 It is located within the Northwest Arctic Borough, an area approximately the size of Indiana with only 11 communities, none connected by roads, with a total population of only 7,523 people at the 2010 census.The nearest of those communities are Noatak, population 514, roughly south and Kivalina, population 374, roughly west at the 2010 census.Although native populations have historically used the nearby area for seasonal food-gathering, there are no permanent residents at the mine or the port site.