The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
Sorted by date Results 151 - 175 of 588
Splayed across several steep slopes that plunge into the Yukon River some 78 kilometers (48.4 miles) south of Dawson City in Yukon Territory, the early-stage QV Project is beginning to answer some geological questions that surfaced at least four years ago. That's when Underworld Resources Inc. captured international attention with the discovery of the Golden Saddle gold deposit on its White Gold Project nearby and touched off a modern-day gold rush to the Yukon. Underworld since has been acquired by Kinross Gold Corp., and th...
While Pretium Resources Inc. continues to explore for gold at its Brucejack Project in northern British Columbia, a disagreement between the junior's two technical consultants, Snowden Mining Industry Consultants of Perth, AU and Toronto-based Strathcona Mineral Services Ltd. and the resignation of Strathcona in early October has ignited a firestorm of controversy over the validity of the gold resource reported for the project's Valley of the Kings zone in 2012, and sparked a flurry of class-action lawsuits against the...
In the wake of the departure of its former option partner, De Beers Canada Inc., Peregrine Diamonds Ltd. has reported discovery during the 2013 summer exploration program of three new kimberlite bodies at the Chidliak diamond project located 120 kilometers (75 miles) northeast of Iqaliut, the capital of Nunavut. Discovered in 2008, the Chidliak Project covers 7,480 square kilometers (2,888 square miles) on South Baffin Island. Peregrine acquired 100 percent ownership of the project in February 2012, buying out the 51 percent...
Market-defying mineral exploration grabbed the spotlight in British Columbia throughout 2013, despite the doldrums that appeared to set in north of the 60th parallel. "British Columbia is blessed with an abundant supply of the resources the world needs and the most innovative mining and exploration sectors," British Columbia Premier Christy Clark touted the phenomenon at the 2013 Mineral Exploration Roundup in January. Still, Clark told the crowd that she doubted B.C. exploration could top the record C$462 million spent in...
Northwest Territories continued to benefit in 2013 from a recent surge of exploration interest. A vast expanse of mountains, forests and tundra that is roughly two-thirds the size of Alaska, the territory covers 1.17 million square kilometers (431,162 square miles). "We have, in the North, what the world wants - what emerging markets need," Northwest Territories Premier Robert "Bob" McLeod told an audience at a Prospects North gathering in Yellowknife Sept. 11. "We are the third-largest diamond producer in the world. In...
There is a reason why Nunavut has one of the fastest-growing economies in Canada: mining. With one operating gold mine at Meadowbank, two huge projects on the verge of startup at Hope Bay and Mary River, five projects advancing through the environmental assessment process at Meliadine, Back River, Hackett River, and the Izok corridor as well as exploration activities continuing across all three regions of the territory in 2013, there's little wonder that Nunavut's "time has come." "Mining has the best potential to create...
Asubstantial amount of exploration activity continued apace in Yukon Territory this season despite the truncated budgets that forced most mining companies to juggle their projects and priorities. Some exploration companies found creative ways to raise capital, turning out their pockets to return to Yukon in 2013 to explore for Carlin-style gold mineralization in the east-central region of the territory, for more gold-bearing structures in the White Gold and Klondike districts to the west and for other styles and types of...
With nearly five exploration seasons under its belt, Kaminak Gold Corp.'s Coffee Gold Project appears to be on the road to delivering on its potential as an emerging district-scale mining opportunity. Located in the White Gold district of west-central Yukon Territory, Coffee was optioned by Kaminak in 2009 from Yukon prospector Shawn Ryan. The company has explored the property every year since, and reported discovery of at least 11 gold zones. Kaminak CEO Eira Thomas said the fine-grained gold mineralization found at Coffee,...
TerraX Minerals Inc. may have crafted the perfect gold exploration program to carry out during a capital-scarce down cycle. The Vancouver-based junior won a competitive bid in January to explore the gold-rich Northbelt claims, which consists of 121 leases totaling 3,562 hectares (8,802 acres) covering about 13 kilometers of strike along the prolific Yellowknife Belt, 15 kilometers (9 miles) north of the city of Yellowknife, Northwest Territories. The property was offered for sale by Samson Belair/Deloitte & Touche Inc.,...
Prowling through the Klondike gold fields with a knowledgeable driver is a little like traveling back in time. Thanks to rutted, dirt access roads, the bumpy ride takes hours as the SUV crawls past an extended parade of active and abandoned gold diggings and placer mining camps in central Yukon Territory. It is not difficult to envision the thousands of miners who streamed into this wilderness early in the last century to pan, dredge and dig up millions of ounces of gold, or the hardships they must have endured along the...
Explorers chasing mineral deposits in British Columbia, Yukon Territory and Alaska are routinely getting expert assistance with their projects from researchers at the Mineral Deposit Research Unit of the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. A collaborative venture between the mining industry and UBC, the unit was established in 1989 with support and financial assistance from the mining industry and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada. The unit is an integrated geologic and geophysical...
Young people working on mining projects in Yukon Territory are nothing new. But young people in charge, running the show at some of the most exciting mining projects in Canada's Far North? That's different and was noticeable in several camps during the 2013 field season. Whether in grassroots exploration, at advanced projects or in producing mines, a new generation of 30-something and even younger professionals, appears to be taking the lead in the Yukon. The trend even extends beyond mining to government, where Currie...
Kennady Diamonds Inc. is wrapping up what its management describes as a very successful 2013 exploration season at its Kennady North Project located immediately north and west of the Gahcho Kué Joint Venture where De Beers Canada (51 percent) and Mountain Province Diamonds Inc. (49 percent) in Northwest Territories about 280 kilometers (174 miles) east-northeast of Yellowknife. The Gahcho Kué JV is currently working to develop the world's largest and richest diamond mine. The 13 leases and claims covering about 12,356 h...
An exploration gamble undertaken in southern Nunavut in late 2010 by Northquest Ltd. is proving to be a good bet. The Toronto-based junior Sept. 4 reported results from three holes drilled in the Vickers Target on the Pistol Bay Gold Project in Nunavut, including 158.4 meters averaging 3.46 grams per metric ton gold from 9.95 meters depth in hole PB-13-03. Two intervals of high-grade mineralization were encountered including 16 meters averaging 9.47 g/t gold at 17.51 meters depth and 18 meters averaging 11.33 g/t gold at...
Like many ideas conceived on the back of napkin, the hottest new mineral exploration innovation sweeping exploration camps in Yukon Territory this field season might have languished for years in a desk drawer, if not for the innate talent and tenacity of a young entrepreneur who came to Canada's North country from Ontario eight years ago and stayed on to make his home in the Yukon. The innovation, called "Geoprobe," is a small, track-mounted hydraulic drill designed to take soil and rock-chip samples from the soil-bedrock...
A substantial amount of mining activity continued apace in Yukon Territory this season even though most mining companies are shying away from the anorexic capital markets. Many exploration companies raised funds in other ways, turning out their pockets to return to Yukon in 2013 to explore for Carlin-style gold mineralization in the east-central region of the territory, for more gold-bearing structures in the White Gold and Klondike districts to the west and for other styles and types of mineralization elsewhere in the territ...
While explorers in eastern Yukon Territory were taking time to understand their properties this season, the few companies working projects in the White Gold and Klondike districts to the west seemed to be pursuing their targets with the same urgency as companies exhibited in prior years. This year, however, the juniors chasing gold prospects in the area were trying to get as much done as possible while spending the least amount of money. Hampered by a prolonged capital drought in the industry, most of these companies eagerly...
TMAC Resources Inc. is poised to enter the final stretch for development of its recently acquired Hope Bay gold project in northern Nunavut. Working with a timetable aimed at initiating gold production from the project's Doris North deposit in the fall of 2015, the company is focused this summer on completing a prefeasibility study begun in July, a surface exploration program undertake for 2013 and a sealift to the project site of main supplies for 2013/2014, equipment, materials and camp return as well as underground...
In the best of times, a government-sponsored mining incentives program could be a wise investment of public revenue to stimulate economic development in a mining-intensive jurisdiction like Yukon Territory. In a sustained capital drought like the one currently scorching the industry, funds awarded through the Yukon Mining Incentives Program can be the deciding factor in whether boots even hit the ground on many mineral exploration projects across the territory. Designed to promote and enhance mineral prospecting and explorati...
While Imperial Metals Corp. forges ahead with development of its Red Chris Mine Project in northwestern British Columbia, exploration fever is building a few miles to the northwest as Colorado Resources Ltd. delivers early excitement on ground that others have already explored. Not only has the junior's aggressive 2013 exploration program on the 5,188-hectare (12,820 acres) North ROK property attracted attention from investors, it also helped to draw a slew of other explorers to the area. The excitement started in April when...
Canadian Zinc Corp. in recent weeks has reported significant progress in wading through the final regulatory and financial obstacles that could potentially bar its path to bringing the Prairie Creek Mine Project into production. Prairie Creek Mine is an advanced-staged zinc-lead-silver project located 500 kilometers (310 miles) west of Yellowknife in southwestern Northwest Territories. Canadian Zinc is working to develop a 1,000-metric-ton-per-day underground mining operation at Prairie Creek using multiple methods to access...
Among the dozen or so companies that are advancing mineral-rich deposits in Nunavut this year, none has more going on inside and outside of the territory this summer than Glencore Xstrata plc. Xstrata plc, owner of the Hackett River silver-zinc project located in western Nunavut, merged with Glencore International plc in late May to become one of the world's largest mining and trading companies. The US$30 billion deal created a mega-entity that employs nearly 200,000 people in 50 countries around the globe to generate full...
You say the world's frontiers have all been conquered, and Nature's riddles have all been solved? Don't tell that to Darnley Bay Resources Ltd. The Toronto-based junior is celebrating two decades this summer of working to unravel one of Earth's most intriguing mineral mysteries. The puzzle lies deep beneath the earth's surface in Canada's Far North in what potentially may be the strongest isolated gravity anomaly in the world and certainly, in North America. Located near Paulatuk, Northwest Territories on the Arctic coast,...
The Government of Yukon is seeking feedback until July 31 on proposed amendments to the Canadian territory's "Quartz Mining Act, Placer Mining Act" and appropriate regulations. The proposed changes reflect Yukon officials' response to a court ruling in December and are intended to support positive relationships among First Nations and the exploration and mining industries. Amendments to the legislation must be in force by Dec. 27, 2013 to meet the one-year timeline imposed by the Court of Appeal for Yukon for implementing...
Scotiabank's Commodity Price Index, after losing significant ground in late 2012, started 2013 on a stronger note, climbing 3.8 percent in January before slipping 0.9 percent a month later, Scotiabank Vice President, Economics Patricia M. Mohr told a capacity crowd at 2013 Nunavut Mining Symposium in April. The annual gathering, held April 8-11 in Iqaluit, NU, the northern territory's capital, attracted 500 delegates, matching the record attendance reported for the symposium in 2012. Mohr, a commodity market specialist at...
