Statement from Sophie Swope, Executive Director, Mother Kuskokwim Tribal Coalition, on Barrick Gold exiting the Donlin Gold project:

“I’m not a financial expert, but it makes me wonder why Barrick Gold is walking away from what they had billed as a slam-dunk mining opportunity at a time when gold prices are soaring to record highs? 

Maybe they are seeing what we have been saying all along:

• The Donlin Gold Mine is a bad investment—plain and simple. It’s riddled with environmental, economic, operational, reputational, regulatory, and legal risks—and completely lacks a social license to operate.

• It would include a massive 471-foot tailings dam in a seismically active region, storing toxic waste and posing catastrophic risks if it fails— including mercury contamination exceeding health standards, and threats to vital salmon habitats that have sustained the health, culture, and livelihood of Alaska Native communities for millennia.

• The accompanying infrastructure expansion would bring concerning increases in barge traffic, pipeline construction of 315-miles across 452 streams, and social disruptions from worker camps.

• Despite gold’s limited critical value, this Canadian-owned project would extract profits while potentially increasing costs for Alaskans.

And all for what? 93% of gold ends up in jewelry or as gold bars stored underground. The profits of the mine won’t go to us, but we’ll be left to deal with the damage.

That is why 14 Tribal Governments—alongside the Association of Village Council Presidents and Yukon Kuskokwim Health Corporation, each representing all 56 Tribes in our region—and countless native corporation shareholders are standing against it. The Donlin mine threatens both the ecosystem and traditional subsistence way of life that has sustained our communities for generations.”