Defend the Taku River from another B.C. acid-generating gold mine!
Photo by Chris Miller
B.C.’s New Polaris Gold Mine includes a barging plan that is a proven failure, a nearby mine that has been polluting the Taku for
over half a century, and NO way for Alaskans to have a real voice.
A Canadian corporation, Canagold Resources Ltd., plans to reopen the New Polaris Gold Mine in the Taku River system, just 10 miles upstream from the U.S.-Canada border and roughly 37 miles northeast of Juneau. The New Polaris, another potentially acid-generating gold mine, is located almost within sight of the abandoned, long-polluting Tulsequah Chief mine. Not only is British Columbia (B.C.) considering the New Polaris while the Tulsequah Chief continues to pollute the Taku, B.C. is considering once again allowing a mine to barge toxic chemicals up the Taku and Tulsequah Rivers.
Canagold’s plan includes testing a 98-foot landing craft/barge on the Taku in June 2026, even though previous mining companies' barging attempts largely failed. Canagold's plans for up to 75 barge roundtrips exposes the lower river, spawning and rearing salmon, and all river users to potential groundings, spills, increased erosion and other negative impacts.
Additionally, Canagold is planning to construct a one-mile-long airstrip in Flannigan Slough—the largest wetland in all of the Taku watershed and a biodiverse, critically important salmon rearing area. Building an airstrip to accommodate large cargo planes and thousands of annual flights between the mine site and the Juneau International Airport seems especially foolish, given that Flannigan Slough regularly floods, including during jökulhlaups, or glacial outburst floods.
Photo by Chris Miller