Alaska Stands Firm: Safeguarding Resource Rights

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Today’s Key Takeaways:  Media trust hits historic low. Don’t sweat the polls.  Alaska asks judge to dismiss lawsuit to stop AKLNG. Nova proceeds to feasibility for Estelle gold project.

NEWS OF THE DAY:

OIL:

Oil, Gas Investors Should Not Sweat the Polls
Andreas Exarheas, Rigzone, October 16, 2024

Oil and gas investors shouldn’t sweat the polls, Morningstar stated in a new report sent to Rigzone.

“During the last nine presidential terms, there is no relationship between energy returns and what political party controls the White House or Congress,” Morningstar said in the report, adding, “we do not expect that to change in 2024”.

The company noted in the report that “valuation remains a much more prescient indicator of energy returns given the influence of events exogenous to the U.S. political system.” It added in the publication however, that “the current valuation of the energy index of 0.92 price/fair value does not offer a clear buy or sell signal like it has in the past.”

GAS:

Alaska seeks to dismiss lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of a trans-Alaska gas pipeline
James Brooks, Alaska Beacon, October 16, 2024

Eight plaintiffs argue that the pipeline would result in so much climate change that it would endanger a right to fish and game

An Anchorage Superior Court judge heard preliminary arguments Tuesday in a lawsuit seeking to block construction of a proposed trans-Alaska natural gas pipeline on environmental grounds.

Eight plaintiffs, represented by an out-of-state law firm, are seeking to overturn a state law that created the Alaska Gasline Development Corp., a state-owned corporation that is developing the pipeline. 

The state of Alaska has asked Judge Dani Crosby to dismiss the case, resulting in Tuesday’s arguments. After roughly 40 minutes of debate, Crosby said she would take the issue under consideration and issue a ruling at a future date.

If Crosby refuses the state’s motion, the case will likely proceed to an evidentiary trial. If she accepts the state’s motion to dismiss, it would be the latest setback for Our Children’s Trust, the out-of-state firm that is representing the plaintiffs and has previously sought rulings that would require Alaska to seriously address climate change.

Attorneys for both the state and the plaintiffs said Tuesday that the lawsuit is critical: If it succeeds, the state of Alaska is unlikely to ever develop the vast natural gas deposits beneath the North Slope.

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MINING:

Nova drilling readies RPM for feasibility
Shane Lasley, North of 60 Mining News, October 9, 2024

Nova Minerals Ltd. Oct. 9 reported that the first batch of assays from the 21-hole drill program carried out this year at Estelle confirms the continuity and strength of near-surface gold mineralization at RPM, a higher-grade deposit that is expected to be the site of the first mine on the 198-square-mile (514 square kilometers) gold-antimony property about 100 miles (160 kilometers) northwest of Anchorage, Alaska.

According to an S-K 1300-compliant calculation completed early this year, Estelle hosts 244 million metric tons of measured and indicated resources averaging 0.3 grams per metric ton (2.72 million ounces) gold, plus 231 million metric tons of inferred resource averaging 0.3 g/t (2.45 million oz) gold.

This resource is divided into two project areas: the large bulk-tonnage Korbel area at the north end of the Estelle property and the higher-grade RPM area about 16 miles (25 kilometers) to the south.

A feasibility study (FS) currently underway will detail the economic and engineering parameters of establishing an initial mine at RPM that can be scaled up to a larger operation that takes full advantage of the gold outlined so far at Estelle.

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