‘Come and See’: Inviting Investment for Arctic Infrastructure

The panel featured Wassim Said, advisor to the chairman of the UAE Presidential Court, the federation’s administrative ministry. Treadwell, a former Alaska lieutenant governor, raised the topic of the oil deal, but Said had no comment.

Instead, Said suggested that Emirati investment could arrive in the form of marine infrastructure. “The UAE has two national companies that are invested globally in shipping, ports, logistics, and operations. This is one area that we could discuss with opportunities coming out of Alaska,” said Said, who is also a member of the Emirates Polar Program steering committee.

The remark echoed one from Governor Mike Dunleavy the day before, pointing to increased Arctic Ocean traffic. “Your exit out of the Arctic, or entry to the Arctic from the Pacific, comes very close to Alaska (and Russia). Some have said this may be the Panama of the North, and we’re preparing for that,” said Dunleavy.

The governor cited the Port of Nome Modification, a major expansion underway to create the only deep-draft port in the US Arctic region.

Basic infrastructure is the new stage of investment, noted Haven Harris of Nome-based Bering Straits Native Corporation (BSNC). He recalled quality-of-life investments from the first surge of North Slope oil revenue, when small communities gained recreation centers and swimming pools. As BSNC’s senior vice president of growth and strategy, Harris sees different needs today. “We need to invest to make it viable, somewhere people can live,” said Harris. “Because without the infrastructure, the costs are going to become exorbitant.”

Harris added that BSNC prioritizes community benefit and community involvement. For example, the corporation is backing the Graphite One mine development near Nome with $2 million. “The reason we did was less of a financial reason and more of cultural inclusion,” he said. “We wanted to make sure that the voice of the people in our region was at the table. With our investment, we’ve been able to place people on an advisory council for subsistence.”

Another reason to invest in minerals is to enhance knowledge of resource deposits. Jamey Jones, coordinator of the Earth Mapping Resources Initiative for the US Geological Survey at the Alaska Science Center, suggested better remote sensing technology would keep pace with the industry’s need for data. Research and development funding is also needed, said Contango ORE President and CEO Rick Van Nieuwenhuyse, into methods of dry stacked tailings, a currently costly method of reducing environmental impact of mines.

“If we want to control the supply chain, we need to have more money, we need to have regulations that support more money. We need infrastructure,” Van Nieuwenhuyse added. “Maybe it doesn’t have to be traditional infrastructure you’d think about. Maybe rather than building roads, we put money into advancing airship technology. There are solutions out there.”

Opening the Seals

Development in the Arctic might seem taboo to banks outside of the region, so Gillam says the people of the Arctic must invite investors to learn about the possibilities firsthand. According to Gillam, “The three most important words in any investor presentation is, ‘Come and see.’ Don’t be telling me what we’re going to do in ANWR or a gasline or not a gasline or this or that until you come and see. Once you come and see and educate yourself, that’s different.”

Gillam told the symposium that investment typically begins with locals, followed by big corporations. They pave the way for even bigger pots of capital. “Hopefully, the trillions of dollars of retirement money, pension money, foundation endowment money, insurance money then follows,” Gillam said.

He then asked how Alaska can attract long-term, sophisticated capital, and he answered his own question. “A lot of times, my job is to stand in the middle as the educator: to educate money on the language of Alaska and educate Alaska on the language of money,” Gillam said. “My argument, every time I go to New York or someplace like that, is if you’re going to put [investment capital] somewhere, why not here?”

Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, a sovereign wealth fund worth ten times more than the Alaska Permanent Fund, is one deep pot of capital—separate from the emirate’s Abu Dhabi Development Holding Company, about twice the size of the Permanent Fund and a party in the proposed Santos takeover. Their trustees think carefully about what goes into their portfolios.

Said told the symposium, “In every single domain that we do, we have to look at a partnership for investment and responsible terms: what does it mean for the local community, what does it mean for future generations, how aligned is it with sustainability goals?”

Increasingly, UAE is looking for partnership far from the dunes of home, toward Arctic opportunities that share a focus on energy and generational resilience.