AIDEA has second resource road initiative underway, this one west of Susitna

With environmental and permitting work for a resource road on northern Alaska, the Ambler Industrial Road, under its belt, the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority, the state’s development finance corporation, has now launched a second resource road initiative.

This one would open areas northwest of Anchorage and west of Wasilla, in western parts of the Matanuska-Susitna Borough where mineral exploration is underway and where a promising gold discovery has been made.

The board of the authority, known as AIDEA, approved an agreement to work with Nova Minerals Ltd., an Australian mining company, toward a plan for engineering and cost studies of an industrial road to Nova Resources’ Estelle project, a 54,400-acre tract 110 miles northwest of Anchorage and about 80 miles west of Wasilla.

Nova Minerals is now in its third year of exploring prospects on 346 state mining claims, and has started preparations for field work again at the site. Fifteen prospects with gold, copper and silver mineralization have been identified and the company is now focusing on the Korbel prospect, where drilling in 2019 identified an “inferred” or initial resource estimate of 2.5 million ounces of gold.

No commitment

The access road agreement-for-an-agreement in itself doesn’t commit either party to spend money. “The Memorandum of Understanding doesn’t authorize expenditure; it just gets the parties working together on planning, and a budget,” AIDEA spokesman Kasten Rodvik said in an email.

In briefing materials prepared for AIDEA’s April 15 board meeting the authority said Nova Minerals said it is prepared to commit $100,000 as a cost share if engineering and environmental work proceeds. However, if the project proceeds it is possible that federal permit applications could be filed later this year, according to materials submitted to AIDEA’s board.

AIDEA’s board approved a resolution that authorizes the authority to enter into a non-binding MOU with Nova Minerals Limited as partner with AIDEA in planning and engineering for the project, which is now called the West Susitna Access Road, Rodvik said.

This is actually phase two of the project, which started in 2014 as the West Susitna Access Study led by the Department of Transportation and Public Facilities as part of the agency’s Roads to Resources program. The study purpose was to identify a single access corridor that could reach several possible resource prospects.

The Matanuska-Susitna Borough became a partner in the project as a way of providing access to borough-owned land and to facilitate fire prevention and control. A phase one, led by HDR Alaska, was initiated to study possible routes and two were identified. An important consideration is that a natural has pipeline from the Matanuska Susitna Borough to the proposed Donlin Gold mine is planned through this area, which could make gas-fired power available to new mines.

HDR identified a northern route in the phase one work. It begins at Port MacKenzie and proceeds west to the Talachulitna and Skwentna River. The road would have to cross the Skwentna to the north side to avoid rugged terrain on the south side.

Another option developed in phase one is a southern route that begins at Ladd Landing on Cook Inlet but the area has environmental and geotechnical challenges. More work is needed to define wetland areas and available materials sources. Both routes would also need more study of private lands, cabins and lodges that could be affected.

The phase two work, if agreed by AIDEA and Nova Minerals, would further develop the engineering to develop a construction cost and verify through field work the wetlands mapping that has been done. This would put the project developers in a position of submitting a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers wetlands permit next winter and to begin a federal Environmental Impact Statement if the Army corps determines that an EIS is needed.

The West Susitna resources road is following a path similar to that used for the Ambler Road, where the DOTPF similarly did basic route surveys before turning the project over to AIDEA for engineering, environmental and feasibility studies. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management recently approved the Final Environmental Impact Statement for the 211-mile Ambler road, which would open up the Ambler Mining District, where companies have made significant copper discoveries.