Miner seeks permission to mine at Moonlight Springs

By James Mason
The Nome Common Council at its regular meeting Monday voted to postpone a vote on a permit to operate a placer mine within the Moonlight Wells Protection Area.
Normally referred to as Moonlight Springs, it is Nome’s only source of drinking water. The permit was requested by Shawn Pomrenke, doing business as Northwest Gold Diggers LLC.
Council member Meghan Sigvanna Topkok made a motion to amend the agenda, asking that the vote be postponed. “People reached out to me,” said Topkok. “This also caught me by surprise as I didn’t read the packet until this morning. I just wanted to dig in to this a little bit more and understand it better. It is potentially impacting our city’s water sources.” Jennifer Reader also said people had contacted her about it. The vote to postpone was unanimous and the Council will convene in a special meeting on Monday, May 17 at 7 p.m. with the City’s engineer John Blees present via phone or Zoom.
The permit application describes the nature of the mining activity. Pomrenke proposes to strip overburden off of designated pits and removing pay gravels to a depth of about 35 to 45 feet (see map).
According to the description the pay gravels lie on top of an ancient beach consisting of fine gravel and sand. It won’t be disturbed as there is no gold value in it. According to the application, the water table is well below the cuts. Mining activity will take place only in M.S. 707 and M.S. 1212. All storage of fuels and lubricants will be done in a manner to protect the area from contamination, the applicant says. The application may be viewed on the City of Nome’s website as part of the Council packet.
Nome began using Moonlight Springs as a source of drinking water in the early 1900s. The city acquired ownership of the springs and built the infrastructure to supply the needs of the population. As it is the only source of drinking water, the City commissioned a study on the potential effects of gold mining in the vicinity of the water aquifer. That 1982 study identified a recharge area and made recommendations regarding land management practices. The objectives of the study focused on the protection of the quality and quantity of spring flow from the effects of human activity and to identify the lands and waters that influence the springs.
According to research done in 1992 by the State of Alaska Department of Natural Resources Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys the marble unit that crops out on the Anvil Mountain hillside above Moonlight Springs is the primary aquifer of the springs. The geology of the site and the geochemistry of the water suggest that water is emitted from the marble aquifer at a depth of a few meters and flows through unfrozen gravel into the collection system’s perforated pipes which lead to the collection gallery. The report states that surface runoff into the springs is low to non-existent. It goes on to say that protection of the Moonlight Springs flows needs to consider disturbance of both the recharge areas and the permafrost areas near the springs. “Maintenance of the permafrost regime could be important in maintaining aquifer pressure that creates flowing conditions into the collection gallery,” states the report.
According to the permit request the source of water for the extraction process is a pond of around three million gallons. It is located within M.S. 707. The process water will flow through a settling pond on M.S. 1193 and then will be returned to the extraction pond. The city will monitor the level in the pond.
There is no privy at the mining site. A porta-potty may be used if needed.
The Common Council received a letter dated April 29 from Charles Lean stating his opposition to the permit. Lean fears the mining could allow arsenic to enter the aquifer. “Mining atop the aquifer less than a quarter mile from the City wells is not acceptable,” stated Lean in his letter.

 

The Nome Nugget

PO Box 610
Nome, Alaska 99762
USA

Phone: (907) 443-5235
Fax: (907) 443-5112

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