Susitna access road will be public, AIDEA says community meetings later this month

To answer questions, the Alaska Industrial Development Authority, the state’s development finance agency that will manage the road construction, plans two community meetings.

The first meeting is on Wednesday, March 23, at the Skwentna Roadhouse, from noon to 2 p.m. The second will be in Wasilla on Friday, March 31, at Evangelo’s Restaurant at 2530 East Parks Highway, from 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.

The road would parallel a natural gas pipeline planned to support the Donlin Gold project for about 53 miles. Donlin Gold is near Crooked Creek in the middle Kuskokwim River region.

Mining companies would use the road if mines are developed, but the road would also be open to public access, Brandon Brefczyki, deputy director of the Alaska Industrial Development Authority, told the House Transportation Committee in a briefing Feb, 28.

Rep. Kevin McCabe, R-Big Lake, said one of his major concerns is the location of a bridge that will be needed to cross the Susitna River. Where the crossing is built is important for the protection of salmon and other fish, McCabe said.

Randy Ruaro, AIDEA’s executive director, said multiple options for the bridge location are being studied.

Brefczyki told the legislators that AIDEA has just completed more information on the project for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Even though the route is on state lands the corps has jurisdiction over permits in wetlands and will lead the preparation of an Environmental Impact Statement for the project.

The corps will soon select a third party contractor to develop the EIS, which is expected to tke about two years to complete, Brefczyki said. In theory the EIS could be complete and federal Section 404 wetlands permits issued in early 2025.

After that, construction could begin as soon as financing is arranged. That will depend mainly on whether Nova Minerals, an Australian mining company, can find enough proven gold resources to fund the construction of a mine and its support facilities.

So far the company has about 9 million ounces of proven and possible gold resources on its leases, but exploration is still underway in areas of mineralization that show encouraging grades of ore, NovaMinerals has said.

In comparison, Donlin Gold, which is further west, has about 39 million ounces of proven and probable gold resources.

Meanwhile, there are other mineral discoveries in the immediate region. Eastelle, where NovaMinerals holds its leases, is the farthest along in exploration. Four other deposits being explored by other companies include Whister, Island Mountain, Raintree West and Canyon Creek, a coal deposit.

Besides minerals there are also timber resources in the area that could be harvested if there were access by road, and because the road will be open for public use there is potential for recreation development.

The Mat-Su Borough is a partner with AIDEA on the road but only to ensure information is made available to the public, borough manager Mike Brown has said. The borough will not be contributing financially to the construction or maintenance cost.

There are mixed feelings among some Mat-Su residents, however. While most in the borough are pleased that the road will be open to public use, some owners of recreation properties near the route are worried about noise and pollution from mining trucks carrying ore concentrates.

However, having a road that opens the western region of the borough that is now inaccessible for year-around access is considered a positive. Also, if the road helps make mines economically viable Mat-Su’s economy will be strengthened and the borough will have additional tax revenues to help support public services.

At this point the road project is not far enough along in its planning to have reliable cost estimates or a plan as to how it would be financed.

On other AIDEA industrial transportation projects mining companies or other users pay fees for use of the facilities to repay bonds issued by the authority to fund the construction, and to pay maintenance costs after building is done. This was done successfully at the Red Dog lead zinc mine in Northwest Alaska, which was completed in 1989, and it is the model that will be used on another AIDEA industrial road, the 211-mile Ambler Access Project, also in Northwest Alaska, that is now in advanced planning.