Alaska

While the U.S. Government continues to talk about critical minerals access and the dangers of foreign dependency, New Zealand’s government is taking action.

According to MiningNe.ws, the New Zealand government is “looking at ways of speeding up approvals for big mining projects because endless court action is “frustrating” companies and costing them millions.”

Here are the key points from the MiningNe.ws piece:

· Aside from looking into new legislation allowing for the acceleration of granting resource consents for “regionally significant” projects, the Ministry for the Environment seeks to limit ways by which appeals can be mounted against such consents.

· The current legal framework allows for repeated appeals against approval for projects, and has been a source of frustration for the oil and gas industry, property developers, or groups wanting to build wind farms.

· Energy and Resources Minister Phil Heatley argues that New Zealand has “a court system where people can continue to oppose, and what we’re saying is, maybe we need to bring in a consenting system where … you have a first chance, last chance in court, it’s only appealable on point of law, and then the answer is either yes or no, and you can get on with it.”

· A sought-after change would emulate the “national consenting process,” which, while allowing for public hearings, provides for fast-tracking of projects with strict time limits.

Meanwhile, on this side of the Pacific Ocean, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is engaging in efforts to not only prolong, but derail mining projects even before any permit requests have been filed.

For a country that already has the dubious honor of having the lengthiest permitting process among mining nations according to the renowned Behre-Dolbear “Where Not to Invest” ranking, this is an approach that will have a “chilling effect on domestic resource
 development, which will impact our national security, manufacturing
 competiveness, and ability to innovate,” as American Resources principal Daniel McGroarty has pointed out.

American Resources Principal Dan McGroarty appeared on the Lars Larson show and Charles Payne’s PayneNation to discuss the EPA’s latest bid to stop the prospective Pebble Mine in Alaska before the project has a chance to be reviewed. Check out the interviews below.

While many of us in the continental U.S. are enjoying record-breaking temperatures this March, EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton probably needed her down coat as she embarked on her new mission: laying the groundwork for a common EU policy on the Arctic. Traveling near the North Pole earlier this month, Ashton made a case [...]

While all eyes were on President Obama’s State of the Union address earlier in the week, this is also the time when our nation’s governors deliver their State of the State addresses, taking account of the current situation, and outlining their policy initiatives for the coming year.  From an American Resources perspective, Alaska Gov. Sean [...]

Having intensified over the past few months with Russia reportedly willing to risk a new “Cold War” over the area’s vast resources, the geopolitics of the Arctic’s race for mineral riches has just been elevated to a whole new level with China having thrown its hat into the ring. According to the Wall Street Journal’s [...]

Working to implement a “strategy to reverse years of neglect and decline in its Far North,” Russia appears ready to re-embrace a Cold War, according to a detailed story in the Toronto Star.  Home to vast mineral resources including oil, zinc, and gold, for example, the Arctic is viewed by Russia as its strategic future, [...]

Well, you won’t see that headline atop of pieces like this one in the Alaskan press, but it’s a logical extension of policy actions like the one proposed to stop a copper/gold/molybdenum mine in Alaska.  In this case, we’re told that we can either allow the mine to proceed – or we can save the [...]

As reported by Resourceful Earth, two Alaska mining projects may begin production ahead of schedule thanks to priority permits granted by the U.S. Forest Service.  The agency approved exploratory drilling permits for Ucore Rare Metals Inc.’s Bokan Mountain site in Southeast Alaska, which is expected to develop rare earths as well as potentially high grade [...]

A handful of countries situated near the top of the world are racing to firm up their territorial claims to untold amounts of oil, natural gas, gold, zinc, copper and other metals. A new piece from the U.K. Guardian highlights this renewed scramble for resource rights beneath the Arctic icecap. I treated this story in [...]