The National Park Service worries that, if developed, Johnson River would be the largest commercial mining operation in any Alaskan park, and has expressed concerns about effects on the park, including possible acid mine drainage, and sediment discharge into the Johnson River.

Exploration and placer mining have taken place in this area since at the least the 1970's but the current deposit has only recently been examined in detail. Because the deposit is located on the road system and near the power grid, commencing production is expected to be much easier than at remote deposits, such as the Donlin Creek gold prospect. International Tower Hill is contemplating both a traditional mill similar to the nearby Fort Knox gold mine, as well as a heap-leach only operation with lower capital costs. The first of these would require 70-80 MW of power, and the second only 10-15 MW. The company has not yet determined whether they would draw power from GVEA in Fairbanks or generate the power onsite.

The potential for acid mine drainage at this site has not been determined, but the mine would use cyanide for gold extraction.

The project property covers around 90,000 acres and is located 180 miles southeast of Red Dog Mine and about 140 miles east of Kotzebue. Exploration on this property was intermittent from 1965 to 1998 and then began in earnest in 2003. While no specific mining plans have been produced, the technical report prepared by NovaGold only considered an underground mine, partly as a way to mitigate the expected acid mine drainage at the site.

More information: Ground Truth Trekking article, a planned expedition to the area, and Donlin Creek Working Group Website]]> -158.1680971879223 62.03930211780256 0 -0.00337365088771753 0 28155.42376164327 relativeToGround relativeToSeaFloor #msn_ylw-pushpin386 -158.223408430941,62.039543782738,0 Niblack Gold Prospect The Niblack Project is a copper-zinc-gold-silver deposit located on Prince of Wales Island, about 30 miles southwest of Ketchikan. The current "indicated resource" consists of 2.6 million tons of ore, composed of 1.18% copper, 2.19% zinc 2.33 g/t gold, and 33.18 g/t silver.

Canadian-based Niblack Mineral Development Inc. is exploring the site, with financial support from Heatherdale Resource Ltd., a member of the Hunter Dickinson Mining Group (which also includes Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd., a partner in the proposed Pebble Mine project). Niblack also owns the rights to the nearby Cayenne and Ruby Tuesday properties, both of which contain non-operating historic mining operations.

Although still in the very early stages of exploration, this project has already encountered significant local opposition because of the proximity of the numerous claims to important wildlife habitats, archeological sites, and recreation areas. Efforts are underway to create a state wildlife refuge, which would protect the most historically and ecologically important lands within the mining leases.

Proponents argue that the mine will create jobs in the region and tax revenue for the state of Alaska, and that it is impossible to oppose a project before final plans are drawn up. Opponents argue that the mine would negatively impact the entire Bristol Bay watershed regardless of design details, and create an unacceptable risk to fisheries downstream forever.