A Canadian mining company is hoping to be the first to export ore from Skagway since 2023, renewing local concerns about decades of contamination from past mineral shipping.
Selkirk Copper is a newly formed mining company based in Canada’s Yukon territory. The company recently acquired a project known as the Minto Mine, which exported ore out of Skagway until it shut down amid insolvency.
Selkirk is working to restart operations at Minto and is in talks with officials in Skagway about what it would look like to again use the local port.
The company, whose largest shareholder is the Selkirk First Nation, formally kickstarted that process in a draft letter of intent earlier this month.
During a February Ports and Harbors Advisory Board meeting, Selkirk CEO Colin Joudrie said the goal is to “start a discussion” with the community.
“It was not to get to an end game, neither quickly, or without discourse,” he said.
The development is reviving debate over the community’s fraught history with mineral exports, and about how to ensure future activity does not lead to more pollution, on land or in the water
“There's certainly been a lot of legacy and residual contamination,” Skagway Mayor Orion Hanson said in an interview. “It's something that I think we have to be very, very pragmatic and cautious [about] going forward, that we're doing this in a safe way.”
Decades of contamination
The contamination dates back to the late 1960’s, when the Yukon’s Faro Mine started shipping mineral concentrate to Skagway by rail and then later by truck.
Once in town, the material would be loaded onto ships at Skagway’s ore terminal. For a number of years, that happened on an open conveyor belt, according to the Alaska Department of Conservation.
“So you basically just have lead, zinc product going everywhere. And then that just went on for years and years, if not decades,” said Deb Potter, a long-time resident and Skagway’s current vice mayor.
The process of getting the material to town and onto ships left elevated levels of lead, zinc and other contaminants on land along the transport route and in the water near the ore terminal.
That resulted in decades of sampling and remediation efforts, according to DEC site reports. In 2022, for instance, a major dredging project sought to remove more than 3,000 cubic yards of contaminated sediment from the ore basin.
A 2025 report, meanwhile, says Skagway assessed contamination around seven upland properties near the ore terminal. The testing turned up elevated levels of lead, mercury and thallium on one property leased by TEMSCO Helicopters. Five of the seven properties had elevated levels of lead.
Multiple people said much of the contamination probably happened early on, when the Faro Mine was shipping out of Skagway. But a number of other companies have owned, used and operated the terminal over the years and could have also contributed.
The most recent user was the Minto Mine, which closed in 2023 when its owner ran into financial trouble and abruptly shut down.
Deputy Borough Manager Rebecca Kameika said the borough is working with DEC on cleanup efforts and is developing a workplan to analyse the general contamination in the port and estimate cleanup costs. The borough has tapped Cox Environmental Services, a Juneau-based contractor, for the project.
“The goals for the community are to clean up the contamination and support an operationally safe facility,” Kameika said in an email.
Letter of intent
Selkirk’s letter of intent outlines the company’s interest in working with Skagway to design and develop facilities that could be used to store, handle and ship ore. Multiple Skagway officials emphasized that the letter is just a draft and is still taking shape.
“We are currently reviewing it and plan to respond in a timely manner,” Kameika said.
There is an old ore shed, or storage facility, that needs to be cleaned up and renovated or rebuilt after the previous operator left it in bad shape. Selkirk’s letter indicates the company would invest $300,000 toward that effort, plus up to $15 million for the broader facility.
“There is currently no conveyor, or no way of loading a ship,” said Hanson, the mayor. “We actually don't have a dock to do it from, either. The wooden dock that's out there is not strong enough to do it, and it’s really at the end of its lifespan.”
Top of mind for everyone is how to ensure new operations don't cause more contamination.
The Skagway assembly attempted to get ahead of the problem in 2023, when it
passed an ordinance that says all ore that moves through the port must be in sealed containers to limit contamination. That’s opposed to other approaches, like so-called “bulk transport,” which uses conveyor belts to transfer loose material directly onto ships.
During the February meeting, Joudrie of Selkirk said both approaches have pros and cons. The company laid them out in a chart submitted for public review.
The chart acknowledges that bulk transport has caused contamination in the past and that there’s potential for spills if poorly managed. But on the whole, it makes the case that the conveyors can be enclosed to minimize contamination – and that the approach would be safer and more cost effective.
“The whole intent of this discussion is to advance an analysis of that in a hopefully timely fashion,” Jourdrie said. “But we're not making that decision right now.”
Hanson said restoring ore exports in Skagway would help diversify its tourism-dependent economy. He also thinks containerization is not a silver bullet, and that there are environmental safeguards available today that weren’t in the past.
Others disagree. Andrew Cremata was mayor when the related ordinance passed. He thinks containerization is crucial and that restarting ore exports in town is not the best – or only – way to boost the economy.
A bunch of entities made a bunch of money, Cremata said. “And they left all of this derelict infrastructure and contamination for taxpayers to pay for. And that’s why it just sits there.”
In a separate letter to local officials, Selkirk said it hopes to enter into an agreement with Skagway by the end of March. The company’s ultimate goal would be to restart operations at Minto by mid-2028.
Correction: This story previously misstated Andrew Cremata’s role with the borough. Cremata is a Skagway resident and former mayor.
