Alaskan Mine Research Paper

1599 Words7 Pages

Jobs, employment opportunities, wealth, and prosperity are promises made by Northern Dynasty, the Canadian company developing a site in the Bristol Bay region of Alaska. Recently a source of wealth for the people of Bristol Bay has been found buried beneath the Tundra. The rocks contain enormous amounts of ore and minerals, never discovered in such bulk in North America or possibly the world before. These include copper, molybdenum, gold, silver, rhenium, and, palladium worth $300 billion to $500billion dollars. (AAAS New and Notes. In Fight over Alaskan Mine, Public Interest Turns to Science. P. 469) According to Frontline, the mine will create over two-thousand jobs during the initial construction phase and about one-thousand permanent …show more content…

Nearly 12 billion tons of earth would have to be excavated. Most mine excavating jobs only require a high school diploma. Five earthen dams would be built. Ten square miles of impoundments would fill two valleys storing 2.5 billion tons of waste rock and toxic residue that would have to be monitored by humans forever. A 104 mile road would have to be built to transport equipment. Also if Pebble Mine takes off eight other companies have made claims on 700 square miles of nearby land, they are just waiting for the road to be built to lead the way. (Roosevelt, M. Los Angeles Times, Alaskan Economy Faces a Fork in the River. pp. 1-2) All these projects need workers. Sonny Lamont is a local that believes the tradition of living off the land is no longer feasible. He said fish cannot get gas for his car and truck, or pay his light bill, internet bill or phone bill. They need jobs that will allow them to pay for what they need. (Frontline Documentary) Northern Dynasty says that priority will go to hiring local Alaskans.(Frontline Documentary) In the past many promises of jobs did not come into fruition. Rural residents were often times not qualified for the highly technical jobs and regularly passed over. Workers migrate to mining projects from other areas with skills and experience to work in resource extractive industries. The mining companies prefer