Representatives from the mining industry gathered in Vancouver, British Columbia last week for an annual conference.
But opponents of a mineral exploration project outside Haines seized on the opportunity for their own purpose. They wanted to send the industry one key message: “Leave our valley.”
In 2024, the Chilkat Indian Village launched an effort, dubbed Chilkat Forever, to lead public opposition to the Palmer Project, a zinc, copper, gold, silver and barite exploration site upstream of the Native Village of Klukwan.
The project has changed hands a number of times since then. That included in November, when Vancouver-based mineral exploration company Vizsla Copper acquired the project and declared its intent to earn community approval.
In response, Chilkat Forever has ramped up its messaging.
“We just want to make it very clear that there isn't social licensing here in the Chilkat Indian Village,” said Kimberley Strong, the president of the Chilkat Indian Village.
The effort entailed placing ads on large digital screens around the conference, which was put on by the British Columbia Association for Mineral Exploration. That included a billboard fastened to Canada Place, a convention center in Vancouver. They also placed print and digital ads in newspapers including the Vancouver Sun, the Seattle Times and the Anchorage Daily News.
In bold, all-caps text, the ad read: “No means go.” Below that, in orange, it said “leave our valley.” The group communicated the same message in a video released in January.
The campaign came the same week that Vizsla announced plans for the project for this year – and touted a formal letter of support from Gov. Mike Dunleavy.
Dunleavy pledged his “full support” for the project in a letter dated Jan. 22, according to a copy obtained by KHNS. He added that the project stands to “strengthen Alaska’s role” in meeting federal mining objectives while also benefiting the state.
During a public speech in Vancouver last week, Vizsla CEO Craig Parry said Dunleavy had requested a meeting with him in Juneau.
“I’ve never seen such great access to government and to the permitting authorities. So the fact that we’ve been on the ground here a month now, and the governor in Alaska has asked for a meeting in Juneau is an extraordinary outcome to my mind.”
A Dunleavy spokesperson said in an email that the governor “supports responsible resource development in Alaska.”
The company is still finalizing the details of its plans for the summer, but it has brought on several contractors, Vizsla said in a release last week. That includes a $600,000 contract with a marketing company it says will carry out a “comprehensive media marketing campaign.”
As to this summer’s exploration efforts, the company plans to conduct up to 10,000 meters of diamond drilling focused on copper, zinc, silver and gold. The company also plans to focus more on barite and for the first time will include the mineral in the project’s overall value estimate.
