The Unuk River runs from British Columbia to Southeast Alaska through the Misty Fjords National Monument near Ketchikan, Alaska. One of southern Alaska’s largest rivers in the Ketchikan area, it produces more king salmon than any stream in the region.

Seabridge Gold, a Canadian company, is pursuing the permitting of a large open pit mine 400 times bigger than the Kensington Mine. This proposed mine, Kerr-Sulphurets-Mitchell (KSM), would dump 2.1 Billion Tons of toxic mine and acid waste in the Unuk and Nass River watersheds. The location of the proposed mine is just north of the US border in BC. Access would be via a new road along the northern Unuk and would include a large bridge crossing the river. The “Open Pit” of the mine is to be on Sulphurets Creek, a tributary of the Unuk River with a 15 mile tunnel for transporting ore to a processing facility on the Nass River.

Toxic mine and acid waste from the open pit mine would be dammed, marginally treated and then will run into Sulphurets Creek. Seabridge fails to account for the countless subterranean rivers beginning on the Canadian side eventually to join with the Unuk and Chickamin Rivers.

See why Open Pit Mines are bad for the Unuk River:

The Kerr-Sulphurets-Mitchell is scheduled to begin the permitting process through the BC government in late 2012.

What can you do?

Contact the Ministry of British Columbia, Environmental Protection Division at: 250.387.1288, or Email: envprotdiv@Victoria1.gov.bc.ca

Alaska Department of Natural Resources, Office of the Commissioner at: 907.269.8431, or Email: daniel.sullivan@alaska.gov

For additional information, visit The Unuk River Post
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