Whisper to the Blood

A MONTH LATER

ANCHORAGE, AK (AP): Global Harvest Resources Inc. (GHRI), the world's second largest gold producer, announced today the results of supplementary exploratory drilling in the Suulutaq Mine during last summer's drilling season.

A clearly euphoric Bruce O'Malley, GHRI's chief executive officer, said that core samples taken by the five rigs working 17 new holes had still not discovered the limits of the Suulutaq deposits. O'Malley said that GHRI would be mobilizing two more drill rigs next year. "It's now the second largest mine of this type in the world," O'Malley said. "If we keep drilling, we might get to be the largest."

GHRI currently estimates that the Suulutaq ore deposit contains 42.6 billion pounds of copper, 39.6 million ounces of gold, and 2.7 billion pounds of molybdenum. The gold alone at current prices is estimated to be worth over $35 billion. GHRI is estimating that it will take $3 billion to $5 billion to develop the mine, and hundreds of millions of dollars to operate it. "Global Harvest is in this for the long term," O'Malley said. "We'll see in the next five generations of Alaskans."

Suulutaq is located on state lands near the Iqaluk Wildlife Refuge and the headwaters of the Gruening River, one of the major tributaries of the Kanuyaq River, home of the world-renowned run of Kanuyaq River red salmon. The confluence of the two rivers is the calving grounds of the Gruening River caribou herd.

Significant opposition is developing among local residents, including fishermen, hunters, trappers, and some Alaska Natives who are concerned that by-products of the toxins used in the mining process will pollute the groundwaters that are the source of the Kanuyaq and irreparably harm salmon and other wildlife.

The Kanuyaq salmon fishery is currently valued at $110 million.