Alaska Daily News article about mining tailings and salmon on the Forty Mile River

[Kodiak]

I wanted to share this interesting article I saw in the ADN about reprocessing tailings piles for the benefit of salmon on the Forty Mile River. It turns out, Mining can be good for salmon after all.

Kodiak

https://www.adn.com/business-economy/20 ... -for-fish/

[Jim_Alaska]

Thanks for sharing this article Kodiak, it's good to keep up with what is going on in mining circles.

Here in California and Oregon miners have introduced the science showing that mining does not hurt salmon and can in fact help Salmon. We have submitted this information to agencies and government over the last ten years. Unfortunately it was all to no avail, they banned all mining here anyway, regardless of the science.

For my self I wouldn't get too optimistic about articles like this as far as any benefit to miners. Many times it gets difficult to keep up with the "who is who" when it comes to organizations partnering with other organizations.

Many environmental organizations have been extremely antagonistic and critical of mining in any form. It is interesting and very telling that these same organizations that are against mining will jump on the band wagon if they can see a way to benefit from a situation, even if the seeming solution involves mining methods that they have lobbied against and shown to be of harm to both fish and habitat.

One "for instance" is here in the Sierras where an environmental group has been successful in grant funding from government agencies on the premise of "cleaning up mercury from gold rush mining". They get paid to mine, get to keep both the Mercury and the gold, and ironically they do it with suction dredges that they have been instrumental in getting banned in California.

Sorry to be so long winded and critical, but when it comes to NGO environmentalists I have personally seen enough to make me extremely wary of anything they are for.

Only time will tell regarding this article's information. Perhaps the results will be good, but I have seen other instances where miners tried to work with government entities and environmentalists turn into a nightmare for miners.

I found the website for the organization named in this article, you can draw your own conclusions from it"
https://www.resolve.ngo/about.htm

[Geowizard]

Jim,

My sentiments exactly.

A "non-profit" pulling in a million dollars a year mining GOLD and saving the Salmon!

- Geowizard

[Geowizard]

It's a fish story;

Salmon do not (cannot) swim that far inland.

https://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?a ... n.rangemap

- Geowizard

[Geowizard]

The exception;

There always seems to be an exception.

Chinook (aka King) Salmon range up the Yukon River into Canada.

https://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?a ... k.rangemap

So, the Salmon theme and saving the salmon habitat will be of great interest to those that think it may be of some sort of relevance. Chinook Salmon are wide-spread through-out Alaska and Canada. The habitat disturbance due to mining is practically a non-starter because of the small foot print that mining has.

Worthy of discussion;

Mining companies that pander to nebulous environmental causes contribute to the problem. It's a false front to purport to be a non-profit environmental concern (making money) when the salmon have obviously continued to flourish and adapt over the past century as they always have.

- Geowizard