The proposed mine site, thirty-five miles upriver from the mouth of the Chilkat River in very steep terrain, is partially covered by the Saksaia Glacier. The project area experiences very high annual precipitation rates (rain and snow), frequent landslides and avalanches, and is very seismically active. The weather, location and terrain will make this site hard to develop and next to impossible to control. 

The APM website claim that the mine site is adjacent to the paved Haines Highway is at best, misleading. The site is only a few miles from the highway, if you can fly like a Chilkat bald eagle. In fact, it’s ~14 miles from its connection to the Haines Highway, on the opposite side of a wide, braided river. The old logging road connecting the proposed mine site to the highway runs parallel to the Klehini River for ~7 miles, and sections of the road wash away every spring when the snow melts. A new road capable of handling massive ore trucks will cost tens of millions of dollars. 

APM also boasts the site’s proximity (37 miles) to a deep-water port. This claim also stretches the truth: the Lutak Dock port facility, built in 1953 by the U.S. Army, lacks ore transfer capability, has been collapsing into Lutak Inlet for decades, has been closed to the public since 2020, and requires a total rebuild estimated at >$30 million. 

Independent geologists describe the ore body as folded, faulted, discontinuous, and with varying ore thickness and grade, making it difficult to assess and ultimately to mine profitably. 

APM’s 2019 Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) predictions relied on operating costs far less than other operating mines in the region, and were based on the proposed use of “long-hole stoping” -- a mining method unlikely to be suitable for this type of deposit. The PEA also relied heavily on the dubious profitability of marketing barite. 

Further definition of the ore body’s geometry and grade will require blasting a mile+ long exploration tunnel beneath the Saksaia Glacier. Hundreds of thousands of gallons of wastewater released every day from the tunnel will be contaminated with silt, hydrocarbons, explosives residues, and heavy metals, and will require treatment as it flows downhill towards the nearby Klehini River. 

American Pacific Mining was publicly thrilled about getting 100% ownership of the Palmer Project after DOWA walked away from their joint venture in late 2024. But without DOWA’s financial support they haven’t had the funds to keep the project going. Lease and claim fees, lease work requirements, and advanced royalty payments will cost the company ~$750,000 this year. The 50-60 worker man-camp constructed over the past two summers with leased modular-housing units remains empty, and they have told the State they will not undertake any work at Palmer in 2025. 

In an April 28th 2025 video interview, APM CEO Warwick Smith stated they are now looking to “transact” the project, because it is “outside of our wheelhouse”, there are “better groups that are more well-suited towards Alaska than we are”, and Palmer should end up with “an Alaska-based company.” 

If APM believes this project can be highly profitable, why sell out now? 

The Alaska Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve is home to the largest congregation of eagles on Earth. The Chilkat and Klehini rivers flowing through the Preserve host all five species of wild salmon and support hundreds of brown bears, moose, lynx, and wolves. 

A copper-zinc mine right above the Klehini River a few miles before it joins the Chilkat River will impact the salmon, eagles, and all other animals that depend on a healthy ecosystem. Salmon are negatively impacted by incredibly low increases in copper contamination. Keeping heavy metals and other pollutants out of nearby creeks and rivers will be virtually impossible. 

American Rivers named the Chilkat/Klehini system one of the ten most endangered river systems in America because of the Palmer Project. 

The regional economy based on fishing and tourism is totally dependent on the abundance of the eagles, fish and bears living in the Chilkat Valley. Residents know the outcomes that often follow siting large resource extraction projects near small rural communities: pollution, negative social impacts from introducing hundreds of transient workers into an isolated town, and having a renewable, sustainable economy be overwhelmed by a boom-bust mining economy. 

The Tlingit village of Klukwan located just downstream of the proposed mine site, is one of the longest, continually inhabited places in North America (~5,000 years.) Advanced exploration activities, let alone a future functioning mine, threatens the salmon runs critical to the communities of Klukwan and Haines as a source of healthy food, the basis of the area’s economies, and as a fundamental component of local culture. 

The American Bald Eagle Foundation based in Haines, Alaska, and the National Eagle Center, based in Wabasha, Minnesota, have been advocating for protection of bald eagles and supporting rehabilitation efforts for injured bald eagles for decades: both organizations are on record in strong opposition to the Palmer Project. 

Local, regional, and national concerns are well documented in TV, radio, and print media. (See links below.)