The Alaska Bureau of Investigation is looking into two incidents involving shots fired at Black Gold Transport ore-hauling trucks near Fairbanks late last week.
The bureau has launched what it’s calling an attempted murder investigation into the shootings, which occurred late Thursday night and early Friday morning.
Black Gold Transport said bullets struck both trucks, but an Alaska State Trooper spokesperson declined to say how many hit the trucks and what caliber of weapon was used.
Officials with Black Gold and Kinross Alaska expressed relief in social media posts that no one was injured in the shootings. Kinross is part of the joint venture that mines the gold ore that the trucking contractor hauls.
According to a trooper dispatch, the agency got a report about the first shooting just before midnight Thursday. That involved a truck passing by Eielson Air Force Base. The truck driver reported that the occupants of a white SUV fired several shots at the rig at around milepost 339.
Troopers got another report early Friday morning about shots fired from a white SUV at a second Black Gold Transport truck near the Steese Highway-Chena Hot Springs Road intersection.
Troopers have posted photos of a white SUV but haven’t said whether they believe it was the same SUV in both shootings.
Black Gold transports an average of 60 truckloads of ore daily from the Manh Choh mine near Tetlin to the Kinross Fort Knox mill near Fox. Members of the public who live along that 247-mile route have expressed opposition to the trucking operation, but no evidence has been released linking that to last week’s shootings.
Black Gold and Contango Ore, Kinross’s junior partner in the mine have each offered $10,000 rewards for information leading to the identification and arrest of those involved in the shootings.
Troopers are asking that anyone with information about the incidents contact the Fairbanks office at 907-451-5100.
Editor's note: Kinross Alaska is a KUAC underwriter.