Fort Knox Mine waste permit up for renewal after 26 years

The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation is accepting public comments through June 7 on a draft waste management permit for the Fort Knox Mine, the first comprehensive update since the original permit took effect in 2000.

The draft permit would impose contemporary environmental standards on the open-pit gold mine's disposal of tailings, mine drainage, and waste from two lined heap leach pads. The mine operates 15 miles northeast of Fairbanks on 8,001 acres in the Fish Creek drainage.

Fort Knox has operated under Waste Management Permit 2020DB0002 since March 25, 2000. The permit has remained in effect through extensions for more than two decades. The mine itself was originally permitted in 1994, and renewal documents were previously released for public comment in 2014. The proposed permit, numbered 2026DB0002, would renew and update waste management requirements for the facility.

The current Plan of Operations, approved in 2021, runs through March 24, 2025. The 2018 Gilmore expansion project extended Fort Knox mining operations to 2027 and heap leaching to 2030, adding approximately 1.5 million ounces of gold production.

Fairbanks Gold Mining Incorporated, a subsidiary of Kinross Gold Corporation, operates the mine. The company employed 732 people as of 2022 and produced 291,249 gold equivalent ounces that year, according to the Department of Natural Resources.

The Department of Environmental Conservation has tentatively decided to approve the draft permit. Following the 30-day comment period, the agency will prepare a final permit and response to comments.

Written comments must be submitted by June 7. The public may comment electronically at https://dec.alaska.gov/commish/public-notices/ or mail comments to James Hyun, Large Project Coordinator, DNR Office of Project Management and Permitting, Anchorage, AK 99501. Comments may also be emailed to [email protected].

The permit and supporting documents are available for review at Department of Environmental Conservation offices in Anchorage (555 Cordova Street, 907-269-6285), Fairbanks (610 University Avenue, 907-451-2100), and Juneau (410 Willoughby Street, Suite 303, 907-465-5300).

Anyone may request a public hearing by submitting a written request stating the issues to be raised, along with contact information. The department will hold a hearing if it finds significant public interest or if a hearing would clarify permit issues.