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Post by Logan on Feb 7, 2016 3:30:24 GMT -6
BETHEL — In Southwest Alaska, you can’t turn around without running into the name Donlin Gold. It’s on fish-cutting aprons and life jackets, basketball tournaments and sled dog races, calendars and baseball caps. The company helps villages put on festivals and search and rescue groups do their jobs. Now, after investing a fortune in community causes, Donlin Gold’s good name as a benefactor is bumping up against the enormity of what it proposes: a giant mine on a remote Southwest Alaska ridge. he project is at a pivotal point, with government agencies and their contractors evaluating the risks and benefits under the umbrella of an environmental impact statement. Public meetings in the region and Anchorage for people to learn about the project and leave their comments began last month. Donlin mine at a glanceBackers see Donlin as an economic savior for villages with few jobs and a boost to a state economy in crisis over low oil prices and flat production. Critics see the project and its use of cyanide to produce gold as a threat to the fish and wildlife that not only fill residents’ freezers but also their cultural lives. Read more: www.adn.com/article/20160206/golden-opportunity-or-toxic-risk-southwest-alaska-debates-donlin-mine
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