The Bureau of Land Management will convey more than 1,085 acres of land to an Alaska Native Corporation that intends to mine it, the agency announced on April 1. The parcel is near Flat, a ghost town in Western Alaska, and lies just north of the proposed Donlin Gold project.
Doyon, Limited spokesperson Cheyenna Kuplack said in an email that the corporation started exploring the land's mineral potential in the 1970s and is now working with Canadian Mining company Tectonic Metals.
The corporation plans to begin a large exploration drilling program this year.
Environmental groups say they're monitoring the situation. In an emailed statement, Northern Alaska Environmental Center president Krystal Lapp encouraged transparency for such projects and said it was "important for the public to understand how land ownership changes can shape long-term decisions about development, conservation, and subsistence resources."
Federal officials say the land transfer was a legal obligation under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, which gives Alaska Native corporations the right to select millions of acres of federal land — and that it was not related to recent executive orders seeking to advance mining and oil development in Alaska.
Doyon is still entitled to over 200,000 acres of untransferred land under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act.
