Economy

The Kensington Gold Mine is back in full operation, following a week closure in an area where a miner was killed last week.

Mine owner Coeur Alaska says all underground activities are at full capacity. But according to the Mining Safety and Health Administration, no blasting can be conducted in production stopes until the agency says it’s safe. Stopes are openings – or rooms – created in the process of extracting the gold ore.

MSHA’s preliminary report indicates 30-year-old Joe Tagaban, of Juneau, was struck by rock – initiated by a blast — that flew through a previously drilled hole intersecting the stope where he was working.

Coeur Alaska spokesman Tony Ebersole says blasting activities related to development are continuing and the company is working with MSHA to finalize protocols in production stopes.

The mill is also back in full operation after being down earlier this week for planned maintenance.

The company says it doesn’t expect the closure will impact 2011 production levels. Through the first six months of this year, Kensington produced 49, 434 ounces of gold.

The Kensington Gold Mine is about 45 miles northwest of Juneau.

The Kensington Mine near Juneau began operations in June 2010, and currently employs about 300 people. According to mine owner Coeur Alaska, most Kensington employees – 72 percent – are Alaskans, while 61 percent live in Southeast. But just a little over half – 53 percent – live in Juneau.

Last night (Tuesday) the Juneau Planning Commission approved changes to a 2004 permit issued to Coeur, which set conditions for the mine within the city and borough. The modifications allow the company to build more permanent housing at Kensington, which officials say will make it easier for workers to live nearby. Casey Kelly has more.

Coeur Alaska wants to build more employee housing at the Kensington Gold Mine.

On Tuesday, the Juneau Planning Commission reviews Coeur’s application to modify a 2004 allowable use permit, which set conditions for the mine within the city and borough.

In addition to construction of a new three-story, 96-bed dormitory, modifying the permit would allow Coeur to convert two temporary dorms built last year into permanent housing. The result would be permanent on-site housing for 216 employees at the mine, located 45-miles north of Juneau.

Kensington also has 10 trailers on-site, which serve as temporary housing for 64 workers. Five of the trailers will be transitioned to office or storage space, according to a memo from CBJ Planner Beth McKibben.

Kensington Environmental Superintendent Kevin Eppers submitted a letter along with the company’s application to modify the permit. In it he says the new dorm is needed to provide 24-hour coverage, and account for winter weather which may prevent travelling to and from the mine. He also says it will provide for additional local and regional hire.

The company says utilities are already in place at the mine site for the new dormitory.

Employee commuting practices are not expected to change as a result of any new housing. Goldbelt Corporation currently operates 12 round trip buses per week from Engineer’s Cutoff Road to Yankee Cove, about 30 miles north of Juneau. From there a boat takes workers the rest of the way to the mine in Berners Bay.

Tuesday’s Planning Commission meeting starts at 7 o’ clock in CBJ Assembly Chambers.

A pair of Vancouver-based mining companies in a joint venture to explore the Herbert Glacier area say they’ve found high-grade concentrations of gold.

Assays of test drilling showed gold concentrations averaging 1.08 ounces per ton. Some samples came back as high as 4.14 to 6.63 ounces per ton. Initial assays were announced last month with updated results released on Tuesday.

Ian Klassen, President and Director of Grande Portage Resources Incorporated, says they did some modest drilling last year with fourteen holes down to over 900 feet. Twenty-two holes have been drilled so far this summer. Klassen says they’ve identified what he calls multi-ounce intersects in at least two of the five vein systems in the area.

“We’re very pleased with some of the results we’ve been getting,” said Klassen.

Herbert Glacier, 18-miles north of downtown Juneau, is in the middle of the historic Juneau mining district, with Kensington Mine currently operating 25-miles to the north and Greens Creek Mine about 12-miles to the west.

Klassen says they plan to meet with their field geologists this weekend to determine future plans – such as further exploration. He says it’s way too early to come up with a reliable resource estimate.

In late 2007, Vancouver-based Quaterra Resources acquired the 1700 acre property with 84 federal mining claims either staked or leased from three local prospectors. There are at least four to five significant veins that strike east-to-west and dip sharply to the north. One of the veins was described as being discovered in the 1980’s when glacial ice receded. Information provided by Quaterra showed varying amounts of gold found during exploratory drilling by Tenneco Minerals and Echo Bay Mines in the late eighties.

Quaterra President and CEO Thomas Patton is currently unavailable for comment. But his firm partnered with Grande Portage in June, 2010 for exploration and development of Herbert Glacier. Grande Portage’s Ian Klassen says they’ve committed to spending $1.25 million in exploration costs before June, 2012 in exchange for a 65 percent interest in the project.

“It just was the right place, right time and an opportunity for us when we were looking for an added portfolio to work with that we struck a deal to go forward,” said Klassen. “We’re pleased we’ve done so.”

Grande Portage is also developing the Merry Widow Group on Vancouver Island and the Pass Property in British Columbia. Quaterra either owns or is a partner in nine other mining projects from Montana to central Mexico.

A preliminary report indicates that rock from an underground blast struck the miner who was killed yesterday (Wednesday) at the Kensington Gold Mine.

The Mine Safety and Health Administration and mine owners Coeur Alaska are investigating the accident and death of 30-year-old Juneau resident Joe Tagaban.

According to MSHA (M-SHAW), Tagaban was working near a previously drilled hole that had not been plugged. The blast sent a concussion of rock through the hole, striking him.

The incident was at the 1260-foot level underground. That section of the mine remains closed while the investigation is underway, according to MSHA spokeswoman Amy Louviere.

“That closure order covers the affected area of the mine where the accident occurred,” Louviere says. “However, it also prevents the mine operator from conducting any blasting in the mine until we’ve determined it’s safe to do so.”

Louviere says investigators from the MSHA Boise office will arrive at Kensington tomorrow to gather evidence from the scene, conduct interviews and piece together an accident timeline.

Meanwhile, services are pending for Tagaban, who had been working as a Kensington underground miner for about a year.

The accident was the first fatality at the Kensington mine, which is about 45 miles northwest of Juneau. In June, a miner was killed at the Fort Knox Gold Mine near Fairbanks, when he fell two stories. He was supposed to be harnessed to a safety line, but was not wearing the harness at the time of the accident.

Thirty-year-old Joe Tagaban of Juneau is the victim of an underground accident early Wednesday morning at the Kensington Gold Mine.

Coeur Alaska says Tagaban died while performing his regular duties at the mine. The accident happened in an underground stope at the 1260-foot level where Tagaban had been working.

The company is investigating the circumstances surrounding the incident. The Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) has been notified.

Tagaban had worked at the mine for about a year. In a news release, Coeur d’Alene Mines Corporation President and CEO Mitchell J. Krebs said Tagaban was a respected and well-liked employee at Kensington.

“Our collective thoughts and prayers go out to Joe’s family and his co-workers,” he said.

Kensington mine is about 45 miles northwest of Juneau. An emergency response team is stationed at the mine.

Kensington opened in June 2010. This is the first fatality.