Inside Alaska Business
Panther Minerals
A state permit lets Vancouver-based Panther Minerals explore for uranium at its Boulder Creek and Fireweed Creek claims northeast of Nome. Uranium in the Koyuk Mining District has been the focus of exploration since the ‘40s. To further define the deposit, Panther Minerals’ five-year plan includes drilling thirty to fifty holes, up to 1,000 feet deep, at eleven different drill pads on state and federal mining claims. The campaign is scheduled from June to September each year, starting in 2025.
Peter Pan Seafood
Rodger May mustered $37.3 million for Peter Pan Seafood facilities in Dillingham, King Cove, and Port Moller, outbidding rival Silver Bay Seafoods by $257,000 at a receivership auction. May’s seafood trading company, along with private investment funds run by Anchorage-based McKinley Management and Los Angeles-based RRG Capital Management, bought Peter Pan in 2020 from a Japanese conglomerate. By 2024, the company suspended operations due to unpaid debt, and fishermen protested May’s intent to buy back the assets. A county judge in Seattle approved the deal, in which May pays $25.3 million in cash, with the balance from $12 million that May previously lent the company.
ConocoPhillips
A $300 million purchase agreement puts Chevron’s 5 percent non-operating interest in the Kuparuk River Unit and 1.2 percent share of Prudhoe Bay into ConocoPhillips’ portfolio. While Chevron exits the North Slope, ConocoPhillips Alaska consolidates its working interest in Kuparuk to between 94 and 99 percent, and its Prudhoe Bay share increases slightly to 36.5 percent, approximately equal to ExxonMobil’s share. That translates to about 5,000 more barrels of oil equivalent per day for ConocoPhillips Alaska. The deal followed a reported attempt by a smaller Texas-based company, Pontem Energy Capital, to buy the Chevron assets.
The Landing Hotel
Local co-owners of The Landing Hotel in Ketchikan sold the business to an Outside real estate firm. The 100-room hotel near the Ketchikan International Airport and the Alaska Marine Highway Ferry Terminal becomes the first Alaska enterprise for Utah-based Philo Ventures, which also owns one property near Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park in Utah and another in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. The firm hired Ketchikan Visitors Bureau board member Christa Hagan as general manager; Terry Wanzer, who co-owned the hotel for decades, remains involved as an advisor.
Spruce Root
The Coalition for Green Capital (CGC) made Southeast-based Spruce Root the first network investment in its nationwide green bank. A memorandum of understanding outlines CGC’s commitment to a $10 million line of credit to facilitate Spruce Root’s clean energy projects, such as the transition from diesel generators to electric heat pumps. The US Environmental Protection Agency awarded CGC $5 billion in seed funding from the National Clean Investment Fund to establish a national network of self-sustaining green lenders. Spruce Root, a nonprofit community development financial institution, is the first to sign a network partner agreement.
Alaska Village Electric Cooperative
A grant of $2.2 million from the US Department of Energy’s Office of Indian Energy Policy and Programs lets Alaska Village Electric Cooperative upgrade energy systems in the Southwest village of Mekoryuk. Two 200 kW wind turbines will be refurbished, nearly doubling output. The utility will install 540 kWh of battery storage, allowing diesel generators to idle for 3,380 hours per year while also converting excess wind generation to heat, offsetting an estimated 1,900 gallons of heating oil annually. The project, part of the Clean Energy Technology Deployment on Tribal Lands program, is estimated to save $4.7 million over the life of the system.
Alaska Chamber
Workforce development earns honors for recipients of the Alaska Chamber’s 2024 Premier Business Awards. The Bill Bivin Small Business of the Year award goes to Palmer-based Northern Industrial Training. For a company with more than 100 employees, the Rita Sholton Large Business of the Year award goes to Trident Seafoods, which has grown to more than 6,000 workers at its processing plants since starting in Kodiak more than fifty years ago. The Local Alaska Chamber of Commerce of the Year award goes to the Greater Sitka Chamber of Commerce, and the Ted Stevens Public Service Award goes to Alaska Hospital & Healthcare Association Senior Vice President Jeannie Monk, credited with spearheading initiatives to strengthen the state’s healthcare workforce. The William A. Egan Outstanding Alaskan of the Year award goes to Jeff Cook, a leader in Fairbanks real estate before transitioning to public affairs for ARCO Alaska and MAPCO. A longtime advisor to Alaska Airlines, Cook also led an $88 million expansion at Fairbanks Memorial Hospital.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Look for exciting updates to Inside Alaska Business in January 2025.