Constantine Metal Resources has put on hold a section of a road construction project that the Bureau of Land Management approved last summer and is instead looking to build 800 feet of a spur road that leads toward a different area of the mining exploration area.

The current exploration area known as the Palmer Project is located within the Porcupine mining district.

A section of the road that straddles the southeast side of Glacier Creek was built last year but another section that switchbacks northwest up a mountainside towards the core area of the property is on pause.

Liz Cornejo, vice president of community and external affairs for Constantine, said engineers analyzed the soil consistency last summer and found it would cost more than they had budgeted to build the remaining road.

“It’s looking like right now it’s not within our budget plans for this year,” Cornejo said. “But we’re going to address some of the other aspects with the spur road. The spur road will get us up to the elevation we were aiming for.”

Cornejo said Constantine has already drilled in what Constantine CEO Garfield McVeigh described last year as the “core area of the property.”

The 800-foot spur leads southwest toward Bureau of Land Management land and state land.

“We do plan to extend the road from BLM land beyond that boundary to create a new staging area and access site for the exploration work,” Cornejo said.

She said there are prospects west of the road where Constantine did some drilling and mapping last year. They plan to do additional drilling and mapping in the area this year as well.

In January, Constantine submitted the extension change to the already approved road design. That design was included in the company’s plan of operations and environmental assessment that the BLM approved last August.

The new proposal requires further public, stakeholder and agency review, including a National Environmental Policy Act analysis, according to the Bureau of Land Management.

The planned road spur crosses a Glacier Creek tributary that is non-fish bearing, Cornejo said.

The public has the opportunity to comment on the extension until May 28. Comments can be sent to BLM, Glenallen Field Office, Attn: Constantine, P.O. Box 147, Glenallen, AK 99588.

Interview requests with the Bureau of Land Management went unreturned.