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A-J Gold Mine Project Abandoned

Release Date: 3/11/1997
Contact Information: Bill Riley
riley.bill@epamail.epa.gov
(206) 553-1412 or 800-424-4372

97-16----March 11, 1997

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today announced plans for wrapping up its technical work on the Alaska-Juneau
(A-J)Gold Mine project. The EPA had been preparing a Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SKIS) for a proposal by Echo Bay Alaska to reopen the A-J Mine. However, Echo Bay announced in January that, due to economic considerations, it was abandoning plans to develop the A-J gold deposit. Consequently, EPA will not be completing the SKIS.

EPA will instead produce an Ecological Risk Characterization Summary Report for the submarine tailings disposal (STD) alternative that had been proposed by Echo Bay. The report, expected to be available in July 1997, will present the findings of numerous technical studies that were underway when Echo Bay terminated the project. With the help of scientists from CH2M Hill, EPA will describe the ecological risks associated with discharging A-J mine tailings into the deep marine waters of Stephens Passage, about nine miles south of Juneau. Echo Bay is continuing to fund the work done by CH2M Hill for EPA, as it has done throughout the SKIS process.

"The report should tell us a good deal about the potential ecological risks to marine organisms but will not reach any conclusions about the potential acceptability of submarine tailings disposal," said Phil Millam, director of EPA Region 10's Office of Water in Seattle. Millam explained that EPA and the Alaska resource agencies did not complete work on the 'risk thresholds' before Echo Bay terminated its development plans.

The report will also describe any uncertainties in the conclusions regarding the ecological risks and will provide a 'road map' for how to complete an 'ecological risk assessment' for the project that would conform to EPA guidelines and address the issue of acceptability.

"We want to preserve the good work that has been done to date on the SKIS and provide a blueprint for completing the ecological risk assessment in case another party should pick up the project," said Patty McGrath, EPA' s technical team leader for the A-J SKIS project.

Copies of the document will be made available to the public through the EPA office in Juneau at 410 Willoughby Ave.