Main backer of proposed mineral exploration project near Haines, Alaska, pulls out

An Alaska Native tribe and conservationists say they've notched a win over a mineral exploration project near Haines, Alaska, now that its main financial backer has bailed. 

"Our resolve will be strengthened," Jones Hotch, tribal president of the Tlingit village of Klukwan, told CBC News. "Our determination is still there. We will fight for our way of life until we are no more."

The Palmer project is located roughly 56 kilometres northwest of Haines. The company behind it wants to look for a mix of copper, silver, gold and zinc on the roughly 25,000 hectare property located in the Chilkat Valley, an ecologically significant watershed that provides vital habitat to moose, grizzlies and all five species of salmon.

Hotch said the project runs the risk of spilling heavy metals into the Chilkat River, destroying land stewarded by the sovereign nation, whose members continue to live traditionally.

"It's been like this for centuries," he said. "We want — I want — my great grandchildren's great grandchildren to enjoy what I have enjoyed."

Vancouver-based American Pacific has told its investors it's brokered a deal with the Japanese company DOWA that's abandoned its 70 per cent stake in the project. On its website, American Pacific calls the move "transformative," with CEO Warwick Smith saying that through the transaction, American Pacific has come into roughly CA$14 million from DOWA. In exchange, DOWA will have the option of receiving up to 50 per cent of mined zinc in the future.

"There was sort of a divergence of views between DOWA and American Pacific, where DOWA just really wanted to push this to production," Smith said. "[The project] could become much, much larger. To that end, we believe this project should stand on its own, and we're already advancing discussions with groups that view this project the same way."

The Trump administration's sweep to power will be a boon to the project, Smith said.

"Really, the feeling is with a Republican president, a Republican House and a Republican Senate that getting the permitting done is going to be a lot easier than it has been previously," he said.

For years the company's proposal has been mired in the permitting phase, with Klukwan and conservationists fighting a pitched battle through the courts.

American Pacific declined to be interviewed by CBC News, instead deferring to a series of videos on its website, about the transaction.

Project 'essentially defunded,' says conservationist

To Jessica Plachta, executive director of Haines-based non-profit Lynn Canal Conservation, the company is simply trying to put a positive spin on a major setback. 

"The Palmer project is essentially defunded," she said. "Despite the way they're framing it, this is a hard-fought win for clean water, healthy salmon and community resistance."

Plachta said $14 million may sound like a lot, when really it's a pittance. 

Access to the site is via an old logging road illegally built on a floodplain, said Plachta, adding it will take millions just to revamp it enough to accommodate the heavy machinery needed for mineral exploration. The area, Plachta said, is part of an extreme environment, prone to avalanches, landslides and earthquakes.

The company would also have no easy way to get their product to market — to do that, the Lutak Dock in Haines, which isn't a deep-water port, would require a complete overhaul, she said. The idea has faced stiff community opposition.

"The downstream communities will not rest for long as this mine is a threat to our healthy salmon and our subsistence-supported ways of life," said Plachta.

She said that more than 90 per cent of locals depend on wild salmon for subsistence.

"That's a rare treasure no one in their right mind would sacrifice."