The Bering Sea gold rush is on its way
Is Nome ready for those who have been bitten by the gold bug?
By Diana Haecker
Just after the premiere of the Discovery Channel’s “Bering Sea Gold” TV reality show starring Nome gold dredge miners aired on January 27, Nome’s city offices and other businesses and organizations have been inundated with phone calls that inquired: What permits do we need to dredge for gold up there? Is there a mining camp? Can I buy a dredge up there? Can just anybody go and mine the beaches of Nome?
The city, the office of the harbormaster, the Nome Visitor and Convention Center, the Nome Nugget newspaper and land owners like Bering Straits Native Corporation and Nome Gold Alaska Corp. have been receiving inquiries as to what it takes to come up to Nome and rake in the gold.
City manager Josie Bahnke said that the volume of calls from Lower 48 prospectors have been overwhelming. Kerwin Krause with the Alaska Department of Natural Resources said that DNR offices have received a call every five minutes, especially on Mondays following the Friday evening shows. “That kind of call volume is not normal. So far we received about 300 phone calls,” Krause said on Monday. He said that he warns newcomers to mining in the north that it is not as easy as it looks on TV. “We’re telling people that there are no leases available now,” Krause said. Recreational miners can work on West Beach, but they have to be standing in water up to their knees and they can use small dredges with suction hoses less than six inches in diameter and rocker sluice boxes, Krause said. The recreational mining area extends on West Beach from the west end of the port’s causeway to two miles west. But other than that, sorry, offshore leases have been sold and are no longer available.
The Alaska DNR is still finalizing the bids as a few high bidders, who “won” leases in an outcry auction last September, have not come through with their payments. “But those leases probably won’t go up for lease any time soon,” Krause said. There has also been a dispute over paperwork that wasn’t filed in time for the auction that nearly disqualified two high bidders. An appeal is still pending, which awaits a decision by the DNR commissioner in the next months.
Krause said that he’s been in communication with Nome city officials as to what is needed to prepare for what may be a modern day gold rush. Krause said that a DNR field office person is supposed to arrive this summer to guide new miners in their endeavor and make sure that rules are obeyed.
Krauses’ as well as harbor master Joy Baker’s concern is the limited amount of berthing spots for small dredges. Small dredges parked in the harbor are issued permits; the smaller dredges that are tied up at the east side of Snake River for now do not require permits. Baker said in an email exchange with the Nugget that the exact number of dredges that can be accommodated has not been worked out yet because it hinges on the quantity of barge traffic arrive and the size of the permitted vessels.
City manager Josie Bahnke said that city officials are undertaking a focused effort to analyze DNR’s permitting process and to see if the city needs to come up with its own permitting process to cover eventual gaps. In the absence of an Alaska Coastal Management Zoning program, the city is now faced with either drafting its own coastal use regulations to somehow regulate what can and cannot occur in city limits or to do nothing and see its resources and staff time stretched beyond the city’s capabilities.
Hopeful that a DNR person will be present in Nome to help out, Bahnke said the city has offered the use of the city’s search and rescue vessel the Guardian to DNR for emergencies.
The new owners of the Alaska Gold Company’s land that includes West Beach and the area around Dredge 6 are contemplating a solution to the housing crunch, a problem that haunts Nome every summer. Last summer Alaska Gold allowed miners to set up camp on the beach, although there were no restroom facilities. Now, Nome Gold Alaska Corporations business manager Mitch Erickson said that he envisions to set up an “industrial” campground near Dredge 6 with access to West Beach, where miners can pitch their tents, place their containers, park their four-wheelers and dredges and repair their equipment 24/7 without having to worry about noise restrictions. He also said it would provide Porta-potties, but no access to fresh water yet. Erickson is not too worried about the onslaught of new miners, but rather welcomes it as just a different sort of tourism that is bound to bring money into the community.
However, DNR’s Kerwin Krause is worried that some miners who jump into becoming Nome dredge miners too fast may loose their money and end up not having the means to support themselves or go back home. During the rainy summer of 2011, many miners didn’t get to go out on the water and do their work due to bad weather and rough ocean conditions.
Paula Davis with the Community Center did notice that miners who had camped out on West Beach were looking for sleeping bags and tarps in the thrift store. Senior miners in the summer use the services of the XYZ center for lunch and the use of laundry facilities. DNR’s Kerwin Krause even recommends inquiring prospectors to check out the GPAA camp at Cripple Creek for a mining experience.
Mitch Erickson recommends to newcomers to visit Nome for a few weeks and see if they like the weather, the cost of living and the work. “Before you blow your wad, come here first and see if you like it,” Erickson said. “Don’t come here boom or bust.” Erickson also suggested that for miners who do well to consider donating to the Food Bank or to the Nome Volunteer Ambulance Department. “Give something back to the community,” he suggested. “I think the majority would do it, they just don’t think of it.”
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