A Canadian company with plans to mine for gold near the face of Herbert Glacier applied to punch an access road through state land in December. The state opened a public comment period for the road last week.
Grande Portage Resources wants to build a 15 foot-wide and 1.3 mile-long unpaved road with helicopter pads connected to Glacier Highway around mile 27. The road between Herbert River and Eagle River would allow the company to stage drilling supplies for transportation to the proposed New Amalga mine site.
This would be the first segment of road that will eventually reach the mine site if the U.S. Forest Service approves the operation, according to the company’s application to the state.
The Forest Service approved exploratory drilling at New Amalga last spring. Grande Portage has been flying in prospecting supplies from Mendenhall Valley and wrote in its application that building a new staging site and access road will shorten the helicopter flights.
The road would cut through forest and wetlands in a popular recreation area near the Eagle Glacier Cabin trail, Herbert Glacier Trail and Windfall Lake Cabin Trail.
If approved, the company anticipates road construction will begin this spring.
The deadline to submit public comments is March 13 at 5 p.m. and comments can be emailed to john.driscoll@alaska.gov.
