North of 60 Mining News - The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North

A March ruling by U.S. District Judge John W. Sedwick, which reinstated the so-called "Roadless Rule" in the Tongass National Forest, promised an early end to Ucore Rare Metal Inc.'s 2011 exploration at its Bokan Mountain rare earth elements project on Prince of Wales Island and left several other Southeast Alaska mineral projects needing special permission to carry out planned drilling.

"The implementation of the 'roadless rule' in the Tongass National Forest by Judge Sedwick directly threatened to cut short the 2011 exploration program at Bokan Mountain which included vital in-fill drilling needed to prove up the resource," wrote Ucore Rare Metals Alaska Project Manager Jim Barker in an email to Mining News.

Established in 2001 by the Clinton administration, the Roadless Area Conservation Rule prohibits road-building and logging on 58.5 million acres of national forest lands, including more than 9 million acres of the Tongass. In 2003, the Bush administration exempted the Southeast Alaska forest from the conservation measure.

Presiding over a case brought against the U.S. Department of Agriculture by the Organized Village of Kake, Sedwick ruled that Bush's Tongass exemption was unlawfully implemented.

But with the Clinton-era conservation rule back in place, USDA's Forest Service pushed through special permits for drilling at four mining projects in areas of the Tongass now designated as "roadless."

Forest Service OKs Bokan

Bokan Mountain and a locally owned polymetallic prospect on Woewodski Island were the first two projects to be granted the special permits needed to conduct exploration in the re-established no-road regions of the Tongass.

On Aug. 1 Forest Service Alaska Regional Forester Beth Pendleton said USDA Undersecretary for Natural Resources and the Environment Harris Sherman approved permits for helicopter-supported exploration drilling at the two projects.

"This approval will allow the companies conducting the exploration to create helicopter landing pads at drilling sites, and in the case of Woewodski, allow drilling equipment to be winched from some of its sites," explained Pendleton. "In each case, no roads will be constructed or reconstructed and site reclamation will be completed after drilling operations are done. Both projects will create new mining jobs in Southeast Alaska."

Without the special approvals, Ucore would have been forced to wrap-up its 2011 exploration program about two months earlier than it intended.

"The 2011 Bokan exploration program was planned and budgeted to extend into October; however, implementation of the roadless rule restricted exploration to previously permitted sites. Consequently, with work limited to only those permitted sites, drilling would have been prematurely concluded by mid-August," Barker said.

Halifax, Nova Scotia-based Ucore said this delay would have pushed back a development decision for the heavy REE-enriched deposit by a year.

"The Bokan heavy rare earth resource is now recognized as a unique American asset of critical importance to domestic technology, defense and alternative energy sectors. Undersecretary Sherman has shown great vision in asserting that projects like Bokan require federal intervention to advance as quickly as possible, and we're very grateful for this," said Ucore Rare Metals President and CEO Jim McKenzie.

"This priority permitting has resulted from the combined efforts of the Alaska senatorial delegation, the USDA and the local (office of the Forest Service); a remarkable show of support for the expedited development at Bokan from both federal and state jurisdictions," he added.

U.S. Sen. Mark Begich, D-Alaska, who met with Ucore Rare Metal representatives during an August visit to Southeast Alaska, said: "It is clear that mining is playing an increasingly important role in Southeast Alaska's economy."

Two more approvals

Two weeks after the first round of special approvals, the Forest Service gave the green light for drilling at Hecla Mining Co.'s Greens Creek silver mine about 32 kilometers (20 miles) southwest of Juneau and at Heatherdale Resources Ltd.'s Niblack copper-gold-silver-zinc project on Price of Wales Island.

"Today, Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell approved geotechnical and exploration drilling in inventoried roadless areas for the Greens Creek Mine and the Niblack Mine exploration projects," explained Pendleton on Aug. 16.

Begich said, "I appreciate the U.S. Forest Service moving these projects forward. The Niblack permit is critical for completion of this year's exploration plan, while the permit for Greens Creek will provide data needed for the proposed tailings expansion project."

The area in which Hecla plans to conduct geotechnical drilling is situated in the Greens Creek Inventoried Roadless Area and is within the Admiralty Island National Monument.

The Forest Service said the drilling here will take place in no more than three locations and the total area affected by the drill pads is expected to be less than an acre.

The re-implementation of the no-road conservation policy has no affect on Heatherdale's extensive underground drill program at Niblack, but some of the property's outlying exploration targets are located in areas now deemed roadless.

The Forest Service said the proposed eight drill sites at Niblack that it approved in mid-August will affect less than an acre in the 200,000-acre-plus inventoried roadless area.

"Both the Niblack and Greens Creek projects will have minimal footprints - less than an acre apiece - with the potential for substantial boosts to local economies," explained USDA Undersecretary Sherman.

Heatherdale President and CEO Patrick Smith said, "This priority permitting will allow the technical team to test high-priority targets that can be best accessed by helicopter-supported drilling before the end of the field season."

In July, Heatherdale moved its helicopter-supported surface drill to the Delta project in Interior Alaska. The explorer said once the Delta drilling is completed, it will move the rig back to Niblack to conduct drilling in the newly permitted areas.

"I would like to acknowledge the combined efforts of the Alaska governor and congressional delegation and the USDA and the local (Forest Service) in obtaining these approvals. We particularly appreciate the strong show of support from Gov. Parnell and from Sen. Mark Begich," Smith added.

Senators: Repeal 'roadless' Tongass

On Capitol Hill, Alaska's senators welcomed the permit approvals but expressed concern that the reinstatement of the Tongass roadless conservation measure is stifling economic opportunities in Southeast Alaska.

"While I continue to disagree with the basic premise of the Roadless Area Conservation Rule, I appreciate the U.S. Forest Service Alaska Region's attention to the needs of mining exploration and the important role mining plays in Southeast Alaska's economy," said Begich. "Unfortunately, the fact that permits for these projects continue to require special review in Washington, D.C. underscores the need to reinstate the Tongass exemption to the roadless rule."

U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, echoed Begich's call for once again exempting the Tongass from the excessively restrictive conservation measure.

"I remain committed to repealing roadless requirements for the Tongass; but in the interim, I welcome the Forest Service's efforts to find a compromise that allows responsible development to proceed," Murkowski said. "The ability to develop our domestic supplies of critical minerals is important both to our national security and to the economy of Alaska."

"While these latest permits are a welcome step forward, I remain concerned that as long as the roadless rule remains in place that it will keep dozens of other potential renewable energy and mineral projects from ever being considered," she added.

Author Bio

Shane Lasley, Publisher

Over his more than 15 years of covering mining and mineral exploration, Shane has become renowned for his ability to report on the sector in a way that is technically sound enough to inform industry insiders while being easy to understand by a wider audience.

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