Mining firm claims new industrial port planned in Haines

A drill rig at the Palmer deposit in the Chilkat River valley near Haines, Alaska. (Lex Treinen / Chilkat Valley News file photo)

By Will Steinfeld

Chilkat Valley News

The owners of the Palmer Project, the advanced mineral exploration project in the Chilkat Valley, say they’re partnering with the State of Alaska on a new industrial port in Haines. 

In a June 29 interview on podcast Mining Stock Daily, Vizsla Copper CEO Craig Parry said that the state government is “looking at potential development of a new industrial port in Haines, Alaska, and that’s something (Vizsla) is supporting and indeed partnering with them to help fund some of the early work on that program.”

Vizsla Copper did not respond to requests for comment this week, and state officials have not confirmed such a project exists. 

One state entity that has funded resource-industry infrastructure is the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority, or AIDEA, a state-owned economic development corporation.

In emails this week, AIDEA executive director Randy Ruaro said the corporation is “exploring the concept” of a “regional mill site and port facility to process and reprocess rare earth elements and minerals from both new and old mine tailings.”

According to AIDEA meeting minutes, the corporation’s board discussed the topic in a closed-door executive session during their March meeting. 

Ruaro said that project could result in one such facility in northern Southeast, but said the agency has not settled on any specific communities and has no specific plans for port infrastructure in Haines. 

He also wrote that “AIDEA may not be the only possible ‘state’ partner,” for Vizsla port work in Haines. 

Ruaro did not respond when asked whether Vizsla contributed or planned to contribute funding to the general regional mill site and port facility planning. 

As for other parts of state government, Parry, in his June 29 interview, also said he was traveling to the state this week because Gov. Mike Dunleavy had requested a meeting with him. Dunleavy spokesperson Jeff Turner, reached Tuesday by email, would not say whether the governor and Parry had met or if they had spoken about partnering on Haines dock infrastructure. 

The governor’s office has not yet responded to a Chilkat Valley records request for the governor’s scheduled meetings. 

“I’m astonished with the access we’re getting from the government, particularly in Alaska,” Parry said in the interview. “This will be the third time I’ve met with Gov. Dunleavy.”

Department of Transportation spokesperson Sonny Mauricio said Tuesday the department is not working on any port infrastructure projects in Haines. 

Regardless of whether Vizsla is funding new port infrastructure in Haines, the borough isn’t involved, borough manager Alekka Fullerton said this week. 

Haines Borough owns the existing industrial port facility in Haines, the Lutak Dock. Fullerton said she has had no conversations with the mining firm about the dock and was unaware of any company plans to develop port infrastructure in the borough. Fullerton said she spoke on June 5 to a Vizsla Copper vice president about the Freeride World Tour and about brushing along Porcupine Road, with no mention of any Vizsla work on or funding for port facilities. 

There’s reason to believe in the substance of Parry’s statements. Vizsla is a publicly traded, Vancouver-headquartered company. British Columbia’s Securities Act states that “a person must not make a statement that the person knows, or reasonably should know, is a misrepresentation.”

Brian Kladko, a spokesperson from the provincial regulator British Columbia Securities Commission, said this week that if the commission “finds that someone has violated securities law, then it can impose financial sanctions (administrative penalties and disgorgement) and impose restrictions on their participation in the investment market, including permanent banishment.”

• This story originally appeared in the Chilkat Valley News.