Two stories about Alaskan energy and mineral wealth in one day? The nations’ cup runneth over with all the winning, where the Great Land’s national treasure chest is concerned.
In the latest news, the south-central Alaska Johnson Tract gold-silver-zinc-lead project has been fast-tracked through the FAST-41 program.
The Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council (Permitting Council) Dec. 2 announced that Contango Ore’s Johonson Tract gold-silver-zinc-lead project in Southcentral Alaska has been accepted for coordinated and transparent permitting under the FAST-41 program.
Established in 2015 by Title 41 of the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act (FAST-41), the Permitting Council is a federal agency charged with improving the transparency and predictability of permitting critical infrastructure projects – including mines, natural gas pipelines, renewable energy, electricity transmission, telecommunications, and certain emerging technologies.
Under the Trump administration, the Permitting Council has steadily added to the list of mining projects eligible for the streamlined permitting and transparency offered by the FAST-41 program.
“I am thrilled to welcome the 51st critical mineral and mining project to FAST-41,” said Permitting Council Executive Director Emily Domenech.
Six of the projects fast-tracked under FAST-41 are in Alaska. The Johnson Tract project is not only a wellspring of mineral wealth, but it’s also in south-central Alaska, on the west side of Cook Inlet, making transport problems less onerous than in some more remote locations. Ores recovered from the Johnson site can be transported by water to refining facilities located elsewhere, removing the necessity of a large refining facility and all that goes with that (tailings, mine waste, and so on) at the site. The site is also close to Anchorage, making resupply by air or water easier.
Alaska’s latest mineral win. pic.twitter.com/yvs7dejY8o
— Ward Clark (@TheGreatLander) December 5, 2025
Here’s what is estimated to be recoverable from the Johnson Project:
According to the most recent calculation, the JT Deposit at Johnson Tract hosts 3.49 million metric tons of indicated resource averaging 5.33 grams per metric ton (598,000 oz) gold, 6 g/t (673,000 oz) silver, 5.21% (400.8 million pounds) zinc, 0.59% (43.1 million lb) copper, and 0.67% (51.5 million lb) lead.
An initial assessment (IA) based on this resource outlines plans for an underground mine at JT Deposit that would produce roughly 500,000 oz of gold, 500,000 oz of silver, 32.2 million lb of copper, 279.3 million lb of zinc, and 41.8 million lb of lead from 2.7 million metric tons of ore mined over seven years.
These are all strategic minerals. Alaska may well be about to experience another gold rush.
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America’s treasure chest is still open for business. Oh, there will be pushback from the environmental lobby, most of whom don’t live in the environment. But a bunch of Central Park West greenies aren’t going to be able to stop the rush of energy and mineral exploration and extraction.
Here in the Great Land, we’re getting used to no longer being treated like history’s largest national park. There will still be plenty of pristine wilderness for people to enjoy; Alaska’s a big place, and in the coming years, assuming we can keep Democrats out of the Congressional majority and the White House, it’s going to be a prosperous place.
And no, we’re nowhere near tired of winning.
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