The Palmer development, near a glacier above the salmon-bearing Chilkat River, has for years fueled political divisions in the town of Haines. Now it’s getting a new owner, raising questions about the project’s future.
A potential copper and zinc mine has fueled intense political debate in a small Southeast Alaska town for years.
The copper and zinc project, at least in the immediate future, will lose the backing of a large company with a steady revenue stream: Dowa runs Japan’s largest zinc smelter and has been searching for new sources of the mineral.of one year’s work at Palmer. It’s touting the transaction as a good deal for its shareholders, because it will get full control of the project plus $10 million in cash.
American Pacific, they added, wanted to spend more time doing exploratory work that could lead to a bigger, more lucrative project once it’s built. The area, with about 2,500 people, is known for its politically engaged and polarized citizenry, as well as stunning scenery at the northern end of the Inside Passage. Some residents support natural resource extraction; others fiercely oppose the Palmer Project.
“Every year the project continues to get financed and ownership gets more consolidated, it does become more likely to happen,” Jim Kuipers, a Montana-based mining consultant who was hired by an environmental group to analyze Palmer,Since then, Dowa has poured tens of millions of dollars into the project, including some $14 million in the past two years, according to an American Pacific
“It is shocking, to say the least, that they would be walking away from all that investment,” Cohen said. “It really begs the question: Why?”
Southeast Alaska Clean Water Advocacy American Pacific Mining Corp. Chilkat River Dowa Metals And Mining Gershon Cohen Haines Jim Kuipers Klukwan Richard Clement Warwick Smith
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