Legislature(2023 - 2024)BARNES 124
04/22/2024 01:00 PM House RESOURCES
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| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| Board of Game | |
| Presentation(s): Whistler Project | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
ALASKA STATE LEGISLATURE
HOUSE RESOURCES STANDING COMMITTEE
April 22, 2024
1:04 p.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT
Representative Tom McKay, Chair
Representative George Rauscher, Vice Chair
Representative Thomas Baker
Representative Kevin McCabe
Representative Dan Saddler
Representative Jennie Armstrong
Representative Donna Mears
Representative Maxine Dibert
MEMBERS ABSENT
Representative Stanley Wright
COMMITTEE CALENDAR
CONFIRMATION HEARING(S):
Board of Game
James Baichtal - Thorne Bay
Jake Garner - Ouzinkie
- CONFIRMATION(S) ADVANCED
PRESENTATION(S): WHISTLER PROJECT
- HEARD
PREVIOUS COMMITTEE ACTION
No previous action to record
WITNESS REGISTER
JAMES BAICHTAL, Appointee
Board of Game
Thorne Bay, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Testified as appointee to the Board of
Game.
JAKE GARNER, Appointee
Board of Game
POSITION STATEMENT: Testified as appointee to the Board of
Game.
TIM SMITH, Chief Executive Officer
U.S. GoldMining Inc.
Anchorage, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Gave the Whistler Project presentation.
ACTION NARRATIVE
1:04:53 PM
CHAIR TOM MCKAY called the House Resources Standing Committee
meeting to order at 1:04 p.m. Representatives Baker, McCabe,
and Saddler were present at the call to order. Representatives
Rauscher, Armstrong, Mears, and Dibert arrived as the meeting
was in progress.
^CONFIRMATION HEARING(S):
CONFIRMATION HEARING(S):
^BOARD OF GAME
BOARD OF GAME
1:05:28 PM
CHAIR MCKAY announced that the first order of business would be
the confirmation hearing on the governor's appointees for the
Board of Game.
1:06:43 PM
JAMES BAICHTAL, Appointee, Board of Game, shared some personal
and work history. He said that he believes his experience with
the reliance of rural communities of food from the forest
provides him a grounded perspective to contribute to the Board
of Game. He expressed support for science-based wildlife
management, the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation,
and rural preference for big game in times of scientifically
documented shortage, wherein state residents have preference
over non-residents to hunt moose, caribou, and deer for food.
He acknowledged that a significant portion of the revenue for
the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) comes from the
non-resident hunting licenses and tags and emphasized the
importance of balancing the use of Alaska's resources.
MR. BAICHTAL stated he has volunteered at ADF&G for over 25
years and worked on a graduate research project tracking deer,
bear, and grouse, and monitoring the mortality of radio collared
individuals. He added that he was the chairperson of the East
Prince of Wales Island Advisory Committee from 2000 to 2004 and
was involved in the Unit 2 Deer Planning Subcommittee in 2005.
He emphasized his dedication to understanding the issues facing
wildlife managers and residents with federal subsistence and
state game management. He said he is an advocate for Sitka
black tail deer, their habitats, and educating others on the
species. He added that he has hunted most species available in
Alaska and over the last 25 years taken many trips in the
Interior.
1:10:22 PM
MR. BAICHTAL, in response to Representative Saddler, reiterated
his belief that state residents have priority for moose,
caribou, and deer for food source, and rural preference for big
game in times of scientifically documented shortage.
1:11:21 PM
MR. BAICHTAL, in response to Representative Rauscher regarding
whether science can be wrong about the shrinking caribou and
moose populations, said that depends on how the studies are
designed, adding that he has encountered situations that
contradicted what he had learned in the field. He clarified
that while a science based approach uses the best science, it is
important to understand the science may not be a perfect
understanding of the natural systems. In response to a follow-
up question about the science and the shrinking populations, he
said he would need to look at the projects Representative
Rauscher is referencing alongside the oral history of the people
who have lived on the lands for a long time.
1:13:40 PM
MR. BAICHTAL, in response to Representative Mears, shared that
he had had two minor game violations. One was a bear bait
station being a few feet too close to a navigable road, and the
other was a hunt with an outfitter for caribou that was a few
days after the season had closed. He said he turned himself in,
worked with the troopers to disperse the meat to charities, and
received a misdemeanor in Aniak. He added that the reason he
and the people he was hunting with had assumed the season was
open was because the regulations had been changed that year
shortening the season by 5 days. He no longer takes anybody's
word regarding regulations and checks them himself.
1:16:16 PM
MR. BAICHTAL, in response to Representative Baker, emphasized
the difficulty of estimating the population of animals and
referenced the deer population in Southeast Alaska being
estimated by cards that are turned in and surveys done by the
State of Alaska. He said it is all based on who reports, and
that he is not in favor of mandatory reporting due to the
challenges in rural communities to be able to quickly report.
He remarked that populations counted by air are difficult due to
the tree cover as compared to treeless environments such as
Northwest Alaska. He stated that he does not know what the
answer is but would be interested in getting local communities
and game advisory boards to create community gathered reporting
data. He said the East Prince of Wales Island Advisory
Committee met every two months unless there were federal
subsistence or state game proposals that came out, in which case
a meeting would be held after review of the proposals. He added
that he was the representative for the three communities on the
Prince of Wales Island in Federal Subsistence Board and Board of
Game hearings.
1:21:03 PM
MR. BAICHTAL, in response to Representative Saddler, shared that
his stance on predator control is that it is a tool. He
emphasized his hope that before any intense predator control was
implemented, there would be sufficient research and community
input taken into consideration. In response to a follow-up
question, he said he did not follow any of the board's decisions
closely, thus he could not think of any disagreements he may
have with them.
1:23:13 PM
JAKE GARNER, Appointee, offered his background and hunting
experience. He noted that he is the Vice President of Ouzinkie
Native Corporation and is a shareholder of both Afognak and
Ouzinkie Native Corporations. He related that his experience
growing up in a rural community that relied on subsistence
hunting and now living in Anchorage provides him a unique
perspective to look at "both worlds" and balance the urban and
rural hunting perspectives. He expressed his goal for a
position on the Board of Game is to protect Alaska's wildlife
for current and future generations.
1:26:45 PM
MR. GARNER, in response to Chair McKay, opined he would bring an
analytical thinking style to the Board of Game and stated rural
preference is very important to him as he has family that rely
on rural subsistence hunting and gathering. He encourages a
balance between Native and rural preference and expects it to be
an issue on which the [Board of Game] will concentrate.
1:28:10 PM
MR. GARNER, in response to Representative Saddler as to whether
he thought there should be Native preference in times of
shortage, said he would need information on the shortage, the
area, and the situation but was hesitant to think a broad Native
preference would be correct. He explained that in many rural
communities the population was not solely Native, and it would
cause division to have some individuals unable to harvest. He
believed that in a situation like such the harvest would be
shared due to the culture of rural Alaska.
1:30:23 PM
MR. GARNER, in response to a return to a topic by Representative
Baker, stated his belief that local knowledge is important and
encouraged connecting rural communities with Internet access and
pushing for more accurate reporting. He also added that having
a program for community harvest reporting would provide more
accurate data.
1:32:14 PM
MR. GARNER, in response to Representative Saddler, said he
considered predator control an option, specifically by
increasing the availability of harvesting predators, but he
strongly encouraged local input and to not use predator control
as a "knee-jerk" response to problems.
1:33:27 PM
CHAIR MCKAY thanked Mr. Baichtal and Mr. Garner for volunteering
for the Board of Game.
1:34:08 PM
The committee took an at-ease from 1:34 p.m. to 1:36 p.m. to
sign the paperwork [pertaining to the forwarding of the
appointees James Baichtal and Jake Garner, Board of Game, to a
joint session for consideration. Signing the report regarding
appointments to boards and commissions in no way reflects an
individual member's approval or disapproval of the appointee;
the nomination is merely forwarded to the full legislature for
confirmation or rejection.]
^PRESENTATION(S): WHISTLER PROJECT
PRESENTATION(S): WHISTLER PROJECT
1:36:37 PM
CHAIR MCKAY announced that the final order of business would be
the Whistler Project presentation.
1:37:00 PM
TIM SMITH, Chief Executive Officer, U.S. GoldMining Inc., gave a
brief history of the company and a disclaimer, as shown on the
PowerPoint [hard copy included in committee packet]. He began
discussion on the Whistler Exploration Project, on slide 3, and
noted that the project is, by value, 70 percent gold and 30
percent copper, with a small amount of silver as well and is the
closest large undeveloped gold-copper deposit to Anchorage,
Alaska. He presented the bullet points on slide 3, which read
as follows [original punctuation provided]:
Three gold-rich porphyry deposits
Combined 3.0 Moz AuEq Indicated + 6.4Moz AuEq Inferred
Fully permitted for exploration, drilling commenced
2023
100% owned 53,700-acre property on State land
00 miles northwest of Alaska's largest city Anchorage
State led "Roads to Resources" program to unlock
mineral potential in district
High-grade core provides optionality
1:43:25 PM
MR. SMITH diverted from the presentation slides and displayed a
"virtual tour" of the Southcentral region of Alaska highlighting
the proposed West Susitna Access Road and the Whistler property.
He stated that the West Susitna Access Road is designed by the
Alaska Department of Transportation & Public Facilities (DOT&PF)
and the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority
(AIDEA) and would provide direct access between the Whistler
Project and Port Mackenzie. He displayed a map of the Whistler
property that marked the border of the 377 consecutive mining
claims and the Whistler, Raintree, and Island Mountain mineral
deposit locations. He added that the company Nova Minerals is
exploring the Estelle Project to the west of the Whistler
Project and zoomed into additional markings for exploration
targets that had not received enough drilling to create mineral
estimates but would be explored further for the possibility of
more mineral tonnage. He emphasized the amenability of the
terrain to exploration, potential mining, and building of
infrastructure. He stated that the current infrastructure is
the Whiskey Bravo airstrip, which U.S. GoldMining Inc. uses, and
a winter road that Nova Minerals uses. He repeated his emphasis
on the how the Proposed West Susitna Access Road would improve
access to the Whistler Project. He transitioned to a
photosphere of the Whistler deposit site and mineralized gold
and copper and remarked how easy it would be to build mining
infrastructure due to the terrain. He redisplayed the map of
the Whistler Project and said that U.S. GoldMining Inc. is only
operating during the summer for exploration but expects to be
able to mine year round.
1:48:30 PM
MR. SMITH zoomed in towards the Whistler deposit and showed a
view from underground displaying all the amount of trace gold
and copper from historic exploration drilling in the area. He
refuted the claims that there are no resources at the end of the
[proposed] West Susitna Access Road, stating that there are
seventy thousand meters of drilling completed by five companies.
He displayed a three dimensional estimate of gold equivalent of
the Whistler and Raintree deposit, showing three large masses of
minerals.
MR. SMITH continued with the presentation on slide 5, "Whistler
Project Mineral Resource Estimate," and explained that the
Whistler Project is a porphyry, bulk tonnage, low grade deposit.
He stated that by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
(SEC) and Canadian 43-101 rules he is not allowed to add
together the indicated and inferred estimates, but claimed there
are almost 120 million tons in the indicated category and almost
320 million tons in the inferred category. He drew attention to
the mineral resources in the West Susitna Region and provided
the history of exploration in West Susitna.
1:51:49 PM
MR. SMITH responded to committee questions. He confirmed the
areas of the project and that they are all on state land. He
noted that the grade is relatively low compared to Pogo Mine and
is more similar to Fort Knox Mine but the core of the system is
high grade and can be mined by underground methods. He talked
about the potential and reiterated that the company is figuring
out the best ways to extract product, and he showed a vertical
hole that is mineralized from the surface to the bottom. Thus
far the results have produced 547 meters at one gram per ton
gold equivalent.
1:56:24 PM
MR. SMITH returned to the PowerPoint to slide 8, "2023 - 2024
Exploration Program," and said the company is currently
"defining the geometry" and "continuity of mineralization" by
drilling - up to approximately 30,000 feet of drilling; this
information will be brought into a study; further there will be
metallurgical, engineering, environmental baseline, wildlife,
and biological surveys. In example, he noted that in 2022, the
company had an anadromous fish survey conducted before it
started drilling. The company understands the necessity of
stakeholder engagement, a process that it has begun, as well.
He offered a summary of the presentation.
2:00:58 PM
MR. SMITH responded to committee questions. He talked about the
cost of energy being critical for mining and noted two types of
energy used: diesel and wind power. He confirmed that the
company has looking at smelting at Port MacKenzie. He explained
that crushing materials would be done onsite and the minerals
would be trucked out in the proposed West Susitna Access Road.
He estimated there would be 3-4 trucks per day.
2:06:45 PM
CHAIR MCKAY thanked Mr. Smith for the presentation.
2:07:11 PM
ADJOURNMENT
There being no further business before the committee, the House
Resources Standing Committee meeting was adjourned at [2:07]
p.m.
| Document Name | Date/Time | Subjects |
|---|---|---|
| Whistler Exploration Project Presentation.pdf |
HRES 4/22/2024 1:00:00 PM |
|
| Jake Garner BOG Resume_Redacted.pdf |
HRES 4/22/2024 1:00:00 PM |
|
| James Baichtal BOG App_Redacted.pdf |
HRES 4/22/2024 1:00:00 PM |