A group of Alaska Native community leaders attending Barrick Gold’s annual general meeting
on Tuesday, May 3, raised indigenous rights concerns and urged the company to withdraw from the proposed Donlin open pit gold mine.
The group contends that the mine poses a threat to the environment of the headwaters of the Kuskokwim River and related subsistence needs.
“The Donlin Project poses too much risk to our lands and our food security, which we have an obligation to protect for future generations,” said Beverly Hoffman, a member of the Orutsararmiut Tribe. “We are asking Barrick Gold: What will it take to walk away from Donlin?”
Tribal opposition to the open pit old mine has increased in recent years, including formal opposition from the Association of Village Council Presidents, which represents 56 tribal governments in the Kuskokwim region, the Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corp. and the National Congress of American Indians.
The tribal opponents said that the mine as proposed would destroy thousands of acres of wetlands and streams, create billions of tons of waste, increase mercury levels in neighboring waters, destroy salmon and salmon habitat, create a massive pit “lake” containing arsenic, mercury, and selenium that requires treatment in perpetuity, and which could lead to harm to salmon and salmon habitat if everything does not go as predicted.
Tribes have appealed two state permits to the Alaska Superior Court – the water certification permit and the right of way permit for the 300-mile natural gas pipeline.
