The salmon or the mine?

That question divides Bristol Bay, Alaska, home to one of the world’s largest wild salmon fisheries – and an enormous deposit of copper and gold worth as much as half a trillion dollars.

In Alaska Gold, FRONTLINE examines proposals to extract the wealth in a mining operation that could threaten, and possibly destroy, the region’s salmon ecosystem — and the traditional way of life that depends on it.

Supporters of the mine project say it would generate tremendous wealth and opportunity for this depressed region. Opponents believe it would devastate one of the largest and best managed sustainable wild salmon fisheries on the planet.

Our team spent years investigating the situation on the ground in Alaska, examining the evidence on all sides, and listening to the people and communities with a stake in this high-stakes standoff.

So what did they learn? What’s really known about the mine’s potential impact on the region? Is there some middle ground in this fight? What’s the way forward for Bristol Bay?

Join the film’s writer, director and producer Ken Levis, co-producer Aaron Ernst and reporter Blaine Harden in a live chat to discuss these questions — and answer yours.

We’ll also be joined by guest questioner Lisa Demer, a reporter at the Anchorage Daily News.

We’d like to thank the Anchorage Daily News for partnering with us on this chat.

You can leave a question in the chat window below, and come by at 2 p.m. ET on Wed., July 25 to join the live discussion.

---