Editor’s Note: The first version of this story used the incorrect units of measurement. The Palmer Prospect contains 2.6 million inferred grams of gold and 60 million inferred grams of silver, not ounces.
A Canadian firm has received the go-ahead from the Bureau of Land Management to continue exploration for a possible gold mine west of Haines.
On Thursday, the BLM’s Glennallen office approved an expansion of exploration operations at the Palmer Project, an area on the south side of the Klehini River, 7 miles from the Haines Highway and near the Canadian border. The area is believed to hold significant amounts of gold-bearing ore.
Vancouver-based Constantine Metal Resources Ltd. has been working at the site for several years and in 2015 requested permission to extend a road by 2.5 miles, including a lengthy switchback, to a staging point in the eastern St. Elias Mountains.
“The proposed road would provide access for up to 40 new exploration drill sites,” the BLM record of decision states. “Constantine plans to continue in the exploration phase of their project for the next 5-10 years …”
Dennis Teitzel, Glennallen Field Manager for the BLM, said the federal permission isn’t the final word on the expanded exploration.
“There’s still a few things they’ve got to do,” he said, including obtaining bonding for the project.
The BLM received 58 public comments on the project’s environmental assessment, but most raised environmental questions “without justification or facts to back up the statement,” the BLM noted.
The BLM stated that the road construction and exploratory drilling is not expected to harm fish in the Klehini or Chilkat rivers, and denning animals are not expected to be affected because site work will take place only during summer.
According to company documents, Constantine believes the Palmer Prospect contains 2.6 million inferred grams of gold (84,000 ounces), more than 60 million grams (1.9 million ounces) of silver, and substantial amounts of copper and zinc.
In comparison, Kensington Gold Mine north of Juneau has 690,000 ounces of inferred gold resources.
• Contact reporter James Brooks at 523-2258 or james.k.brooks@juneauempire.com.
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