Buckets full of rocks undergo kinetic testing, one of many tests conducted for Tower Hill Mines’ Livengood Gold Project’s environmental baseline work. Photo courtesy of Tower Hills Mines
hopes to tap into Golden Valley’s power line for the Livengood gold mine. The mine is about 70 miles northwest of Fairbanks and Solie says ballpark estimates show the mine will likely need 80100 megawatts of power. The mine would be similar in operation to Fort Knox, a surface mine where rock is ground to extract the gold, so the mills will be the largest power draw. Solie says the mine, estimated to operate more than 20 years, will likely employ 500 workers and about double that during construction. Solie says the mine is still in the early phases; feasibility studies are expected to be complete by summer. So there’s a lot of work left to do before an agreement can be worked out with Golden Valley. He estimates it would cost between $30 and $50 million to build a line roughly 50 miles from Golden Valley’s existing line to the mine. A total project cost for the mine isn’t available yet, Solie says. Tower Hill will analyze a range of power supply options, including producing its own power, when it begins its feasibility phase. But he says the company prefers to purchase power from Golden Valley. “If we end up in a self-generation situation, we build (a power plant) on our site and have our own facilities … but you may end up with stranded power out there,” he says. The challenge, according to Solie, will be whether Golden Valley can produce enough power to support the mine, and whether it can do so in a cost-effective way for the mine without impacting the community. “Fairbanks is suffering from high energy costs,” Solie says. “Down the road, we see a potential opportunity to create
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