The Pebble Blog : Hardrock mineral exploration, 07-09 statistics

The Pebble Blog

The gigantic Pebble copper and gold prospect in Southwest Alaska is one of the touchiest topics in Alaska today.

In this blog, I'll track news that is significant or interesting about the Pebble project. I'll also try to generate discussion and information sharing about some of the claims and counterclaims about the project, and mining in general.

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About Elizabeth Bluemink ebluemink@adn.com

I've been writing about mining in Alaska since 2004 and without a doubt, it is one of the most interesting topics that I cover at the Daily News. I've been a newspaper reporter for the past 10 years. In the Deep South, I specialized in reporting about environmental conflicts and pollution cleanups. For two years, I covered commercial fishing, mining and logging in Southeast Alaska. In my current job as a Daily News business reporter, I write about mining, tourism, Native corporations and other businesses.

Hardrock mineral exploration, 07-09 statistics

Posted by Elizabeth Bluemink

Posted: November 9, 2009 - 2:12 pm

I wrote this story appearing in today's paper about the recent uptick in gold production in Alaska.

While I worked on that story last week, I was curious, too, about hardrock mineral exploration, so I asked some state officials to give me stats showing whether it's been up or down over the last few years. That data is below. As faithful Pebble Blog readers know, there is a lawsuit in state court right now claiming the state's current exploration permit process violates the state constitution. Will that lawsuit put a damper on next year's exploration? That's hard to say right now, because key rulings in the case are still pending. We'll at least know about how many companies applied to explore in 2010 by the end of the first quarter of the year.

Here's some numbers that I got from the Alaska Department of Natural Resources on Friday.

* In 2007, the state granted 75 hardrock exploration permits.
* In 2008, the state granted 84.
* In 2009, the state granted 63.

The 2008 expenditures for mining exploration - $347 million - was a record amount according to state records dating back to the 1950s. (Source: Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys Special Report 63)