The bankruptcy of Yukon’s Minto Metals Corp. spilled across the Alaska border last week as Alaska’s state-owned investment bank filed suit against the defunct mining company,. They are joining a long list of creditors seeking repayment.
For years, Minto Mine has used an ore terminal in Skagway to ship mining concentrates out of the Yukon. In a recently filed lawsuit, the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority or AIDEA, claims Minto Metals failed to pay user fees for AIDEA’s Skagway ore terminal.
The City and Borough of Skagway took over ownership of the terminal in March, but before that transfer, AIDEA claims that Minto Metals owed more than $400,000 to the investment bank.
AIDEA has seized Minto Metals’ security deposit, buta balance of around $75000 remains. The bank is seeking that amount — plus legal fees — in the lawsuit.
AIDEA has a long history with the ore terminal, which it bought in 1990 for $25 million.] The terminal operated for years before being shut down, then reactivated in 2007 [at a cost of $14 million.
The terminal is located on waterfront property owned by Skagway, and after a cost-benefit analysis ordered in 2021, AIDEA elected not to renew its waterfront lease, effectively handing over the facility to Skagway.
The city is negotiating a multi-million dollar agreement with the Yukon government. The territory would subsidize a two-year renovation project in exchange for a 35-year preferential use agreement.
The AIDEA lawsuit is not expected to affect that arrangement, and Skagway officials have said that the closure of Minto Metals’ Yukon mine is not expected to have a significant local effect.
View Original Story by James Brooks, for the Alaska Beacon
