A company that owns a controversial mining exploration effort outside Haines says work will continue at the site despite plans to sell some or all of the project.
The so-called Palmer Project is a zinc, copper, gold, silver and barite exploration site that has long divided Chilkat Valley residents over its potential economic benefits — and environmental impacts.
American Pacific Mining said in May that it planned to distance itself from the development. That news came several months after the project’s biggest investor backed out and American Pacific took full ownership of the project.
The company didn’t give much insight into its plans in a press release Thursday beyond saying that merger and acquisition talks are ongoing – and that some work will happen this year. American Pacific said it started tearing down one worker camp at the site in July, a move the company says will save money.
American Pacific plans to use a different camp to support mineral exploration and construction crews. The company says those crews will tackle three different efforts as part of the broader project this year.
That includes surveys using drone and laser technology to investigate what the company called “key prospects” in the area, which sits above the Chilkat River, about 40 miles north of Haines.
Mapping and sampling work will examine copper and cobalt prospects on the west side of the Little Jarvis glacier and gold prospects in the Porcupine-McKinley Creek area.
As of Thursday afternoon, Constantine Mining LLC, which operates the project locally, declined to comment before press time on the exploration efforts or the decision to shut down one camp while using another one.
