It is good to know, however, that all the romance of gold prospecting has not disappeared with the lethora of corporate deals. There are still companies working in the wilds of Alaska, panning for nuggets – and very successfully too.
Garry Anselmo of Silverado Gold Mines bought one of Alaska’s most famous mines – Nolan, which had been worked since the late nineteenth century – and employed modern technology to dramatically improve returns.
The technique is not that different from the old timers with pans and pick axes. Essentially the ore is mined from river beds in the frozen nine months of the year and then run through washing plants and gravity recovery units in the non-frozen summer months, and out come nuggets of gold. The company’s costs are low, at about $108 an ounce, and the gold extracted is jewelry grade, which means it fetches a 33 percent premium to market price.
“We think of it as nature’s gemstones,” says Anselmo. “It makes beautiful jewelry, every tourist to Alaska wants a gold nugget to take home.” The company’s methods also have a minimal impact on the environment.
“Wewere the first placer mine in Alaska to have zero discharge to the environment,” he explains. All of Silverado’s associates, says Anselmo, grew up around nature, and the company is pushing their environmental credentials one step further. Silverado is looking for a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to develop “low-rank coal-water fuel”, a coal-based liquid energy source that could be used as a cleaner alternative to crude oil.
In its understated way, this junior Alaskan mining operation illustrates a major transformation in the industry: miners are more environmentally and socially conscious than ever before. Across the board, there is a keen awareness of the impact mining has on its surroundings and a sense of social responsibility that has led mining firms to be the first corporations to offer HIV treatments to workers in South Africa. While this is as much about hard business sense as philanthropy – CEOs insist they are not charities– the industry is making a conscious effort to shake off its exploitative image and stress the benefits it brings to local communities as well as to share holders.
Alaskan Goldpanners
cumps
Scuba
Fear blind us opportunity, greed blind us the danger
excerpt on Silverado from Fortune Magazine-de 17/03/03
Scubawarrior
50
25-06-2003 06:09
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