Defend the Taku River from another B.C. acid-generating gold mine! 

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 plans include 170 annual barge trips carrying fuel and cyanide across the U.S.-Canada border between the mine site and a “Transfer Barge Facility” that Canagold proposes to anchor in the middle of Taku Inlet, on the Alaska side of the border. Anyone familiar with the Taku River knows it is a shallow, dynamic river that quickly changes and isn’t easy to navigate. The plan for barging is high risk, and a barging mishap or accident with toxic chemicals would damage some of the best wild salmon spawning habitat in the world.

Photo by Chris Miller