A Canadian company wants to resurrect a gold mine on the B.C.-Alaska border, just downriver from a notorious polluter

Environmental groups and U.S. elected officials are raising concerns about a proposed gold mine they say could contaminate the Taku River watershed and threaten wild salmon across the B.C.-Alaska border.

The Canadian-owned mine, called New Polaris, is in the early stages of a B.C. environmental assessment to determine if it can proceed.

Despite its name, New Polaris isn’t new. The northwest B.C. mine, which sits on the banks of the Tulsequah River, roughly halfway between Atlin, B.C., and Juneau, Alaska, operated from 1937 to 1951. It used to be called the Polaris Taku mine. At the time, it was owned by Cominco, a predecessor to Canadian mining giant Teck Resources.

Cominco also owned another mine five kilometres upriver called Tulsequah Chief — which later became infamous for leaching toxic waste into the river for decades. Cleanup and closure of the Tulsequah Chief mine has been underway for several years but is still not completed. 

Since the early 1990s, New Polaris has been owned by Vancouver-based Canagold. In July, as gold prices rose, Canagold submitted a detailed project description to B.C.’s environmental assessment office, kicking off the formal review process. 

Environmental groups advocating for the cleanup of the Tulsequah Chief mine and protection of the Taku River watershed say it’s problematic to revive the New Polaris mine while Tulsequah Chief is still polluting.

“We think it’s unconscionable for B.C. to be giving any consideration to the development of a new lower Taku mine when the nearby Tulsequah Chief mine continues its pollution unabated,” Will Patric, executive director of Alaska-based Rivers Without Borders, told The Narwhal in an email.

He said the group will be sending comments to the B.C. environmental assessment office during a public engagement period that ends on Dec. 12. The engagement period is described by the province as “public feedback on the draft plan” to inform what will be included in the assessment. Patric said the group will submit specific comments about the plans as well as “emphasizing our main point that there should not be consideration of a new lower Taku mine as long as Tulsequah Chief’s toxic discharge into the Taku watershed continues.”

“From a big picture perspective — what makes sense for the public interest, what is respectful of downstream stakeholders and what’s appropriate for an international river system that is the top salmon producer for the entire transboundary region — we believe it’s the message B.C. needs to be getting,” he said.

New Polaris mine would be developed within Indigenous Protected and Conserved Area 

The New Polaris mine is located in what’s described as the largest roadless Pacific watershed in North America. The Tulsequah and Taku rivers are highly productive salmon rivers and the area is home to large populations of wildlife including moose, wolves and bears. 

In early 2023, after decades of pollution from Tulsequah Chief, the Taku River Tlingit First Nation declared the area protected as the T’akú Tlatsini Indigenous Protected and Conserved Area, or T’akú IPCA for short. An IPCA is an area where Indigenous people lead conservation and stewardship efforts in accordance with their own priorities and laws. The Taku River Tlingit protected area doesn’t preclude mining projects, however, with the remaining 40 per cent of the watershed identified as “specially managed landscapes,” according to the declaration. 

“These specially managed areas include zones with high mineral potential, where the T’akú IPCA provides opportunities for respectful, clean mineral extraction and other uses that support a low carbon economy,” a press release at the time noted.

The Taku River Tlingit First Nation was not able to provide comment before publication. Canagold indicated in its government filings it is working with the nation on developing the mine and has signed agreements that uphold the nation’s rights.

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U.S. Congresswoman urges greater protections for transboundary mining impacts

On the other side of the border, U.S. groups are pushing for a seat at the table. To build and operate the mine, Canagold would have to cross the international border regularly, shipping construction supplies into the mine site and transporting ore out. 

“Canagold is talking about a huge number of flights in and out of the lower Taku to support its mine, but a lot of barging will also be required,” Patric said. “The Taku is not well suited to barging; previous attempts have been failures and Alaskans are very concerned about the impacts of barging on shallow and very critical salmon habitat.” 

According to the detailed project description the company submitted to the assessment office, the underground mine will produce up to 1,000 tonnes of ore daily for 10 years and employ about 200 people. 

In August, two U.S. senators and a congresswoman, Mary Sattler Peltola, wrote to President Joe Biden, demanding the administration increase pressures on Canada to clean up the Tulsequah Chief mine and to “establish an international framework to prevent and resolve disputes in these transboundary waters.”

“Without unified action from the executive branch, Canadian mining activity in this region will increasingly endanger U.S. communities and resources, such as salmon, without any mechanism for recourse or compensation,” they wrote.

Salmon Beyond Borders director Breanna Walker said Alaskans “have no real voice” in the mine planning process. 

“Anyone familiar with the Taku knows it’s a shallow, dynamic river system that quickly changes and isn’t easy to navigate,” she said in a Dec. 4 press release. “Canagold’s plans are high-risk and an accident would damage some of the best wild salmon spawning habitat in the world.”

Canagold did not respond to The Narwhal’s request for comment before publication but the company has stated it is engaging with Alaska tribes and other potentially affected U.S. groups.

“Although not explicitly mandated by the province of B.C., Canagold is committed to engaging with Indigenous peoples in Alaska,” the company said in its project description.

Updated on Dec. 6, 2024, at 1:00 p.m. PT: This story has been updated to clarify the New Polaris mine would produce up to 1,000 tonnes of ore daily, not of gold, as previously stated. On Dec. 10 at 12:43 p.m. PT, the subbed of this article was also updated to reflect the change.