Mar. 17—An Australia mining company’s request for a federal permit to build a 12-mile exploration road west of the Susitna River is generating fears among conservation groups and some lodges that the road will harm a pristine area and hurt outdoor tourism.
Nova Minerals, through subsidiary AK Custom Mining, is asking the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for a permit to build the road to support work at its Estelle Gold and Critical Minerals project, about 90 miles northwest of Anchorage.
The exploration road would be built on state land near the Skwentna River, in the Portage Creek drainage.
The road is separate from the state’s controversial West Susitna Access project, which would involve cutting 100 miles of road through the backcountry to improve access to the mining site, as well as other companies’ projects.
The access road is vital for Nova Minerals’ long-term plans to extract and market gold and minerals, if the mining company reaches that phase. But the mining company also says its smaller exploration road is needed now to reduce costs and is not dependent on the access road.
Opponents of the smaller road argue that it will essentially be an extension of the larger road. The access road, if built, would run from Point MacKenzie to an airstrip. The exploration road would begin on the other side of the airport.
Supporters of the access road, which include Gov. Mike Dunleavy, say it will also support development of timber, coal and renewable energy sources, along with recreational opportunities. Critics say it will be too costly, while threatening hundreds of outdoor jobs, wildlife and the region’s unspoiled wilderness.
“Let’s not split hairs,” said Mary Catharine Martin, a spokesperson with conservation group SalmonState. “This is all one big road project, and would hurt Alaskans, our jobs, and our fish and game.”
Chris Gerteisen, chief executive of Nova Minerals, said the exploration road “has nothing to do” with the West Susitna Access road, whether it is built or not. He said the company will pay for the exploration road, including about a $1 million investment this year.
“This is simply an exploration track to access some of our prospects,” he said.
He said the West Susitna Access road is essential to Nova Minerals’ longer-term plans to produce gold and other minerals. Nova Minerals five years ago joined a partnership framework to support the access road’s development. It includes the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority, a state economic development agency and the main developer of the access road.
The shorter exploration road will help Nova Minerals, which plans its biggest field season yet this summer with five drilling sites, he said.
The company has two deposits with defined resources, including gold, that would support at least a $1.5 billion return over 20 years, he said. It’s also eyeing more than 20 other mineral prospects in the area.
In addition to gold, the Estelle project contains silver, copper and minerals considered critical by the federal government, he said.
That includes antimony, a critical mineral not produced in the U.S. but vital for military defense technology, as well as renewable energy and semiconductors.
The exploration road will have detrimental impacts that include driving away Dall sheep, bear and moose, said Steve Perrins, co-owner of the Rainy Pass Lodge, the closest lodge to the project. The lodge operates out of a cabin in the same valley where the exploration road would be built, he said.
“The lodge has been hunting in that valley for 88 years,” he said. “But our ability to operate in that area will have to stop immediately. Our sheep will be completely done and (the negative effects) will spill into moose, caribou and bear.”
He said the potential damage includes endangering king salmon, though Nova Minerals counters that environmental studies have not found salmon in the creeks.
Perrins said the Nova Minerals project may never be built, but the exploration road will leave a lasting scar on valuable recreation land.
A ‘responsible’ project
The Alaska Department of Natural Resources approved the exploration road last year, Gerteisen said. The road will be built with environmental controls to protect wildlife such as the Dolly Varden trout that have been recorded in the streams, he said.
He believes the road can also coexist with Dall sheep in the Portage Creek valley, such as along the Seward Highway to Girdwood.
“With development like that, there’s always some kind of impact,” he said. “But we would do this in a responsible way with the highest environmental standards. We have to have the support of Alaskan residents.”
The exploration road would be 30 feet wide, with a 15-foot driving surface, according to the corps notice to the public.
Timber-frame bridges would cross five streams. Also, three “low-water crossing locations would be established,” the notice says. The road “would adversely impact” about 2.5 acres of wetlands and 0.11 acres of stream habitat, according to the notice.
Gerteisen said the road will dramatically reduce the costly, project-slowing helicopter flights that in past years have ferried equipment and workers to the project site.
He said he understands the concerns of critics, in part because he grew up in Alaska and loves to hunt and fish.
But he said the Estelle project has the potential to generate hundreds of jobs, plus taxes and royalties for the state.
“We’ll hire Alaska contractors, consultants, construction workers, so there’s a multiplier effect,” he said.
Criticism, and some support
Cindi Herman at the Skwentna Roadhouse in the region said she supports the exploration road and other efforts by Nova Minerals.
She said Nova Minerals’ exploration road could help access important minerals.
“Alaska needs construction. Alaska needs gold and critical minerals,” Herman said.
“So I think this is a wonderful opportunity for the Mat-Su Valley,” said Herman, founder and chair of Friends of West Susitna. The group advocates for the large access road and other projects and has received donations from Nova Minerals.
Mike Overcast, owner of the Tordrillo Mountain Lodge in the region, said the exploration road will hurt activities for lodges.
Overcast said his lodge takes guests on hiking and skiing trips into the area where the exploration road will be built.
But those will end if the 12-mile road is built, he said.
“We’re not selling a peek into the mining industry,” he said. “Our guests come to get away and be in quiet spaces and enjoy the mountains and the rivers.”
Perrins, with the Rainy Pass Lodge, said he and other lodge owners and guides did not receive sufficient notice from the Army Corps for a one-month comment period that ended on Thursday. The Corps on Friday extended the public comment period for 15 days, through March 28.
The agency “will make sure that lodge owners will receive the notice for an opportunity to provide us with feedback,” Corps spokesperson John Budnik said in an email.
