Anchorage Daily News

Alaska's mining industry has long claimed its greatest economic rewards occur in rural Alaska, where some of the state's richest natural resources are located and other job opportunities are scarce.

So how did Ballot Measure 4, which sought to limit toxic discharges from large metal mines, fare with Alaska's rural voters on Tuesday?

It depends where you look.

Both sides on the failed Measure 4 -- opponents of developing the controversial Pebble copper and gold prospect and mining industry executives -- said they scrutinized the results on Wednesday.

In the Bristol Bay region -- Pebble is located there, near the headwaters of two rivers that feed the region's major salmon runs -- most villages weighed in resoundingly in favor of Measure 4.

That's a clear sign that people in the Bristol Bay region do not want Pebble to be developed, "Yes" vote proponents said Wednesday.

Also, in the lower swath of western Alaska, especially in villages near the mouth of the Kuskokwim River, voters said "Yes" to the proposed law.

For example, Bethel, a Western Alaska hub community downstream of Donlin, one of North America's richest gold deposits, voted decisively in favor of Measure 4.

Mining officials involved with the Donlin prospect said the vote on Measure 4 was a useful indication of where they haven't been able to get support for their project.

"For Bethel, the jury (on Donlin) is very much still out. There's a lot of concern, and it would be strange if there wasn't," said Mary Nelson, a lame-duck state legislator now working for the Donlin project.

She pointed out that most job opportunities on the Donlin project are being filled with residents of upriver villages closest to the project. Those upriver villages tended to vote "No" on Measure 4, according to state election records.

Also, in a voting district comprising the Seward Peninsula and lower Yukon River villages, most villages voted against the proposed law.

In the Northwest Arctic, home of Red Dog zinc mine, the state's largest mine, most voters said "No," including in Kivalina, where village leaders have been embroiled in a pollution lawsuit against Red Dog.

Most voters in Interior and North Slope villages voted "No" on Measure 4.

Find Elizabeth Bluemink online at adn.com/contact/ebluemink or call 257-4317.

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