Transboundary Mine Approved Near Canada-Alaska Borders: “Our Concerns Have Gone Unaddressed”

Another transboundary mine around the Canada-Alaska border has been given a green light, despite growing opposition that such projects threaten migrating salmon. CBC has some details from Canada:

The Eskay Creek project involves the reopening of a former underground mine located approximately 80 kilometres northwest of Stewart, B.C., not far from the Alaska border. The project covers approximately 58 square kilometers and would be operated as an open-pit mine. 

The project, overseen by Skeena Gold + Silver, received provincial and federal permits Tuesday, and received environmental approval this week, considered major hurdles in the process. About 1,000 construction jobs and 770 operational jobs are expected to be created.

Here’s Salmon Beyond Borders with reaction and concern about the anadromous fish that spawn in that watershed:

 B.C. and Canada approve another risky open pit gold mine just over the Alaska border

The Dunleavy Administration fails again to protect Alaskans from Canada’s industrialization of shared salmon rivers

JUNEAU, AK— Salmon Beyond Borders reacts with dismay to the news that the Province of British Columbia has moved forward the Eskay Creek mine, a large-scale transboundary gold mine with two high-risk large mine waste dams located just miles over the border in the Unuk River system, which flows into the United States. In materials dated Sunday, Jan. 25, the B.C. Minister of Environment and Parks and the B.C. Minister of Mining and Critical Minerals announced that B.C had issued an environmental assessment certificate for the mine. 

“Salmon Beyond Borders and others have submitted multiple comments on this reckless project over the years to British Columbia and to leadership of the Tahltan Nation, but our concerns have gone unaddressed,” said Breanna Walker, Director of Salmon Beyond Borders. “Once again, Alaskans will be taking on virtually all of the risks and impacts of yet another Canadian mine upstream, while receiving none of the benefits. Under Governor Dunleavy’s leadership, the State of Alaska has abdicated its responsibility to protect Alaskans and Alaska interests from this threat.” 

The company behind Eskay Creek, Skeena Gold + Silver, has downplayed the planned mine’s impacts to fish habitat. Among other things, they have mistakenly asserted that surrounding waterways do not have fish; they haven’t identified clear water pollution limits or developed a mitigation plan for exceedances of copper, zinc, and nickel; there is no long-term plan to prevent or address sulphate and selenium pollution that could significantly impact fish habitat and surrounding ecosystems; the proposal relies on perpetual water treatment (water treatment that will have to happen forever) in an unlined tailings storage facility located only a little over two miles from the main stem of the transboundary Unuk River; and Skeena Gold + Silver is not required to cover full reclamation costs, meaning impacted communities, including those downstream in Alaska, will be left to deal with long-term impacts of the mine.

To our knowledge, the Dunleavy Administration has not once publicly commented on Eskay Creek in the last eight years. The administration has also failed to engage Tribes, fishermen, federal agencies, and community members in consistent, transparent, and collaborative dialogue, as outlined in the Alaska-B.C. Memorandum of Understanding and Cooperation (MOU) and Statement of Cooperation on Protection of Transboundary Waters (SOC), resulting in Tribes and Alaskans learning about B.C. mine-specific updates, and new pollution events in the media–a violation of Section 4 of the SOC, 

From 2021-2023, almost every Southeast Alaska municipality and several Tribes called for permanent ban on transboundary tailings dams and a pause on B.C. transboundary mining until binding watershed protections are in place. The Alaska Congressional delegation and Alaska State legislators have long called for such binding watershed protections, as did the Walker-Mallott administration.

Today, three B.C. acid-generating, gold-copper mines with tailings dams are operating in the region, and more than 100 B.C. low-grade hardrock mine projects are in some phase of exploration, proposal, or development. A recent report by B.C.’s Pacific Salmon Foundation warned that Canadian mining pressure along shared rivers could lead to “undocumented extinction” of salmon runs. 

Since the start of the current Trump Administration, British Columbia and Canada have both claimed the development of new acid-producing hard rock mines, many of which are near the border, open pit, high risk and in river systems flowing into the United States, are essential because of President Donald Trump’s trade policies. However, gold and copper, which are the main target minerals of B.C. transboundary mines, are exempt from tariffs under EO 14257’s Annex II. 

B.C. and Canada now plan to build eight new and expanded large-scale gold-copper mines and mine waste dams along the transboundary Taku, Stikine, Unuk, and Salmon Rivers: New Polaris (Taku); Red Chris expansion, Galore Creek, and Schaft Creek (Stikine); Eskay Creek and KSM (Unuk); Premier and Red Mountain (Salmon/Portland Canal). 

Salmon Beyond Borders is an Alaska-based campaign working with fishermen, business owners, community leaders, and concerned citizens, alongside Tribes and First Nations on both sides of the Alaska-B.C. border, to defend and sustain our transboundary wild salmon rivers, jobs, and way of life.