Mining Exploration in 2021

Room for More Rooms

Say hello to Ezra Van Deursen and Briley Loncar, who were generous enough with their time to both write for the magazine and grace its cover this month.

As we were planning our annual Junior Achievement special section, we spent a good deal of time thinking about the experience our youth have had for the last two years. While as adults we all try to imagine what it would have been like to virtually transition from junior high to high school or to attend graduation, this is their normal, and our instinct is that it has prepared them for a future that we can’t envision.

Not too long from now, Van Deursen and Loncar will move into the workforce, already prepped from a young age to use technology routinely and creatively, adapt on the spot, and find ways to function in unprecedented situations. So the question may not be if they’re ready to join us, but if we’re actually prepared for them.

Junior Achievement Educator of the Year: Linson Thompson

he pandemic stripped the varnish off Alaska’s economy. The recovery from COVID-19 has been slower than expected in 2021 for myriad reasons, including stalling vaccination rates, the Delta variant, and labor shortages. The damage done to the economy also brought into focus deeper issues tied to four straight years of net out-migration from the Last Frontier.

Alaska employment numbers increased in 2021 since tumbling to about a twenty-year low in 2020. Based on preliminary data available in November, Bill Popp, president and CEO of the Anchorage Economic Development Corporation, is seeing marginal growth in Anchorage—the primary economic center of Alaska—since the pandemic first struck.

indow graphics, business shingles, and roadside banners by Broadway Signs have been catching eyes across Alaska since 1969. All that time, the Anchorage-based business has been run by the Shockley family—which will continue for the foreseeable future. Jayson Shockley recently took over ownership of Broadway Signs, the third generation to manage the business started by his grandparents.

Jack and MaryRose Shockley opened Broadway Signs on Spenard Road in 1969, two years after the couple and their young son, Jack Jr., moved to Alaska from Phoenix, Arizona. Though Shockley senior was a foreman at a sign company in Arizona, he began his career in Philadelphia, where “he would literally hang off three- and four-story buildings—before cranes—and he would use a chisel to bore a hole into a concrete wall,” as Jack Jr. recalls. After some hard times, the family ended up in Phoenix and was there only six or seven years when Shockley was lured to Alaska with the promise of a big job. “In 1967, he met a guy with an Alaskan license plate, and he went home and told my mom to throw out anything that didn’t fit in the truck because we were leaving in two weeks,” says Jack Jr.

or more than forty-eight years, Junior Achievement (JA) has made it possible for hundreds of thousands of K-12 students in Alaska to have the JA experience. The formula is simple: we equip volunteers from the business community with our award-winning curriculum and send them into classrooms to teach students about money, careers, and business—and it works.

Independent studies reflect the value of JA programs. Students exposed to JA perform better academically, have higher graduation rates, are more prepared to make career choices, and experience greater social mobility. Perhaps more importantly, JA endeavors to help students see how personal responsibility, hard work, perseverance, and grit connect to success. These lessons have never been more relevant.

he pandemic prevented Junior Achievement (JA) of Alaska from celebrating the Alaska Business Hall of Fame in 2021. Instead of choosing a new cohort of laureates for 2022, JA of Alaska chose to postpone its event so that it could give the same honor, time, and attention to this fantastic and well-deserving group of inspirational business leaders.

In order to support JA of Alaska, we chose to run the laureates’ profiles (easily accessible in our January 2021 digital edition, available on our website) in our January 2021 issue. One year later, we’re highlighting the JA Alaska Business Hall of Fame Laureates in a different way. We hope you enjoy these brief accounts of some of their earliest introductions to business.

am in seventh grade at Wendler Middle School. My family moved to Alaska about three years ago, and my mom works for GCI. My mom is always telling me how important it is to work hard in school so that, one day, I can be successful and earn my own money.

hen schools closed in March 2020, I was in eighth grade. At first when I heard that we would not be going back to school after spring break, I was happy. I thought I would just have a longer spring break. I quickly realized that school was going to change.

When I first logged in to virtual school, my teachers were very encouraging. They told us that we would all make it through, and even though it was scary, we would make it through together. I didn’t realize at first how serious the pandemic would be. At first it was hard to set a routine and attend school at home, but my homework wasn’t that bad. Then it became draining. Staying focused and motivated became hard because every day was the same. It’s not as fun going to school at home because you are not around your friends. I felt isolated and stuck because I couldn’t do anything or go anywhere.

n October I took advantage of an opportunity to participate in JA in a Day, a program by Junior Achievement (JA) of Alaska that brings volunteers into schools to teach students about business. It was exhausting and fantastic, a wonderfully fulfilling opportunity to connect with local youth and share a little bit of myself to hopefully give them a foundation of financial success in their future.

So here’s how it went.

In my case, because of the longstanding relationship between JA of Alaska and Alaska Business, JA of Alaska’s President Flora Teo was kind enough to send over an invitation to our entire office, and both myself and our Bookkeeper James Barnhill decided to jump in with both feet.

come from a family of entrepreneurs,” says Jenna Compehos, the compliance and documentation specialist at the Valdez Marine Terminal for Alyeska Pipeline Service Company.

Her great-grandparents came to Valdez by steamship during the gold rush and started the Gilson Mercantile bank. Her grandfather, George H. Gilson, owned a restaurant and grocery store in Valdez. “So I’ve always carried that around,” Compehos says. “Just like, ‘What could I do? I wanna do something. I want to own my own business.’”

Since being named Junior Achievement (JA) Alaska Volunteer of the Year, Compehos has done exactly that. In 2021, she opened Salty Lupine, a gift shop specializing in Alaska-made art. “It is something that Valdez needed,” she says. “I’ve also had a dream to own my own little boutique, and that’s kind of how it sparked the idea.”

ailpipes of idling cars and trucks exhale visible wisps on a chilly day. The clouds are mostly harmless water vapor. The invisible part, though, is carbon dioxide. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), 29 percent of US greenhouse gas emissions come from transportation, more than any other man-made emitter. The EPA further states greenhouse gas emissions from transportation primarily comes from burning fossil fuel for cars, trucks, ships, trains, and planes, as long as more than 90 percent of vehicles run on petroleum-based fuel (gasoline and diesel).

Those emission rates have created a push for alternatives to the combustion engine, primarily electric vehicles (EVs) or plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHEVs). Both types of EVs are still a minority vehicle in Alaska, but the use is increasing every year. Several organizations have started offering financial incentives to install commercial and residential charging stations. However, there are a few barriers to overcome before EVs make up a majority of Alaska’s road transportation.

ourists returning to Alaska after the drought of 2020 had plenty of new and renovated hotels to choose from in 2021. Construction seemingly never ends, even in the face of materials shortages, rising costs, and transportation headaches.

“I would say that things are running on average,” says Alicia J. Maltby, president and CEO of the Alaska Hotel & Lodging Association. “It seems like a few things have stalled due to COVID, but if we had not faced a pandemic, several of these projects would already be open, which would keep the state on par with the number of average openings that we have seen in the past five to ten years.

igging up buried treasure without a map is always somewhat of a gamble.

“Exploration is significant capital invested without a sure outcome,” says Deantha Skibinski, executive director of the Alaska Miners Association. “[But] without exploration, the industry will not grow and existing mines will not expand.”

Mineral exploration is the driving force behind the other two components of Alaska’s mining industry: mine development and mineral production.

Alaska’s 2021 mining exploration season got off to a slow start in March due to a coronavirus pandemic-induced lack of drilling equipment and worker shortages. Despite obstacles, it bounced back for the most part and finished another successful year.

While a full compilation of this year’s mining economic numbers won’t be available until later in the year, some of the larger companies are sharing their results.

n December 18, 1971, President Richard Nixon signed the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) into law. Fifty years later, it’s impossible to measure the innumerable effects this legislation has had on the state of Alaska.

It created regional and village corporations that provide goods and services in every industry Alaska Business covers, which is why we treat them as their own economic sector. They are some of Alaska’s largest companies by revenue, they are some of Alaska’s largest employers, and they have national and international business interests.

Because of their dual mandate to make a profit and to care for their people and lands, they are politically active when necessary and they have a deliberate focus on community, education, and philanthropic activities across the state, without exception.

n 2011, the Alaska Native Village Corporation Association (ANVCA) was founded by The Kuskokwim Corporation, also known as TKC, a group of ten village corporations in the middle region of the Kuskokwim River that merged together in 1977. Today, there are 176 village corporations in Alaska that are de facto members of ANVCA.

“ANVCA promotes the success of our village corporations and protection of our Native lands,” according to the nonprofit’s mission statement.

TKC had the vision and the foresight to create ANVCA and was the association’s first member, providing office space for the organization during startup.

laska Native corporations (ANCs) are as diverse as the Alaska Native shareholders and communities they represent, all with varying interests. An organization works behind the scenes to support ANCs in areas where those interests intersect; it started to come together after the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) was half as old as it is now.

In 1997, a group of Alaska Native regional corporation leaders came together to discuss the unique advantages of creating a forum where they could collaborate on issues they had in common. They agreed that, given the differences in purpose, structure, and mandates among ANCs and other organizations representing Alaska Native people, they must discuss and respond to the common challenges faced by Alaska Native regional corporations.

s the people of the Yukon-Kuskokwim region, we practice subsistence by following qanruyutet (gan-ya-wu-DET), or words of wisdom, from our Elders. They tell us food creates family bonds and that Elders wish good fortune upon those who help them. We may have harvested the seal, but if we do not share the bounty from the sea, we are not following qanruyutet.

The Calista region is home to fifty-six villages spread out along the Bering Sea coast and two of Alaska’s mightiest rivers—the Yukon and Kuskokwim—and it encompasses 57,000 square miles. Calista Corporation’s land entitlement in the region is 6.5 million acres, less than 20 percent of the region.

ince the Klondike Gold Rush of 1898, the Ahtna people have learned and applied new ways of managing the food and resources that sustained us for a millennium. In one lifetime, we went from being the only inhabitants of our region to co-managing the resources of our homeland alongside state and federal actors. With the passage of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) in 1971 and the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act in 1980, new options for protecting our peoples’ resources appeared, accompanied by challenges for preserving subsistence and traditional knowledge.

During World War II, highways were built providing access to the Copper River Basin. As a result of this and other development, Ahtna, Inc. is the only Alaska Native regional corporation whose villages are all road accessible. At times, that accessibility has proven helpful, but it has meant increased traffic through our lands from non-Indigenous residents and pressure on the area’s limited fish and wildlife resources. We set out to solve this problem with the knowledge that securing our traditional food sources is an integral part of our culture. Subsistence is more than putting food on the table; it is who we are. Similarly, traditional knowledge is more than history; it is essential in maintaining the resources of our lands for future generations.

ituated about 80 miles from Kotzebue, the Red Dog Mine is the world’s largest producer of zinc and has one of the world’s largest zinc reserves. The mine is operated by Teck Resources Limited (formerly Teck Cominco Limited) and is located on land owned by NANA Regional Corporation. NANA, one of twelve Alaska Native Regional Corporations created under the 1971 Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA), is owned by the more than 15,000 Iñupiat shareholders who live in or have roots in northwest Alaska. Red Dog Mine is integral to achieving NANA’s broad mission for its shareholders: to improve their quality of life by maximizing economic growth, protecting and enhancing its lands, and promoting healthy communities.

any passionate people fought in the ‘60s for a policy that would enable Alaska Natives to retain control of territory that had been their people’s homelands, a fight that resulted in the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA), passed by Congress in December 1971. Among those activists was Marlene Johnson, one of the vice presidents of the Central Council of Tlingit and Haida at the time and ultimately a founder of, and director for, Sealaska.

“I think people need to know those people that fought for ANCSA were dedicated to the people of their region and Alaska,” Johnson told First Alaskans magazine in Spring 2021. “Those people working for the corporations and the passage of land claims were doing it out of love for the people and love for the land. I really appreciate them.”

oyon, Limited has a deeply rooted commitment to responsible land management and enhancing the well-being of its shareholders and region. Based in Fairbanks, Doyon was incorporated on June 26, 1972 and has more than 20,400 shareholders mainly of Northern Athabaskan descent in Interior Alaska. One of twelve Alaska Native Regional Corporations created under the 1971 Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA), Doyon is the largest private landowner in Alaska and one of the largest in North America. Under ANCSA, the corporation is entitled to approximately 12.5 million acres across the Interior. Doyon has selected 11.5 million acres to date, primarily around the thirty-four villages within its region.

s we celebrate the anniversary of the signing of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA), Arctic Slope Regional Corporation (ASRC) reflects on the strength, resilience, and determination of our early leaders. Those who fought to ensure the Iñupiat of the Arctic Slope would rightly benefit from the oil and gas development that was about to take place on our ancestral homelands. Not only did the passage of ANCSA create ASRC but it was also the reason for the incorporation of the North Slope Borough (NSB). ASRC and the NSB, two entities that represent the people in the northernmost region of the United States. Two entities whose origins are closely tied—without one, the other may not have come to be. Two entities who owe their existence to the coordinated efforts of the Iñupiat people of the Arctic Slope region.

I remember how excited my mom, Magnel, was as we enrolled to be owners of our traditional land. As Alaska Natives, we would become owners of lands and resources that we had been dispossessed of for centuries. The promise was exciting! But, at the time, I had no idea how the passage of ANCSA would affect me.

Oil production declines at Prudhoe Bay have flattened thanks to “hundreds of fairly small projects,” according to Hilcorp. The company finished its first full year of operating BP’s former North Slope assets by announcing enough production to bend the decline curve. Jill Fisk, senior asset team leader at Prudhoe Bay West, says repairs to current drill sites and revival of older sites increased production from 271,000 barrels per day in 2019 to 299,000 in 2020 and 304,000 in 2021.
hilcorp.com

A Washington-based insurance firm with a strong presence in Alaska is now part of a much larger brokerage. Parker, Smith & Feek was acquired by IMA Financial Group. The 330 associates add to IMA’s nearly 1,400, doubling IMA’s healthcare specialty and significantly growing its construction practice.
psfinc.com

ori McCaffrey is President, Alaska Market and Commercial Banking Sales Leader for KeyBank. Her father also worked in the finance industry, and she started following in his footsteps in high school and college. “But I was afforded mentorship through some very high executives at KeyBank,” she says. “It did escalate me through various new opportunities at Key, but also instilled in me the importance of mentorship.”

She says it sounds cliché, but her favorite thing about her job really is helping people with their financial goals. “When you see the end results of what you and your team do, and they make a difference—it’s so rewarding.”