July 14, 2022 — A supply camp that supported operations for the controversial Pebble Mine prospect in Southwest Alaska was destroyed by a wildfire last weekend.
The camp suffered a “near total loss” during the Fourth of July weekend, said Mike Heatwole, a spokesman with mine developer Pebble Limited Partnership.
The fire razed several items such as a quonset-like facility that stored tools, safety equipment and other gear, shack-like structures that supported crews and operations, he said.
The Pebble copper and gold prospect is located about 200 miles southwest of Anchorage in a remote area, near headwaters that support the Bristol Bay salmon fishery. The wildfire is one of several fires in the region this summer and is known as the Upper Talarik fire.
The supply camp was used to support exploration and environmental studies in year’s past, Heatwole said. But activities have slowed at the deposit, which is currently awaiting decisions from two federal agencies about whether a mine can be built.
This summer, the camp supported a small maintenance and reclamation program that includes closing off holes from drilling in previous years, Heatwole said. He said the crew had recently finished its work and left the site before the blaze reached the camp.
The Environmental Protection Agency in May, under the Biden administration, proposed an effort to block the mine. It’s taking public comment on the issue. The agency’s proposal would prevent waterbodies such as Upper Talarik Creek, the fire’s namesake, from being used as disposal sites for dredged or fill material that would result from mining activity.