Canadians Plan Big Nickel Mine On Denali Highway Near Paxson

MINING ON DENALI HIGHWAY 

Vancouver Mining Company Intends To Make Use Of 

"Paved Highways & Gravel Roads & Trails" 

Map of Nikolai's Location from Site. 

Reprinted from the November 15th, 2023 Copper River Country Journal 

A new nickel mine is planned off the Denali Highway, 25 miles from the junction at Paxson. 

The mine is named after a famed Ahtna leader,  Chief Nicolai, the man who escorted Lt. Henry T. Allen through the lower Copper Valley and up the Copper River in 1885. 

According to its website, the "Nikolai Project" is a sulphide nickel and battery metal mine. It is owned by foreign investors from Vancouver, Canada. 

The Nikolai mining company, Millrock, appears hopeful – according to its website, "Alaska Energy Metals"  – that initial drilling off the Denali will be completed this year. They expect to find a billion pounds of "contained nickel" their site says. Nickel is used for electric vehicles, the site adds. 

The company is keen on its work with the Alaskan government and expects a welcoming environment, noting: 

"Alaska is a pro-resource development state with efficient permitting processes and mandates the development of resources."

WHERE IS THE NIKOLAI SITE?

The company explains that the Nikolai project:

 "...is located 40 km northwest of the village of Paxson, on the southern flank of the Alaska Range. The claims are proximal to paved highways and network of gravel roads and trails afford ready access..."

Although Paxson is closer to Gakona Junction and Glennallen (to the south on the Richardson) than it is to communities to the north, the Millrock website notes:

The City of Fairbanks lies approximately 200 kilometers to the northwest. The city of 

Delta Junction lies 130 kilometers to the north of the project and has many services and amenities that support the Alaska mining community. The main Alaska power line and railway lie 100 kilometers to the west along the Denali Highway. 

RUCKUS ON THE ALCAN 

Meanwhile, Canadian interest in Alaskan mining – and the use of Alaskan roads and infrastructure to transport vast quantities of ore in large trucks – has caused a massive ruckus along the highways north of the Copper Valley. 

Over the past few months, extensive debate has been cranking up along the ore route, with opposing sides presenting their arguments on social media, and in the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. 

The controversy surrounds the safety of oversize gold ore trucks, which will serve another Canadian group called Kinross. Kinross plans  to travel 250 miles each way back and forth from their new mine at Tetlin Village, all the way to their old existing gold mill at Fort Knox in Fox, north of Fairbanks. 

The trucks will travel over 80-year old bridges, and pass through or near every major community north of the Copper Valley: Tetlin,  Tanacross, Tok, Dot Lake, Deltana, Big Delta, Salcha, Eielson, North Pole, Fairbanks and Fox. 

See: COUNTRY JOURNAL Ore Trucking Stories Here 

The Kinross trucks intend to be out on the Alcan, Richardson and Lower Steese,  hauling ore every 12 minutes, round the clock, winter and summer – for 5 years. 

Recently, lawsuits have been filed by community-based advocacy groups along the highways who are worried about the trucks endangering their infrastructure, bridges, school buses, towns and way of life. 

Both the Alaska Department of Transportation and Governor Mike Dunleavy have steadfastly supported the Canadian trucks and their use of public roads to move ore across Alaska's northern highways to Kinross's existing gold mill north of Fairbanks. 

See: The NIKOLAI PROJECT Website Here