Constantine seeks state land ownership at Palmer Project Mining exploration company Constantine Metals is encouraging Alaska’s Mental Health Land Trust office to seek a transfer of ownership from federal Bureau of Land Management land.
Constantine, which is exploring for minerals on about 3,200 acres of BLM land adjoining trust property, approached the land trust office several years ago about conveying the federal land to state ownership, trust office executive director Wyn Menefee said.
“We’ve heard what the benefits are to Constantine, what the potential costs might be,” Menefee said. “If the mine is located on federal ownership it is a more difficult process to go through to get the mine permitted when it’s on federal land than if it’s on state land.”
Menefee said he couldn’t say if that was Constantine’s motivation for wanting the transfer to occur, but in his experience it takes longer and is more costly for mining to go through the federal permitting process.
When asked if transferring federal land to state ownership would make permitting less difficult, Constantine’s vice president of community and external affairs Liz Cornejo said they want to facilitate whatever it takes to “create a responsible mining operation.”
“I wouldn’t say it would be easier,” Cornejo said. “It’s nice to have one landowner versus two.”
Constantine president Garfield MacVeigh said permitting through the state, rather than the state and federal government, will simplify the permitting process.
Cornejo said if their project involves wetlands, they might need to apply for a federal Army Corps of Engineers permit, which would trigger a federal environmental impact statement.
Constantine has been able to skirt wetlands in its exploration project thus far, said Alaska Department of Natural Resources associate director Kyle Moselle, but said he doubts any potential operating mine would be able to avoid seeking a federal permit, even if the land were all under state ownership.
Alaska Department of Conservation waste water discharge authorization program engineer Alan Nakanishi said hard rock mining projects typically go through an Environmental Impact Statement process if they’re on federal land. “From that perspective, it could be argued that if (a mine is) on federally managed lands, the permitting process is more difficult or more arduous.”
On federal land, any mining company would first need to get an environmental assessment (EA) according to the National Environmental Policy Act. An EA requires a permittee to list the environmental impacts of a proposed action.
“Federal agencies prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) if a proposed major federal action is determined to significantly affect the quality of the human environment,” according to the Environmental Protection Agency’s website. “The regulatory requirements for an EIS are more detailed and rigorous than the requirements for an EA.”
The Mental Health Trust selected land decades ago on what is now Constantine’s Palmer Project under the General Grant State Selection. The 3,200 acres of BLM lands were not conveyed to the state because of mining claim encumbrances. Haines Mining and Exploration and ALYU Mining corporation own 340 claims on those acres, according to the BLM.
Those companies would need to sign a waiver that would release their federal claims. The State of Alaska could then request BLM convey the lands to the state. The incentive for relinquishing those claims would be if an individual, business or agency bought them out. Who would buy them out?
“That’s the big question of the day,” Menefe said. “It could be the (mental health) trust. It could be a private financier. It could be all sorts of different ways. Constantine also has to agree to it.”
Constantine has veto power over any such terms as part of their lease with the mining claimants, Menefe said.
If the federal claims remain, the mental health trust might not obtain royalties from any mining that occurs. According to federal mining laws, if mining begins on federal land, a mining company has the right to follow the ore body wherever it leads. If that ore body continues under mental health trust land, the trust won’t get the royalties.
“That’s problematic for the trust,” Menefe said. “The trust is made to earn money to support beneficiary programs for the mentally ill in Alaska. (We look at) how can we use our land for the best value of the beneficiaries. It’s not as good if we can’t get more money off of that land. That’s why we’re evaluating whether eliminating these federal claims would be in the interest of the trust.”
Menefee said the first time Constantine approached mental health trust, prior executive directors weren’t interested because little was known about the potential for a productive mine.
“That has progressed. Constantine has been issuing their information about what they’re finding,” Menefee said. “There’s more knowledge now about what there was in the past.”
Constantine this year identified a portion of its resources as “indicated,” a higher confidence level compared to inferred. Its 2015 inferred resources were at 8.1 million tons. That has grown to more than 10 million tons, 4.67 million tons of which are indicated. At an area of discovery on mental health trust lands, the company drilled additional intersections this summer of high-grade precious metals including silver, gold and zinc.