospect for its permits to be fast-tracked by the Alaska Department of Natural Resources due to its antimony prospects.
Kim noted that the Treasure Creek project is permitted for exploration, but it hasn’t received its mining permits yet. Activities have been limited to drilling, soil, water, and rock sampling, trenching, and surveying.
With a high interest in antimony, however, Felix Gold projects it could secure those mining permits by November, after the company submits its permit application.
“We would like to have a feasibility study in place to go toward a mine permit application before the end of the year,” Kim said.
MDG has increased its environmental baseline studies, brought in additional teams for hydrological, surface resource and water studies.
In the last few years, the United States has increasingly focused on finding new sources of the rare earth mineral as China has severely restricted its exports. Antimony is used in a wide range of applications, including semiconductors, flame retardants, car batteries, and solar panels. The Defense Department considers it a critical element for many hardware needs.
Antimony mining was conducted at Scrafford Mine intermittently for decades, from 1916 to 1977, when all activity ceased due to increasing environmental regulations and the availability of the mineral on the global market at a lower cost.
Nova Minerals, another Australian gold mining company, is looking at antimony prospects on state land in the Mat-Su Borough. Like Treasure Creek, the Nova prospect is still in its exploration phase.
Kim said that public engagement with the local communities are essential for crafting its mining permit applications.
“There’s a lot of conversation about the potential impact to the residential areas, especially those that are closest to resource extraction and development areas,” Kim said. “There’s been very good direct personal information about how this would impact their lives, livelihoods and the experiences they’ve had.”
She noted most of the concern has been around the Grant Mine on Ester Dome. That mine, however, is on the back burner while it evaluates the Treasure Creek projects.
“It’s an early stage for Grant specifically because we don’t have exploration permits in hand for it yet,” Kim said. “But there has been great input on what residents would like to see. They would like to see a broader survey about cultural resources and those are comments and considerations we will take in as we move forward on that project.”
The only authorized or planned activity in the Ester Dome area is on-foot surveying and light brushing with hand tools. Kim said that means no heavy equipment or intense work.
However, that could change if Felix Gold applied for and received exploration permits for Grant Mine, and then if the mining company decided it was worth the investment.
“Right now we have no plan for that and no budget for that because we don’t have permits,” Kim said.
Jamie Hansen, who lives near Henderson Road, near the proposed Grant Mine location, expressed concerns about the project’s impacts. She noted she’s not one to protest mining or economic development, but Grant is a different story.
“With terms like ‘small-scale’ coming from Felix Gold, it’s really hard for me to believe that a large firm like this is investing in a mine in my neighborhood, wouldn’t have significant negative impacts on our quiet, safe rural community,” Hansen said. “I’m not in a place where I’m seeing the benefits, just seeing the negatives.”
Transportation and increased traffic activity would be one of her most significant concerns, especially for her two young children.
“We bike on Gold Hill and on Henderson Road, so that’s a critical safety concern for me,” Hansen said.
Groundwater quality is another concern.
“We have a well — a lot of people do — and I need to know what I expect to be a larger-scale mining operation would mean for water safety,” Hansen said.
Deborah Ryan, a member of the grassroots advocacy group Save Our Domes, also questioned proposed mining efforts near neighborhoods and in areas like Murphy Dome Road.
“A lot of this mining activity is not compatible with neighborhoods,” Ryan said. “The first thing I ask people who are new to Fairbanks is where do they go and it’s always Murphy Dome, Ester Dome, berry picking, fat bike riding, dog mushing and hunting and skiing.”
She said Ester Dome and Murphy Dome “are precious and not just for Fairbanksans, they’re for Alaskans and tourists.”
“Tourism in Goldstream has boomed,” Ryan said. “A lot of folks from Asia come here and run right up the domes to view the Northern Lights. Ester and Murphy Dome are gems and should not be harmed.”
Ryan also had concerns about the disposal of tailings, or waste rock, air quality and increased truck traffic.
Communication and outreach
Joy Huntington, CEO of Uqaqti Consulting LLC, is facilitating the workshops and surveys. Huntington said all the information collected, including the verbal comments made at the table, is immediately conveyed to the Felix Gold project leadership team.
“There’s a pretty quick process of getting the community’s feedback and questions to the project leadership to incorporate and respond to at a future meeting,” Huntington said. “It is not going into an empty void.”
While the surveys and listening sessions have been focused on Treasure Creek, Huntington keeps paper surveys for Grant Mine on hand.
After Felix Gold submits its mining application to DNR, that kicks off a formal public comment period. Felix intends to hold public and stakeholder feedback sessions closer to the project area, such as Ken Kunkel Community Center in Goldstream Valley.
“We understand that some people are working during the day and for future community meetings we are definitely going to plan for either evenings or the weekend,” Huntington said.
According to Felix Gold’s timeline, it intends to submit its application in July, with the expected permit assessment and public comment period projected to be between August and October.
The next Felix Gold listening session at Noel Wien Library is scheduled for noon to 3 p.m. on May 30. For more information and to fill out a survey, visit felixgold.com.au/community.