goals including shareholder and regional support , business reinvestment and future planning .
In NANA ’ s case , we have many tax advantages that we maximize to keep as much money as possible for shareholders . Because of those advantages , the EBIT figure of $ 212 million is a better measure of how much cash income we made in FY23 when compared with net income .
Last year , Red Dog Mine and other natural resources contributed about 39.4 % to our operating income , of about $ 249 million . Relative income from Red Dog changes year to year due to the price of zinc and operational factors . Last year , Red Dog ' s net proceeds were significantly lower than expected , and after we deducted for 7 ( i ) and 7 ( j ) our overall operating income from natural resources was lower . Year after year , the mine contributes a meaningful income to NANA , our region and most importantly – to you – the shareholders .
Our net royalties from Red Dog Mine can be highly variable . To offset the risk of this variability , we ’ ve been investing in growing
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our businesses to make sure we have steady income regardless of the zinc price . Akima is , by far , one of the best business investments we ’ ve ever made to diversify our sources of income in our business portfolio . You can see on this graph that EBIT for Akima was outstanding this year . And the company contributed $ 129.7 million to NANA . That is 12.6 % higher than EBIT from Red Dog Mine .
Our final main source of income is NANA North – our new whollyowned subsidiary that manages our Alaska businesses . NANA North performed well in 2023 bringing in about $ 21.3 million , accounting for
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about 9 % of our EBIT , but NANA North ’ s real strength for shareholders is that its companies are excellent sources of shareholder jobs . In fact , in 2023 , 1,624 shareholders were employed at NANA companies and earned $ 8.8 million dollars more than in fiscal year 2022 for |
a total of $ 86.2 million dollars in wages . 743 of these shareholders earned their paycheck from a NANA North company . |