Which comes first- the road or the mine? Vancouver-based NovaCopper Inc and Alaskan officials are seemingly caught in a Catch 22 for the planned commercial copper mine in the Ambler Mining District. Located in the Northwestern part of Alaska. For the Canadian mining company, a road must be constructed that would link the proposed mining site to the highway system in Alaska. On the other side of the spectrum, Alaska officials think building a 220-mile road which was estimated to cost $2 million a mile will be pointless unless it leads to an existing mine.
Although both parties had already inked a memorandum of understanding to prepare for both the mine and the road, they were not committed to build either one. Should the road be constructed, however, NovaCopper could stand to earn substantially from Ambler's rich deposit of copper and other metals.
Although NovaCopper and Alaska officials have yet to decide on which to build first, some critics have already expressed opposition to the construction of the district road. John Gaedeke, a critic of the road has founded a group called the Brooks Range Council which campaigned against the road. In an interview with the Alaska Dispatch, Gaedeke cited that Alaska has netted royalties of as little as three percent from mining and no more than a seven percent tax rate of the net profits.
Other's complain that the district road would affect tourism and the movement of caribou in the area. The road also raises environmental concerns, such as the risk of the mine development letting loose acid-rock drainage. However, those who supported the road construction insisted that a road would be advantageous in terms of cutting down the energy costs in the region.
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