A placer mine near Ruby would work 35 acres of creek for a decade

A gold mine near Ruby would work about 35 acres of creek bottom for the next decade, and Alaskans have until Sept. 24 to comment.

Tintina Gold Company and Shane Holmberg propose a 10-year phased placer operation in Glenn Gulch and Flint Creek, with a third creek, Gold Run, also named. The plan calls for mechanized clearing, stripping overburden, excavating pay gravels and reclaiming as it goes, processing about 650 cubic yards of pay gravel a day and 60,000 a year.

Some of it is already happening. A 4,000-foot stream diversion is in place for the next two years so mining in Glenn Gulch can finish, and the applicant is reworking spoil piles left by earlier miners.

The applicant proposes no compensatory mitigation for the affected waters, arguing the ground was already disturbed by mining in the 1930s and that the plan restores each stream.

The state authorization would run through Dec. 31, 2035. A 2021 authorization for the same mine covered Glenn Gulch from July 2021 through the end of 2025.

The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation opened a 30-day comment period Tuesday on the water quality certification. Comment windows on the underlying state and federal permits closed in April and August.

Ruby, a Koyukon Athabascan community of 139 residents at the 2020 census, already hosts at least five small gold camps, many off Poorman Road.