Donlin Gold Mining Project's Tailings-Spill Study Open for Comment Through October 23, With Federal Hearings in Bethel, Crooked Creek and Aniak This Week

Why there is a new study

USACE and BLM approved the project in an August 2018 joint record of decision. The Orutsararmiut Native Council sued, arguing a bigger tailings spill should have been studied. In September 2024 the U.S. District Court for Alaska agreed on that claim. In June 2025 it sent the study back to the agencies to evaluate a larger tailings spill, without canceling the existing authorizations.

The 2018 study looked at a release equal to about 0.5 percent of the tailings facility's capacity. The new draft looks only at a range of larger spill scenarios and their social, economic, physical, chemical and biological effects, including on subsistence. No other alternatives are studied.

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The mine as permitted

• Open-pit mine about 10 miles north of Crooked Creek, 277 miles west of Anchorage, along the Kuskokwim River.
• A tailings storage facility holding up to 568 million tons of tailings, behind a lined rockfill dam 471 feet tall at completion.
• A 316-mile natural gas pipeline from Cook Inlet, a gas-fired power plant, a river port at Angyaruaq (Jungjuk), a 30-mile access road and a 5,000-foot airstrip.
• Fill that would permanently affect 2,877 acres of wetlands and 172,844 linear feet of stream, according to the Corps notice.

Public meetings and ANILCA Section 810 hearings

1. Bethel: Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2–6 p.m., Kuskokwim Campus Room 118
2. Crooked Creek: Thursday, Oct. 15, 1:30–3:30 p.m., Crooked Creek Tribal Offices
3. Aniak: Friday, Oct. 16, 11 a.m.–2 p.m., Arviiq Regional Development & Training Center
4. Virtual: Monday, Oct. 19, 6–8 p.m. Alaska time. Register in advance through DonlinGoldSEIS.com.

BLM's preliminary finding is that the project may significantly restrict subsistence in some parts of the project area. That is why it is holding the hearings.

How to comment

• Online at DonlinGoldSEIS.com, or by email to donlingoldseis-record@aecom.com, with "Donlin Gold Project" in the subject.
• By mail: Donlin Gold SEIS Comments, USACE Alaska District, Regulatory Division, P.O. Box 6898, JBER, AK 99506-0898, postmarked by Oct. 23.
• Questions: Jonathan Hegna, USACE project manager, 907-753-2708. Subsistence hearings: Jacob Vialpando, BLM Anchorage Field Office, 907-621-4640.

USACE and BLM plan to decide by May 28, 2027 whether to modify, reaffirm or rescind the permit, right-of-way and 2018 decision. The project is a FAST-41 covered project with a public permitting dashboard.

Sources

• U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Alaska District, Special Public Notice POA-1995-00120, "Notice of Availability of the Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement for the Donlin Gold Mine Project," September 23, 2026 (expires October 23, 2026).
• Donlin Gold Project SEIS public involvement site maintained for USACE (donlingoldseis.com).

Notes and sources

1. Image: Aerial view of Bethel, Alaska, on the Kuskokwim River (file photo; not the Donlin Gold mining site). Photo: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers via Wikimedia Commons (Public domain).
2. Author: Ryan Standley / Record of Sale, LLC / Notice Nearby.
3. Discussed on @NoticeNearYou: (pending — fill xPostUrl after live post).
4. Not legal advice. Not a newspaper. Not Legal Publication. Record of Sale, LLC (Oregon).