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FEDERATION OF WESTERN OUTDOOR CLUBS







No. 26
MINING IN MISTY FJORDS NATIONAL MONUMENT


The Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act set aside 2,285,000 acres of Tongass National Forest land in the Misty Fjords National Monument.  However, an industry-pushed exemption placed a 150,000 acre non-wilderness designation for the development of the U.S. Borax molybdenum mine at Quartz Hill in the heart of the monument.  This cancerous sore in the middle of the monument lies on a ridge between two major salmon producing river drainage.  The world class mine would last 70 years, produce an open pit one mile wide, two miles long, and a thousand feet deep.  This would require 60,000 tons a day to be mined and 59,890 tons a day of waste material.  These mine tailings contain high traces of such metals as lead, zinc, pyrite, copper, and uranium.  U.S. Borax, a subsidiary of the London based corporation, Rio Tito Zinc, is proposing dumping these tailings into the marine environment.  This action would significantly fill up the fjord chosen for tailing disposal.

                
The Federation of Western Outdoor Clubs supports the Southeast Alaska Conservation Council in its continue fight to stop the mine.  SEACC is currently involved in several appeals forcing U.S. Borax to comply with the law during their exploration and  bulk sample phases of mine development.  The FWOC feels that if this mine is allowed to be constructed, the integrity of the Misty Fjords National Monument and the adjacent marine environment will be seriously impacted and the economic base for the fishermen currently dependent on this area for their catch would be destroyed.


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