Interestingly, the key word in that opening paragraph is not coal, money or risk. It is moose.

O’Keeffe has secured a deal which gives him and financial partner, Steve Mallyon, potential access to coal in the Matanuska-Susitna Valley of Alaska, about 50km from the city of Anchorage.

Coal is one of the underground assets of the Mat-Su Valley, as it is known, with mining records dating back to the 1890s.

Moose are one of the overground assets, and some of the locals who don’t like the idea of a return of coal miners have been quick to draw their four-legged friends into what could become an interesting mining versus environment squabble.

Formerly a senior executive with global commodity trading business Glencore, O’Keeffe first hit the headlines during the hectic and ill-fated days of Anaconda Nickel – the business which gave iron ore billionaire, Andrew Forrest, a few years of bruising experience.

Whereas Forrest went on to create Fortescue Mining, O’Keeffe took a different turn with the creation of Riversdale Mining, a coal explorer which struck it rich in Mozambique, first by discovering high-grade metallurgical coal, and then by selling to Rio Tinto for $4 billion in 2010.

Precisely how much money O’Keeffe trousered in the Riversdale sale is his business, and The Hog hopes it was enough to burst the seams on his pockets, because he took the risk of adventuring into the one-time war-torn southern African country and proved that the area around the town of Tete was a world-class coalfield.

Can he do it again?

That’s the question which outside observers and interested investors will be asking as O’Keeffe and Mallyon return to the headlines with the creation of a Riversdale Mining look-alike called Riversdale Resources.

The name, somewhat curiously, could be their first mistake because locals in Anchorage and along the Mat-Su Valley have already connected the dots, incorrectly, and started a letter-writing campaign which claims that Riversdale Resources is a front for Rio Tinto.

Oh dear! Flattering as it might be to be mistaken for the world’s second biggest mining company, there are times when it is best to be seen as a small operator with an exploration glint in your eye and not the headlights of a 200-tonne haul truck.

Explaining himself to the moose lovers of the Mat-Su Valley will be one challenge for O’Keeffe, not that it should be too hard having successfully done much the same thing to the former freedom fighters which run Mozambique.

A first calling point in Alaska for O’Keeffe might be the Chickaloon Village Traditional Council which claims, among other things, that coal mining in the Mat-Su Valley will: “destroy the clean air and plentiful water supply, change trails into roads for 50-tonne trucks, spoil the quality of life, and decimate the area of moose populations”

If Riversdale Resources can win over the locals and their moose friends, the next challenge will be to actually get on the ground and do some drilling to see whether the promise of high-grade coal last mined in the 1960s can be converted to reality.

But, to do that O’Keeffe and company must take the piece of paper they have bought for $US3 million from, believe it or not, the Alaska Mental Health Authority Lands Office, and apply for an exploration permit from the Department of Natural Resources.

It would be cheap of The Hog to mutter another “oh dear” at this point, but the 9927 acre lease awarded by the Mental Health Authority, which controls underground mineral rights, could be sending a signal – though not what some readers are thinking.

The hidden message in the involvement of the Mental Health Authority, according to the local opposition groups, is that the same body tried before to entice coal explorers onto the land it controlled back in 2006.

That early deal, said to be with a Canadian company called Full Metal Minerals, covered 23,000 acres and included the Matanuska Valley Moose Range.

A year after getting its piece of paper the Canadians went home citing technical issues and local opposition.

O’Keeffe has proved in the past that he knows how to create value when other cannot see it. His success at Tete with Riversdale Mining was brilliant.

Watching his adventure in Alaska will be just as much fun, and there can be no doubt investors who profited from his Mozambique deal will form a queue if/when he floats Riversdale Resources on the ASX, or Toronto stock exchange.

There is, however, a possibility that watching the Mat-Su deal unfold, complete with an abundance of moose, will be a bit like watching a re-run of that classic comedy, Northern Exposure, set somewhere in Alaska.

Tune in folks for the next episode of the adventures of Michael O’Keeffe, the Mental Health Authority, the people of the Mat-Su Valley, and their moose friends.

You’ll enjoy the show, and might make a fortune at the same time.