Tourism Executive Roundtable

What Does It Mean to Mine?

DIRECTORY

Last April, Alaska’s unemployment rate sat at a staggering 13.5 percent. Since then, this number has slowly but steadily improved, with a reading of just below 7 percent in January. And it looks like our economy is finally ready to crawl out of its COVID-19-induced coma.

This month’s cover is an ode to those companies who continue to provide opportunities for Alaskans, and whose effect on our community extends far beyond their bottom line. Inside, you’ll find a carefully considered list of some of Alaska’s most impactful companies, ranked by number of local employees: The Corporate 100.

here are some exciting new health insurance options for small businesses in Alaska being offered through group association plans. Association health plans allow smaller companies to access health insurance savings associated with large group medical coverage.

Association health plans have to be sponsored by an association of employers that share a common industry and have other relationships bringing them together under bona fide regulations. Under the Affordable Care Act, association health plans had difficulty maintaining cohesion and staying competitive; federal regulations ensured that individual members and patients were adequately protected but could stifle creativity and limit the associations’ cost effectiveness.

apital-intensive investments can help businesses enhance their operations, capture a larger market share, and boost revenue and profits. These distinctive types of investments—which are typically large-scale, long-range, and high-cost in nature—encompass multiple facets and complexities.

Often, capital investments entail the acquisition of businesses, buildings, land, vehicles, and equipment, as well as major construction and maintenance projects. Regardless of the assets and intricacies involved, the key objective for investors is to grow capital and generate long-term value.

hether delivering groceries to Cape Fox or equipment to the North Slope, providing the infrastructure needed to deploy equipment to Alaska’s military bases, or supporting the millions of tourists who arrive via cruise, Alaska’s economy relies on the maritime industry.

And with 90 percent of Alaska’s freight entering the state by marine vessel, ship, or barge, maintaining the state’s maritime infrastructure is essential.

To keep things running efficiently and safely, the ports and harbors that serve the industry undergo a steady stream of renovations, modifications, and expansions to keep pace with evolving user needs and facilities that degrade due to the forces of time and the elements.

efore a patch of land can be developed for mining, its specific location has to be vetted to confirm that it’s an economically feasible place to mine. From start to finish, the process is a long, involved endeavor that requires a significant commitment of time and resources—but the payback can be substantial.

In mid-February 2021, a report by McKinley Research Group (formerly McDowell Group) estimated that companies spent $127 million on exploration in Alaska in 2020 and a total of $4 billion since 1981.

The first step toward striking gold (or coal or zinc or… you get the picture) is deciding what commodity is being targeted.

“Ultimately, it’s based on the geology,” says Lance Kilvagiaq Miller, vice president of natural resources for NANA Regional Corporation. For instance, one wouldn’t go looking for copper in Iowa, Miller adds.

n 2020, mining provided a bright spot in an otherwise bleak economy for Alaska.

While the COVID-19 pandemic decimated the tourist industry and pinched the oil and gas sector, mining stayed on track, with none of the six major operating mines reporting pandemic-related shutdowns. Several other mineral prospects also advanced and exploration efforts remained robust, with $127 million spent on exploration in 2020 alone, according to a report by McKinley Research Group that was commissioned by the Alaska Miners Association and the Council of Alaska Producers.

Another $430 million was spent on mine construction and capital investments. Alaska’s mines produce coal, gold, lead, silver and zinc, as well as construction materials such as sand, gravel, and rock.

pan Alaska ranked Gold as a Quest for Quality Regional LTL Carrier in 2020; that ranking is based on customer service, on-time performance, value, information technology, and equipment and operations. The Gold ranking reflects Span Alaska’s mission, which is to ensure its customers receive the highest level of service and reliability when shipping their goods to, from, and within Alaska.

And while the pandemic changed a lot of things, it didn’t change that.

“We are very proud to serve the state of Alaska for more than forty years, and we understand our responsibility as a transportation lifeline of food and essential supplies throughout this crisis,” says Span Alaska President Tom Souply.

omplex logistics. Unforgiving weather. Bears… These are just some of the major challenges that come with resource development in Alaska. They are also precisely where support service company Fairweather (ranked number eighty-three on this year’s Corporate 100) has excelled for the last forty-five years.

There is no question that support services play a vital, necessary role in responsible development in Alaska. And if there is one company that can support industry across the board in this state, it is Fairweather. What began as a weather observation provider for the aviators supporting remote industry sites has grown to include an entire array of services for Alaska’s resource developers.

y the time Bill Hoople founded HC Contractors in 1993, he’d been working in engineering and construction in Alaska for fifteen years. Educated as an engineer (he earned his PE in 1971 and his master’s in civil engineering in 1982), Hoople moved to Alaska in 1975 to work on a construction project. Following that first project, for several years Hoople alternatively worked as a tradesperson or providing engineering services.

“During the time I was working as an engineer, I received a call from a larger contractor in Alaska that asked me if I would be interested in working for them, so I took the job because I actually prefer construction to design: the outdoors, and the activity, and the change of pace is much more my style,” Hoople says. That was in 1981, a few years before the mid-80s recession in Alaska. During the recession, the company Hoople worked for closed—and he was out of a job.

laska Business has been celebrating the corporations that have a significant impact on Alaska’s economy since 1993. At the time, the corporations weren’t ranked as the list didn’t have specific ranking criteria. Instead, the Alaska Business editorial team held long, detailed, and occasionally passionate discussions about which organizations around the state were providing jobs, owned or leased property, used local vendors, demonstrated a high level of community engagement, and in general enriched Alaska.

In 1993, had we ranked them by Alaska employees, Atlantic Richfield would’ve been number one with 2,914 Alaska employees. The top ten would’ve also included Carrs Gottstein, Arctic Slope Regional Corporation, Alyeska Pipeline Service Company, Providence Alaska, BP Alaska, Ocean Beauty Seafoods, Veco, Lynden, and Alaska Int’l Industries. In total, the Corporate 100 in its inaugural year reported 55,023 Alaska employees and about 3 million worldwide employees.

It’s April, and at Alaska Business that means spring counting instead of spring cleaning (though, of course, with COVID-19 there is some of that happening too). In particular this year we are especially enthusiastic to share with our readers the Corporate 100, Alaska’s largest employers.

Every January we reach out to hundreds of Alaska corporations and nonprofits and ask them to supply us with their number of Alaska and worldwide employees; because of the seasonal nature of many of Alaska’s largest industries, we ask them to report their peak number of employees to get a clear picture of their impact on the state and those who work so hard within it.

estaurant owners are heeding the call of the many Alaskans who want to support local farmers by buying local produce. But that’s easier said than done in the 49th State, where getting the food from farm to table takes extra time, money, and effort. Fortunately, there is an increasing number of people in the food industry—from farmers to distributors to restaurant owners—who are committed to creating a sustainable pipeline.

“While it’s trendy to work directly with farms, most restauranteurs find that the logistics are too challenging; you have to have an avenue to consolidate and move products over great distances, and that’s a huge undertaking,” explains David McCarthy, owner and founder of Northern Hospitality Group, which operates 49th State Brewing Company. “It’s taken us more than fifteen years to create a network of farmers and ranchers that we can work with all over the state.”

Channel 2 and CBS 5 flipped the switch on two new transmitters March 3. “This is an exciting day in our station’s history as the new equipment replaces transmitters we’ve had for twenty years,” General Manager and Vice President Nancy Johnson says. The upgrades to the towers located in Goose Bay are also more energy efficient. In 2019, the station added an additional transmitter and expanded its over the air signal into the Kenai Peninsula. Most television sets will find the new signals automatically; others will need to be rescanned. alaskasnewssource.com

Recreational trail construction and maintenance efforts in Alaska could be bolstered by an additional $1 million this year, according to the Division of Parks and Outdoor Recreation. Under its Recreational Trails Program, the division typically offers grants of about $1.2 million a year for trail work in Alaska, says Director Ricky Gease. Each $1 a grant recipient provides is matched by $9 from the Federal Highway Administration (FWHA). Eligible applicants include nonprofits; educational institutions; Native corporations or tribal governments; and local, state, and federal government agencies. With additional FWHA money recently becoming available to the state, the division is currently accepting a second round of applications in 2021 for grants totaling approximately $1 million. The division is especially interested in using this year’s additional money to fund grants of up to $300,000 for projects supporting motorized uses and up to $150,000 for non-motorized uses. However, under the grant rules, projects supporting trail safety and education are not eligible for this second round of grants. dnr.alaska.gov/parks

Images ©Kerry Tasker

olleagues have described him as “the weirdest pilot in the world” because he doesn’t drink coffee and he doesn’t play golf, but when it comes to reviving an airline in the middle of a pandemic, Rob McKinney is just the man for the job.

Having returned to the state after spending some time in Hawaii, Ravn Alaska’s new CEO certainly enjoys a challenge. Take, for example, his stint as a stand-up comic. After picking up a Comedy-for-Dummies guide on a whim, McKinney quickly found himself at the Stardust in Las Vegas, performing for a crowd of 2,000. As for his latest venture, McKinney couldn’t be more optimistic: “I have the best team that I could ever imagine, the customers have welcomed us back with open arms, every day we’re flying more people than we did the previous day, we’re redeveloping our partnerships—I really am thrilled with how it’s going.”

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From Sea to Serve.

Lynden’s Cool Chain^SM service manages your seafood supply chain from start to finish. Fresh or frozen seafood is transported at just the right speed and temperature to meet your particular needs and to maintain quality. With the ability to deliver via air, highway, or sea or use our temperature-controlled storage facilities, Lynden’s Cool Chain^SM service has the solution to your seafood supply challenges.

1-888-596-3361 | lynden.com