Friday, 7th December 2007 (2731 views)

Up to 70 townspeople in the Alaska town of Petersburg have worked to attract mining projects in the region, it has been reported.

Speaking to the Northwest Mining Association, Steve Beardslee explained that active community involvement is critically important for the mining industry in the region.

He explained that local residents hope mining developments near their town - which has a population of 2,900 - will create long-term jobs and profits which can be used to support local government services.

The community has created the Olympic Resource Group, which currently holds 501 federal mining claims and three state claims over an area covering 3260 hectares of land, Mineweb reported.

And other towns have followed suit, with Wrangell, Alaska also adopting Petersburg's business model of community mining.

Many communities in the state were originally founded on the gold mining industry, which has been an integral part of the state's economy for more than one hundred years.

Gold was first discovered in Alaska in 1872 near Sitka.

 

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