Alaska News

Water treatment ends at Tulsequah Chief mine near Juneau

KTOO reports on the most current update in the ill-fated Tulsequah Chief Mine project that has long been a source of worry for Southeast Alaskans.

For the last 60 years, the British Columbia mine has been leaking acidic waters into a river on Alaska soil that is an abundant source of salmon.

The Tulsequah Chief Mine was shut down in 1957, but the last company to mine the Tulsequah Chief, Cominco, improperly shut down the operations. Since then, acidic waters have been leaching into the Tulsequah River, which flows into the Taku River.

Two years ago Chieftain Metals Inc. purchased the property hoping eventually to redevelop it, and began operating an Interim Water Treatment Plan to stop the acidic runoff. But the costs were too great, with the company spending $9 million on construction and operation of the plan. Without income flowing in from the mine, the company was unable to continue the water treatment.

Chieftain President and CEO Victor Wyprsky told KTOO that it was like paying a mortgage without having a house. "No company in the world would be treating water without a mine." He said.

Chieftain is the only company that has attempted to stop the leakage at the mine since its closure. With the shutdown of the plant. The company is now in violation of its Environmental Management Act permit from the B.C. Government.

Read and listen to much more, here.

Craig Medred

Craig Medred is a former writer for the Anchorage Daily News, Alaska Dispatch and Alaska Dispatch News. He left the ADN in 2015.

ADVERTISEMENT