Tanana Chiefs Conference Executive Board member and a visionary leader in the Upper Tanana region. This mine project will make Tetlin financially self-sufficient while allowing its members to continue to live their cultural and traditional way of life. ECONOMIC BENEFITS TO A REMOTE ALASKA REGION A socioeconomic assessment conducted by McKinley Research in 2021 found that the development of the Manh Choh mine will have significant, positive impacts on Interior Alaska, including a combined total of 950 direct, indirect, and induced jobs between 2024 and 2028. Over the projected 5-year life of Manh Choh, these jobs will total more than $120 million in payroll — with the average wage of direct jobs coming in at over $128,000 per year. The mine will be the second-largest employer in region, offering a wide variety of jobs and contracting opportunities — not to mention training skills that locals can use throughout their lifetime. Already, Tetlin, Tok and the greater Fairbanks area have experienced significant economic benefit because of Manh Choh’s construction phase, with ~$75 million in payroll paid to date to bring the mine online. Year-round, this project estimates it will supply 400-600 year-round jobs for the region. It is estimated that $425 million in the purchase of goods and services will be purchased from local businesses in Tok, Delta Junction, Fairbanks and other parts of Alaska. Once the mining phase is completed, Manh Choh will continue to provide economic opportunity though the reclamation phase of the project. The Manh Choh reclamation will bring an additional estimated $40 million to $60 million to the region. In short, Manh Choh has been a complete game changer for this remote region of Alaska — with even greater benefits expected as production begins in earnest. ENVIRONMENTAL AND SAFETY PROTECTIONS MET An interesting aspect of the Manh Choh project is that it will not have onsite milling of the extracted resource; therefore, it will not require an on-site tailings facility. The Manh Choh project plan includes small open pit mining near Tetlin from which rock will be trucked about 240 miles oneway for processing at the existing Kinross Gold Fort Knox mine, located about 25 road miles northeast of Fairbanks. Processing will occur within existing permitted facilities at Fort Knox, eliminating the need for a mill or tailings facilities at Manh Choh. Access road construction for the proposed mine, including a twin road and a site road, as well as site preparation, started in 2022 and completed earlier in 2023. The mine is estimated to start production in 2024 with an estimated mine life of five years. With a such a short mine lifetime, it makes little sense to permit and build a mill at the mine site when Tetlin’s partner has a fully permitted, operational mill that is currently underutilized at the Fort Knox gold mine just north of Fairbanks. Why permit, build and then monitor a new tailings disposal facility at Manh Choh when the tailings can be safely stored in an www.AKRDC.org 11 VOLUME 1 | ISSUE 1 | WINTER 2024 CONTINUED ON PAGE 12
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTcxMjMwNg==