Economy

As the race to mine antimony is gaining traction in Alaska, so is the rush for the federal government’s financial backing.

Now, the Trump administration is injecting millions of dollars into an Australian company’s project about 100 miles northwest of Anchorage.

Nova Minerals isn’t the only antimony interest in Alaska hoping for investment from the feds, but this week, the Pentagon awarded a grant worth more than $43 million to the Alaska subsidiary of Nova, Alaska Range Resources. The money is intended to turn the company’s Estelle Project, located in the Mat-Su Borough, into a hub for producing munitions materials.

Nova CEO Christopher Gerteisen said the project is on a two-year schedule, and that he doesn’t anticipate that the ongoing government shutdown will affect the funding.

“And so what this grant is for is to further define our resource out there, and then to mine the material, and then … process the material, to produce the munitions-grade ‘antimony trisulfide,’ they call it,” he said in a short interview.

Antimony, which is often associated with gold deposits, has a number of possible applications, including flame retardants, solar panels, semiconductors and ammunition. The U.S. government considers it a critical mineral.

Antimony was mined in Alaska off and on between 1905 and 1986, typically in response to wartime needs or higher prices. The revived interest comes amid a push from the federal government to boost mineral production and China’s ban on antimony exports to the U.S. China has been the United States’ biggest supplier of the mineral.

The award to Nova Minerals comes through Title III of the Defense Production Act, which allows the President to approve aid for businesses that buttress productive capacity for national defense purposes. That’s a lever the Biden administration also pulled to bolster critical mineral production and reduce reliance on foreign supply chains.

Gerteisen said the award will fund what he calls a pilot phase. He said Nova hopes to later build a refinery at Point MacKenzie in Southcentral to produce more than munitions with Alaska’s antimony.

“This grant is so important for Alaska because the race is on. Other states have some antimony discoveries, and this and that,” he said. “And the race is really on as to … where is the antimony refining hub is going to be for the United States.”

Other companies with antimony projects in Alaska may have different models, goals, and stages than Nova. But, on top of the mineral they want to mine, the companies share at least one other thing in common: They’re also looking to tap the Trump administration for funds.

Dallas-based U.S. Antimony plans to recover the mineral from discarded rock waste at historic mining sites in Alaska and truck the ore down to its smelter in Montana. The company began its first small-scale antimony reclamation in Alaska in early September at the Mohawk Mine near Ester.

And last week, U.S. Antimony inked a $245 million contract with the Defense Logistics Agency to supply antimony ingots to the Defense Department’s store of critical minerals.

In response to a question about U.S. Antimony’s efforts to secure federal funding, Vice President of Investor Relations Jonathan Miller sent KUAC a link to a September investor’s conference.

During the conference, Miller said the company has been working with Pentagon officials throughout the year.

“At the DoD’s request, we put together scope papers and white papers for a grant, essentially outlining what would be needed for us to expand our operations and our claims,” he said at the time.

Miller said in the presentation that the company will likely announce a federal award of just under $30 million in the near future. That was before the government shutdown began, however, and it wasn’t immediately clear how, or if, that timeline might be affected. Miller also did not say whether the money would be directed toward the company’s Alaska operations during the conference.

In an email Wednesday, Miller congratulated Nova on their award, and suggested companies should approach the endeavor collaboratively.

“We believe it’s critical to build bridges with Nova and with all miners in Alaska who are producing, or will produce, antimony in the future,” he wrote.

Another Australia-based mining company, Felix Gold, still says it’s targeting the end of this year to start mining antimony at its Treasure Creek project just north of Fairbanks.

Similar to the other two companies, Felix Gold has also formally sought federal support for that plan, and the company is touting a visit from officials with the Environmental Protection Agency and Federal Permitting Council, saying their recent stop at Treasure Creek represents a “substantive milestone.”

In a call with investors last month, Felix Gold Executive Director Joseph Webb said the visit was “as good as you can get” and helped the company’s case, but that he couldn’t guarantee anything just yet.

Among the most vulnerable Alaskans to the ongoing federal shutdown could be thousands of parents who depend on WIC (wick) to help them buy food.

WIC is the acronym for Women, Infants and Children, a federal program administered by the state. It provides food benefits to women who are pregnant or breastfeeding, and families that include a child under 5, as long as the household meets income limits.

Jeff Turner, a spokesman for Gov. Mike Dunleavy, says Alaska has enough money in the program to last through the first week of the shutdown. Whether cash reserves last beyond then is unclear.

In past funding lapses, Alaska found the money to keep paying WIC benefits. A statement from the governor says the state will have to reassess if the shutdown goes on beyond a month.

Nationally, WIC depends on money Congress must appropriate each year. In that way it is unlike the larger SNAP food program, which is considered an entitlement.

More than 8,000 Alaska households receive WIC benefits. For now, WIC offices around the state are open.

Congress seems no closer to passing a funding bill. The Senate adjourned until Monday.

Juneau voters will decide in this fall’s municipal election whether to exempt essential food and residential utilities from local sales tax. Economists say that taxes on food hit low-income people the hardest. 

Whether you head to Costco, Foodland or Fred Meyer or any other grocery store in Juneau, you pay a 5% tax on most of the food you buy. And, when you go to pay your water or heating bill, you’re taxed the same on that, too. 

Right now, Juneau’s city government taxes food and utilities like just about everything else – at 5%. But, if voters choose to pass Proposition 2 on the local ballot this year, that tax would drop to zero percent for everyone, regardless of their income. 

Daniel Parks, the executive director of the Southeast Alaska Food Bank, said food insecurity is impacting more and more Juneauites every year. 

“On a local level, we’re facing the highest amount of demand that we’ve ever faced here,” he said. “More and more people that you would have once thought of as firmly in the middle class are sliding into food insecurity.”

Park said he thinks the proposition could have a positive impact. 

The proposed food exemptions would apply to items under the same definition as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, better known as SNAP or food stamps. It would also apply to residential electricity, heating oil or propane, water and sewer and garbage and recycling. Senior citizens are already able to apply for these exemptions.

Angela Rodell is the treasurer of the Affordable Juneau Coalition, a group of advocates who gathered enough signatures to put the question on the ballot. She says Juneau should have removed the tax a long time ago. 

“This is probably one of the most regressive tax things we have here in Juneau,” she said.  

She said the change would be immediately felt by residents and would make Juneau more affordable. 

 “I think when you start to feel like costs are coming back your way, when you feel like you have just a little bit of extra money, you feel better about participating in the community, participating with the nonprofits, supporting churches and trails and arts and all of those things,” she said.

Juneau Assembly member Neil Steininger is an economist, and he supports the concept.

“We don’t have the supply chains that can provide us lower-cost food, like a lot of areas down south do,” he said. “That really impacts your day-to-day living, because you got to eat every day.”

According to city estimates, the average person would save approximately $300 per year.   

But there’s a flip side to the change. The current 5% tax on food and utilities brings in quite a bit of revenue to the city — to the tune of a combined $9 to $11 million annually. 

“That is huge. That is a big number. Just to give some context,” said Assembly member Christine Woll. 

She said removing that tax would leave a serious hole in the city’s budget. 

“There is no way that we could exempt food and utilities without significant reduction to what the city provides its citizens,” she said. 

It’s unclear what services the Assembly might choose to cut. It would make those decisions after the election.

But, in hopes of offsetting those decisions before they come to fruition, the Assembly is asking voters to implement a new seasonal sales tax system to neutralize the estimated revenue loss. The proposed system is meant to take advantage of the summer tourists while also giving some winter relief to year-round residents.

“The seasonal sales tax basically will make up for that $9 to $12 million revenue loss by shifting the tax burden from residents to our summer visitors,” she said.

Rodell disagrees. She said a reduction in revenue will force the Assembly to pay closer attention to how it spends taxpayers’ money — something she doesn’t think they’ve been doing a good job at. 

“I’m a strong no on the seasonal sales tax because of the way it needs to go back to the drawing board,” she said. “They need to do a better job about defining how it’s going to help the residents of this community.”

The last day to vote in Juneau’s by-mail election is Tuesday, Oct. 7.

Find the latest local election coverage at ktoo.org/elections.

Election day is around the corner for most of Alaska’s local governments, and many communities are considering whether to raise local sales taxes to pay for the escalating cost of public services, including basic infrastructure like road repairs and landfills.

Alaska’s largest city, Anchorage, holds its elections in the spring, as do Valdez and Cordova, but most of the state’s 150-plus municipal governments will have their elections in the next week.

In the state capital, Juneau, where voting has been underway by mail since late September, voters are considering three ballot measures with major implications for the City and Borough of Juneau budget.

Measure No. 1 would tighten the cap on local property taxes below current rates, effectively cutting city revenue by about $1 million and eliminating the city’s ability to raise rates.

The second measure would exempt food and residential utilities from local sales taxes. That would eliminate between $10 million and $12 million per year from the city budget.

To compensate, there’s also Measure No. 3, which would raise the city’s sales tax from 5% to 7.5% in the summer and lower it to 3% in the winter. If that measure passes, it would roughly balance the lost money if Measure No. 2 passes.

If ballot measure No. 3 doesn’t pass, Juneau city officials expect to significantly cut local services in order to balance the budget.

Juneau is one of several communities deciding whether to pass sales tax hikes this month.

In Skagway, voters are considering a seasonal sales tax increase from 5% to 7% in the summer, with some of the proceeds earmarked for water, wastewater and garbage services in order to lower local rates.

In neighboring Haines, voters are deciding whether to raise the local sales tax from 5.5% to 7% in the summer within the Haines townsite, with a smaller increase in the rest of the borough. The sales tax would fall to 4.5% in the townsite during the winter, 3% in the rest of the borough, and groceries would be exempted.

In Ketchikan, borough residents are being asked whether they want to extend part of the local sales tax through 2032. The borough has a 2.5% sales tax, but half of a percent is dedicated to construction and renovation projects at local schools. That’s what voters will consider renewing.

Slightly north, in Petersburg, voters will decide whether to reduce a senior citizen sales tax exemption so it applies only to low-income residents.

Ketchikan city voters consider seven ballot measures. While voters in the Ketchikan borough contemplate a sales tax measure, voters within the city of Ketchikan itself will also have seven other ballot propositions to consider.

First is a $15 million bond to pay for sewer mains and upgrades to the city’s water treatment facility. Those upgrades are being mandated by the state and federal governments.

Voters in the First City also will decide six different amendments to the city charter. Proposition No. 2 would eliminate a 30-day waiting period for city ordinances to take effect. No. 3 would allow the city manager to live outside city limits, but only on the road system of Revillagigedo Island, where the city is located.

Proposition No. 4 would remove the requirement that voters approve the sale of any city property worth more than $30,000. Instead, the city council would have the authority to approve those sales.

The fifth proposition would allow the city to award large contracts to someone other than the lowest bidder, and the sixth would allow the city to approve sales or contracts with city employees and elected officials as long as there are at least three cost quotes and the chosen contract is “the most advantageous to the city.”

The last proposition, the seventh, would allow the city’s annual fiscal audit to take more than four months.

In addition to those ballot measures, three candidates are running for two seats on the Ketchikan City Council. There’s also a two-way race for borough mayor, two contested borough assembly races and two contested school board races.

Voters in Sitka will consider two ballot measures. The first would allow the city to use proceeds from the local tobacco tax and the sale of the local hospital for parks and recreation.

The second, if adopted, would require all ballot measures to include a comprehensive economic impact study report before reaching the signature-gathering phase.

Six people are running for two seats on the Borough Assembly in Sitka, and there are three candidates for two seats on the local school board.

In Petersburg, two candidates are running for mayor and five candidates are running for two seats on the borough assembly. There is one candidate and two open seats for the school board.

In Skagway, the one candidate for mayor is running uncontested, after the previous mayor resigned earlier this year. There are four candidates for two assembly seats, and one candidate for two open school board seats. In Haines, there are four candidates for two assembly seats, and two candidates for two school board seats.

North Slope voters contemplate big borrowing planIn the North Slope Borough, two of four assembly races are contested, and only one of four school board races is contested. Borough voters also will consider eight different bond proposals. That’s more ballot propositions than any other municipal election taking place this month in Alaska.

The borough is proposing to borrow a combined $204 million for public facilities, including light, power, water, sewage, public safety, education and flood control.

At Utqiagvik, the borough’s largest town and the northernmost town in the United States, voters will choose between two candidates for mayor. There’s also two city council races, only one of which is contested.

Voters also are being asked to choose whether or not to extend Utqiagvik’s 20% wholesale tobacco tax to cover “alternative nicotine products and equipment,” such as vape and e-cigarette products.

Within the Northwest Arctic Borough, there are four borough assembly seats on this year’s ballot. Only one race is contested, and one seat — covering Ambler, Kobuk and Shungnak — has no candidates at all.

Similarly, among three races for school board, none are contested and one of the three seats has no candidates.

In the Kotzebue city election, two seats on the city council are on the ballot, and each race has two candidates. Another seat was vacated by the resignation of Ruth Moto in September, and someone will be appointed to fill that seat after the election, with the replacement being up for election in October 2026.

The Nome Nugget noted “meager interest to run for public office” in Nome this year, with two city council seats and two school board seats unopposed, but voters there will also be asked whether to raise the city’s sales tax from 5% to 6%.

This week, the Nugget reported that if the tax increase doesn’t pass, city officials will cut services.

In the Matanuska-Susitna Borough, Houston considers sales tax hikeThe Matanuska-Susitna Borough holds its elections in November (as does Metlakatla in Southeast), but the cities within the Mat-Su borough vote in October.

Wasilla has no ballot measures; its city election includes three city council races, only one of which is contested.

In Palmer, five people are competing to become the city mayor, the most competitive single municipal race this fall. Three people are competing for two three-year seats on the city council. There also is a one-year seat on the council, and two people are vying for it.

Palmer voters are also being asked if they want to change the city charter so the city manager is no longer required to live within the city. The change would allow the manager to live within five miles of city limits.

Within Houston, six people are running for three spots on the city council. Houston also has four ballot measures. One asks whether voters support a city-owned airport. A second asks voters to approve a 2% sales tax increase (from 2% to 4%) in order to pay for road repairs. The third and fourth measures ask voters to approve the “Matanuska Thunder Festival” and “Founder’s Day” as city holidays.

Many ballot measures in the Kenai Peninsula BoroughWithin the Kenai Peninsula Borough, voters will decide five different ballot propositions. The first would require elections officials to hand-count ballots and ban electronic tabulators. The Matanuska-Susitna Borough has already taken a similar move.

Proposition No. 2 would create a special taxing district in Ninilchik to fund a new local swimming pool there. No. 3, if approved, would increase the property tax exemption in the borough so the first $75,000 of a homeowner’s residence would be exempted from local property taxes. The current exemption applies to the first $50,000.

The fourth proposition would raise the borough’s sales tax cap every five years. Currently, sales taxes only apply to the first $500 of a purchase.

Proposition No. 5 would shift borough elections to November, aligning them with state and federal elections, much as the Mat-Su borough has done.

Five seats on the Kenai borough assembly are up for election, and three of the races are contested. Three school board seats are on the ballot as well, with two races contested.

Among city elections on the Kenai Peninsula, only Soldotna has a ballot measure. That proposition asks voters to approve or reject the annexation of 2.63 square miles of nearby land into the city limits.

In the Interior, none of Fairbanks’ three local governments have ballot measures this year, but this year’s ballot will decide three seats on the borough assembly and two on the borough school board. There’s a two-person race to become Mayor of Fairbanks, and two seats on the city council are up for election.

Southeast of Fairbanks, in North Pole, four seats on the city council are up for election. There are only four candidates, but the order of the candidates will determine who gets a three-year term, a two-year term or a one-year term.

Kodiak will pick a new mayorIn Kodiak, voters will pick between two candidates for borough mayor, five candidates for two seats on the borough assembly, and they will vote on a variety of service area boards.

Within city limits on Kodiak, four people are running to replace longtime Mayor Pat Branson, and four candidates are running for two seats on the city council.

In southwest Alaska, Bethel has four open city council seats but only three registered candidates and one write-in candidate.

In Unalaska, Mayor Vince Tutiakoff Sr. is running unopposed for re-election, and three people are running for one of the two city council seats on the ballot. The other incumbent for city council is unopposed. On the local school board, three people are running for one of two school board seats; the other seat is held by the incumbent school board president, who is unopposed in his re-election bid.

Within the Aleutians East Borough, which includes Sand Point, King Cove and Cold Bay, two of three borough assembly seats have unopposed races, and the third has two candidates. All three school board seats on the ballot have candidates running unopposed.

Further north in Dillingham, two city council seats have two candidates apiece, and three people are running unopposed for three school board seats.

Within the Bristol Bay Borough, based in Naknek, three people are running for two seats on the borough assembly, and there are five candidates for the two school board seats on the ballot.

In the Lake and Peninsula Borough, two borough assembly members and two school board members are running unopposed. Those elections, like those in Juneau, are conducted by mail, and ballots must be postmarked by Oct. 7 and received by the borough clerk before Nov. 7.

Months after Congress defunded public broadcasting, 14 public media stations in Alaska got some good news this week.

The Interior Department has put them on the list to be funded through a program that supports tribal stations, to make up for the money they’re no longer getting from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Lauren Adams, general manager of KUCB in Unalaska, got an email Wednesday with the exact figure: $282,728.

“So roughly the amount that we received in our CPB Community Service Grant,” she said.

That gets KUCB through the year. But it is a one-time grant, so Adams still has a big challenge ahead.

Meanwhile, the plight of the little station in the Aleutians won the hearts of public radio supporters around the country.

Alerted by stories in the New York Times and other national media outlets, contributors found their way to the donate button on KUCB’s website. Others were matched through an organization called Adopt A Station. More than 100 people sent contributions from afar, Adams said, and the station gained roughly $25,000 in membership fees. The accompanying notes buoyed the staff.

“A lot of the comments were really, really touching. And just saying that ‘the local work you do in your community makes a difference. Keep doing it. Keep up the good work,'” she said. “Really morale boosting.”

It was a similar story for KYUK in Bethel. General Manager Kristin Hall said contributions from afar helped cheer the staff, even if they didn’t approach the value of the federal funds the radio and TV station lost. The new Interior Department grants make KYUK whole, at least for one year. They come to nearly $250,000 for radio operations and more than $800,000 for TV, Hall said.

“This funding that has been earmarked for stations, they are truly some of the most vulnerable in our country at this moment,” she said.

KYUK and KUCB are not tribally owned, but they partnered with their local tribes to receive the grants. There’s one more hurdle though: Hall said she thinks her station won’t actually get the money until the government shutdown ends.

Editor’s note: KTOO is not one of the stations included in the grants. Those stations are KNBA, KBRW, KYUK, KCUK, KDLG, KRFF, KZPA, KIYU, KOTZ, KSKO, KSDP, KUHB, KNSA and KUCB. 

The Juneau Assembly is considering offering a portion of the future Telephone Hill redevelopment to house U.S. Coast Guard families moving to Juneau. The city expects more than 100 families to join the community when a U.S. Coast Guard Icebreaker homeports in the coming years. 

At a committee meeting Monday night, City Manager Katie Koester said both the city-owned Telephone Hill and Pederson Hill subdivisions could meet the Coast Guard’s housing needs.

“We have been meeting with Coast Guard leadership and Coast Guard staff here on what their needs are for homeporting the Storis, knowing that housing is a major obstacle and that there’s a high priority for the community to bring that ship home,” she said. 

The Coast Guard announced last summer that Juneau would be the homeport for the new polar icebreaker Storis. The 360-foot ship is built to operate in the Arctic and is meant to increase U.S. presence in the region. 

Coast Guard officials say it will likely be a few more years before the ship is officially homeported in Juneau. But it will bring at least 110 personnel and their families to town.

Koester says Juneau’s housing stock is not enough to take care of its current housing needs. The crisis will only be exacerbated once Coast Guard families begin to arrive.

She suggested the Assembly look to sign an agreement with the Coast Guard that a portion of the housing at the Telephone Hill and Pederson Hill subdivisions would go to its personnel. She says that would make the land more attractive to developers.

The historic Telephone Hill neighborhood downtown is slated to be demolished beginning in December. Renters are still living there, and have until Nov. 1 to move out. The plans open up the area for newer, denser housing in response to the city’s housing crunch. The city does not yet have a developer signed on to the project. 

“Telephone Hill has an opportunity to provide a lot of multi-unit housing that’s really conveniently located across from the subport,” she said. “So, for those service members that maybe don’t have a car, maybe they’re single — close to public transportation, close to work — it could provide a really attractive option.”

Pederson Hill is about 26 acres of city-owned land, a half mile past Brotherhood Bridge on Glacier Highway. In 2017, the Juneau Assembly approved developing the 86-lot subdivision to create more housing. Since then, private developers and individuals have bought some of the lots to build single-family homes. Tlingit Haida Regional Housing Authority is also working on developing housing on a portion of the land. 

The Assembly voted to direct Koester to work on creating a memorandum of understanding to potentially offer land at Pederson Hill and Telephone Hill for private developers to build Coast Guard housing.