Multi-agency event held in Nome for offshore gold miners
The Alaska Department of Natural Resources hosted a “compliance assistance event” for Nome’s offshore mine operators last week. Mining Section staff, as well as staff from the Department of Environmental Conservation and the U.S. Coast Guard, were in attendance to talk about placer mining applications, permitting and royalty matters. Unlike in past years, when all the agencies gave presentations to a crowded room, staff said that they wanted to have a more open dialogue with miners. However, this may have led to smaller participation than expected, despite windy weather conditions unsuitable for offshore mining.
Aleria Knudson, geologist with mineral property management at DNR, explained the process and the permits necessary to mine in state waters. The first thing everyone should do, she said, is decide where you are going to mine. Different jurisdictions have different rules, and the mean tidal range in Nome is only slightly more than one foot, meaning you might think you’re in state waters, but are actually on Native Corporation land.
There are several permits that need to be filed for. Everyone must have a mining license, available from the Department of Revenue. DOR is also where the mining license tax is paid. Offshore miners will also need a habitat permit from the Department of Fish and Game. DEC requires a wastewater permit to monitor pollutant discharge. DEC Placer Mine Coordinator Nick Dallman explained that there are three sizes of these permits, based on diameter of the suction hose and the horsepower of the engine. Small dredges use a suction hose diameter less than or equal to six inches and less than or equal to 23HP and include highbankers, medium dredges are between six and ten inches, and large dredges are anything over 10 inches and include mechanical dredges. Operating medium and larger dredges comes with the responsibility of daily turbidity observations and plume length measurements.
Then there is the APMA, short for “Application for Permit to Mine in Alaska,” which was designed to simplify the process of coordinating with other state and federal entities. Some people might know this as the “Annual Placer Mining Application,” but the APMA is now available for up to five years. When these are all approved, then mining can take place.
Once mining has begun, there are also reclamation statements and turbidity logs describing how much material was moved and how the water looked before and after. Successful miners must also pay production royalties if they collect gold from state lands, extending three miles offshore. Other staff at the event noted that miners can “shoot themselves in the foot” by underreporting gold collected, because low yields might lead the state to say allowing for the operations isn’t worth it.
Lieutenant Commander Rven Garcia, chief of inspections for the U.S. Coast Guard’s Sector Anchorage, was also in attendance to talk about Certificates of Inspection and vessel safety exams. Garcia encouraged everyone to get the voluntary exam, which were introduced in 2014. He said that casualties and deaths have declined since then, by recommending life jackets, taking radios and SOS devices, and checking the vessel regularly for hazards. The exam is designed to reduce risk; “failing” an exam won’t prevent someone from being allowed to go out on the water. Safety exams are also not limited to mining vessels, and District 17 Coast Guard conducts an average of 143 commercial fishing vessel safety exams each month in Alaska. The Coast Guard will be returning to Nome to conduct dockside commercial fishing vessel safety exams later this season.
Inspections, however, are mandatory if the vessel falls into one of two categories. The first is if the vessel is more than 300 gross tons and sea-going. The second is if the vessel is between 15 and 300 tons and carrying freight for hire. In the mining case, “freight for hire” means carrying anything brought up from the bottom and moved, such as dredging materials. Vessels under 15 tons do not need an inspection.
Marine inspections include examining the structural integrity of the vessel in a drydock, checking internals, navigation systems, crew member drills, machinery, among a
long list of things. All pages of a Certificate of Inspection must be on display on the vessel.
In a follow-up email to the Nugget, DEC’s Dallman wrote that there are currently seven small dredge permits in the Norton Sound area, 48 medium dredge permits and 22 large dredge permits. He expects the number of small dredges to increase, as there are usually around 20 per year. While small dredge permits must be applied for annually, permits for medium and large dredges are valid for five years, “so active permit numbers often far exceed the number of actual operating dredges,” he wrote.
There is of course something else that happened in the last five years. “We have observed a decrease in offshore permits the past two years, possibly due to COVID and travel restrictions,” Dallman wrote.
The DNR reminds miners that an operator covered under a permit for the Nome public mining area can only operate one dredge, in the public mining areas. Permits that can have multiple dredges are for offshore leases or mining claims.
All entities encouraged miners to reach out to their departments for specific questions.