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CIRI deal on gold exploration Cook Inlet Region Inc. signed a letter of agreement with Vancouver, B.C.-based Constantine Metal Resources Ltd. for lease rights to CIRI’s 20,942-acre Johnson Tract mineral prospect on the west side of Cook Inlet, south of Drift River. The prospect includes gold, zinc, lead, silver and copper mineralization and is near tidewater. Westmin Resources Ltd. explored the prospect in the late 1990s and drilled 88 drill tests but returned the property to CIRI. Anaconda Minerals made…

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Doyon’s drilling in Nenana basin Drilling is underway on Doyon’s latest well near Nenana, its fourth in the Basin, and is approaching the depths at which hydrocarbons might be encountered.  Fairbanks-based Doyon expects to have results of the drilling by late July. A partner in the well is Cook Inlet Region, Inc. of Anchorage, which also joined Doyon in drilling the last well in the Nenana Basun. In another development, Doyon has signed a confidentiality agreement with a company to…

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Bering Sea/Aleutians processors’ big economic punch Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands fish processors spend a lot of money in sustaining operations. A new McDowell Group report documented these expenditures in 2016, the most recent year for which data is available. Spending with Alaska-based businesses or firms with an Alaska presence totaled $220 million in 2016 and included: $100 million on shipping $34 million on fuel and other products $32 million on construction $17 million on air transportation services $  6 million on…

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API capacity issue could ease Pay raises and retention bonuses have been agreed to allow the state’s Alaska Psychiatric Institute to retain key staff. This should ease workforce concerns and allow API to resume accepting some patients, easing acute burdens placed on Providence Hospital and other hospitals to accommodate API’s load. The underlying problem, a shortage of behavioral health provider capacity, is still there.

Study: Health issues in fishing A new study by the Washington School of Public Health and the Alaska Sea Grant Program found significant health issues, likely work-related, among Alaska gillnet fishermen. The 2015 study assessed health among gillnet harvesters in the Copper River fishery. Eighty percent of fishermen surveyed reported hearing losses compared with 15 percent among Americans between 20 years and 69 years of age. Forty percent reported rotator cuff problems compared with 8 to 10 percent among the…

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Haines timber sale moves ahead University of Alaska regents gave staff the go-ahead to negotiate a timber sale on university lands near Haines, with a final contract to be brought back at the July-August regents’ meeting. The university owns 13,000 acres near Haines but the sale would involve about half of that. The state Division of Forestry and the Alaska Mental Health Land Trust, which also own lands near Haines, will contribute timber and the combined offering is to be…

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Skagway fiber-optic link nixed Yukon Territory turned thumbs-down to an overland fiber optic link from Whitehorse to Skagway, a blow to Alaska Power & Telephone, the regional U.S. telecom and power firm. The territory will instead participate with a Canadian company in an overland link up the Dempster Highway to Inuvik, in Northwest Territories. AP&T has build a marine fiber optic cable linking Juneau, Haines and Skagway, and the connection to Whitehorse would have added traffic to the system, which…

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It is near-official: REI to move to Anchorage’s Sears midtown mall It’s all but official that the big REI recreational retail store in Anchorage’s midtown will relocate from its present space in the Northern Lights Mall to vacant space in the Sears Mall. No lease has yet been signed, officials at both REI and Sears Mall said, but architectural renovation plans were submitted to the Anchorage Municipality in May and some work at Sears Mall has already started. REI would…

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Recession lingers, but some industries stabilize Job losses deepened in May after easing in April, but the declines were mainly in retail and an effect of recent Sam’s Stores and Sears closings in Anchorage, which were national corporate decisions not linked to the Alaska recession, state economists say. A related industry, leisure and entertainment, was generally stable in May, with only a minor decline. Construction showed no decline for the first time since the recession started, and transportation and warehousing…

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April 6, 2018 In this Issue: A push for new oil taxes from state House Legislature careens toward end-game; fiscal structure key issue Alaska LNG delayed a year; Chinese pay a visit Energy HEA votes down solar, for now Siemens talks with IGU on gas 50% energy savings on power unit Telecom GCI invests in Kenai upgrades “Scoping” for project’s EIS is underway Army Corps launches Pebble Mine regulatory process Anchorage election results show voters optimistic, upbeat Business Intelligence Anchorage…

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