The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
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Ryan Gold Corp., the junior created when Valdez Gold Corp. merged with Ryan Gold Inc. in December, said it has defined a significant gold-in-soil anomaly during initial exploration of its Ida Oro Property in Yukon Territory. In mid-February, the company also reported signing a letter agreement to purchase 50 properties, comprising about 6,631 quartz claims located throughout the Yukon from Shawn Ryan and Wildwood Exploration Inc. "Having acquired the Ida Oro and Fifty Mile projects from Ryan Gold Inc. last fall, we are...
As the Meadowbank Mine, Nunavut's sole operating gold mine, approaches its one-year anniversary of commercial production, Agnico-Eagle Mines Ltd., the mine's owner and operator, acknowledges that it is still a work in progress. But the 600-employee, open-pit operation, which achieved commercial production March 1, 2010, has cleared some major hurdles in the nearly 12 months since its startup. Despite significant setbacks in ore processing and safety, the mine is delivering substantial value not only to Agnico-Eagle, but also...
Victoria Gold Corp. made considerable progress in 2010 toward building a gold mine at its Eagle Gold Project in central Yukon Territory, including reinforcing a pledge of environmental responsibility to the First Nation of Na Cho Nyak Dun with a quick trip across the border to Alaska. Managers of the Toronto-based junior invited members of the First Nation of Na Cho Nyak Dun to tour a new heap leach processing project at the Fort Knox gold mine hundreds of miles to the west near Fairbanks. The reason? If all goes well, Victor...
Two years after explorers stampeded to Yukon Territory in search of gold and other minerals the rush is showing no sign of abating. In fact, the exploration frenzy appears to gather fresh steam with every new mineral discovery reported in the territory. And the pipeline of discoveries is flowing, fast and furious. Junior mining companies and prospectors also continued to stake hordes of claims in 2010 right up to Dec. 23, stopping only when Government of Yukon mining recorders called a halt for the holidays. The excitement su...
Mining exploration activity in northern British Columbia approached record levels in 2010 with explorers setting a new drilling record and spending about C$168 million in pursuit of a wide range of minerals, including gold, copper, silver, molybdenum, and rare earth elements, according to a top provincial geologist. Paul Wojdak, regional geologist for the Northwest Region of British Columbia's Ministry of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources, said the major good news mining story in 2010 for central and northern British...
Some 180 kilometers, or 112 miles, northeast of Nunavut's only producing gold mine is a huge swath of land that could become a potentially significant new gold district. That is, if North Country Gold Corp., the junior tasked with unlocking the secrets of this gold-rich region, succeeds in its current exploration campaign. North Country Gold owns 100 percent of the mineral rights to explore the 225,569 hectares, or 557,323 acres, in the 216 active mineral claims and 14 mineral leases that comprise the land package. Spun out...
Near the top of the world a major mining company is quietly ramping up development of the first gold mine in what is sure to become a major gold mining district. After putting the brakes on development of its Hope Bay Gold Project during the last half of 2009 because of the global economic downturn, Newmont Mining Corp. has rallied in 2010 to advance the development by leaps and bounds in a US$200 million program that tackles challenges on several fronts. Hope Bay is North America's largest undeveloped greenfield with a...
A revitalized Yukon Territory is ushering in a new era of mining prosperity as two more mines enter production this winter. "For the first time in a generation," the territory will have three operating mines that together will employ more than 400 workers and provide 100 direct service jobs and countless indirect positions and generate C$800 million for the Yukon economy annually," said Yukon Premier Dennis Fentie. "That's almost as much as the Government of Yukon's entire C$1 billion yearly budget." The recent startup of...
A pair of gold discoveries led a torrent of exploration news pouring out of Yukon Territory this year as numerous newcomers joined old hands in the hunt for the yellow metal and other lucrative minerals. "We've entered a new phase of exploration. People are using soil sampling as an unbiased targeting method that is resulting in discoveries of new mineral potential," Yukon geologist Mike Burke, told more than 500 participants in the Yukon Geoscience Forum Nov. 22. The areas where people are looking are expanding as miners...
As mining heats up in Yukon Territory, professionals from around the globe are finding new roles in the region and employing a host of unique experiences and perspectives in pursuit of exploration, development and production of the territory's minerals. This growing international contingent covers the industry spectrum and hails from around the globe. Their presence is most evident in exploration camps scattered across the Yukon; however, the new manager of Yukon's sole producer, Capstone Mining Corp.'s Minto Mine, is a...
As more mine projects in Yukon Territory move through development, the Yukon Mine Training Association is coming into its own as a good source of well-trained mine workers recruited from local communities. Not only has the YMTA become fully operational in the past two years, it also has honed a strong reputation for providing a wide range of training opportunities for Yukoners. The four-year-old association is an uncommon network of partnerships between 19 companies, five educational institutions and 11 First Nations. In all,...
Williams Creek Explorations Ltd., a Vancouver, B.C.-based junior, and its investment advisor, Interinvest, have purchased significant equity positions in Tyhee Development Corp., a junior focused on developing the Yellowknife Gold Project in Northwest Territories. Moreover, Williams Creek Chairman and CEO Michael Sonnenreich joined Tyhee's board of directors. Williams Creek, which owns 28 Crown-granted mineral claims in its Westport gold project in the Barkerville gold camp of the Cariboo Mining Division and three Crown-grant...
The Government of Yukon reported Nov. 5 that it has transferred a C$5.9 million royalty payment received from Minto Explorations Ltd. to the Selkirk First Nation government. It was calculated from production profits from the Minto Mine during 2009 and transferred to the Selkirk First Nation as the owner of the mineral rights. The Yukon government administers the mineral rights at the Minto Mine under provisions of the Quartz Mining Act and the Selkirk First Nation Final Agreement. The Selkirk First Nation is located at the vi...
More and more explorers are buying up and/or staking claims in an elongated area of central British Columbia that is emerging as a significant rare earth metals play, while juniors line up to mobilize exploration crews to begin searching the area for economic concentrations of rare earths. All of this attention is focused on a major continental geologic feature known as the Rocky Mountain trench, a southeast-northwest trending swath of mountainous ground that could host numerous potentially economic concentrations of rare met...
British Columbia's Ministry of Energy, Mines & Resources and Geological Survey are sponsoring an international workshop on the geology of rare metals Nov. 9-10, 2010 at the Harbour Towers Hotel in Victoria, B.C. The two-day gathering will focus on various aspects of rare earth elements (lanthanides, yttrium and scandium) and other rare metals (mainly niobium, tantalum, lithium, beryllium, zirconium, hafnium). Among the scheduled technical presentations: Rare Metals - Markets and Strategic Importance Geology of the Rare M...
With final 2010 exploration in hand, Golden Predator Corp. said its Clear Creek Project vaulted to the front of the pack of the eight gold projects that it is aggressively exploring in Yukon Territory. Clear Creek is located 65 kilometers, or about 40 miles, northwest of Mayo in central Yukon. Golden Predator can earn a 100 percent interest in the property, subject to a 3 percent net smelter return royalty, of which 1 percent on 77 quartz claims can be bought back for C$1 million and 2 percent on 55 quartz claims can be...
The resurgence of mining industry activity in Yukon Territory is bringing with it the prospect of more commercial activity in Southeast Alaska, specifically in the coastal community of Skagway. Though tiny in size with only 850 year-round residents, Skagway is home to one of Alaska's most strategically located ice-free, deepwater ports. The Skagway Ore Terminal at the port stores 65,000 tons a year of copper-gold-silver concentrates from Yukon's only operating mine, Capstone Mining Corp.'s Minto Mine. And once a month for...
Efforts to build an electricity transmission line critical to economic development of northwestern British Columbia moved closer to reality in 2010. Cheered by the prospect of access to cheap power, scores of miners flocked to the region to re-activate dormant projects and scour the mountainous terrain for new discoveries. The Canadian government allocated C$130 million in funding for construction of the Northwest Transmission Line in September 2009, providing critical funding for the estimated C$404 million needed to build...
Diamonds continued to dominate mining production in Northwest Territories in 2010, but other hardrock mineral projects led most of the mineral exploration activity during the year. Yet 2010 is shaping up to be a year of recovery for nearly all of the territory's miners. Rough diamond production from Harry Winston's 40 percent share of the Diavik Mine totaled 650,000 carats in the second quarter, up significantly from 570,000 carats a year earlier. Rio Tinto plc controls 60 percent interest in Diavik, Canada's largest diamond...
Government and industry officials agree that mining exploration and development in recent years have brought substantial positive change to Nunavut, Canada's newest and least explored territory. Ongoing and new exploration, however, are rapidly advancing understanding of this vast Arctic land's mineral potential. "In this industry, it seems that all of the best and worst of times were compressed into less than two years (between 2008 and 2010)," said Peter Taptuna, minister of Economic Development & Transportation for the Gov...
Primed for booming exploration for several years, the Yukon Territory appears to have hit big in 2010, both literally and figuratively. Emerging as one of the world's mining hot spots, the Northwest Canada jurisdiction is reporting industry investment exceeding C$120 million. Propelled by record gold prices and key gold discoveries, as well as surging demand in Asia for base metals and a mining friendly government, miners flocked to the territory in growing numbers, bringing generous exploration budgets and fresh theories...
Now that the word is out about Atac Resources Ltd.'s impressive gold discoveries at the Rau Project in central Yukon Territory, the financial market is taking to the early-stage exploration effort with the enthusiasm of a bear in a beehive. Atac recently reported impressive results from drilling and prospecting the Osiris and Isis targets on the Sten claim block near the eastern edge of the 185-kilometer-, or 115-mile-long Rau Project. Meanwhile, investors have fueled a run-up in Atac's stock price to about $7 a share from...
The diamond industry is poised for a turnaround due to recovery in the U.S. market and growth in Asian diamond markets such as China and India, according to a new comprehensive report by Global Industry Analysts Inc. While Europe continues to have the world's leading markets for diamonds, rapidly growing Asian economies are expected to form a significant market group, the San Jose, Calif.-based market research publisher said Sept. 16. The report also predicted that diamond prices are expected to rise in the near future and...
One of the reasons that mining-friendly Nunavut is attracting considerable industry attention in 2010 is the ongoing exploration success of ventures like Aura Silver Resources Inc.'s Greyhound Project in the Kivalliq region of the territory, where relatively modest spending can deliver impressive results. Aura Silver reported results in August and early September from surface sampling and drilling programs this summer that returned grades as high as 28.2 grams per metric ton gold and up to 5,380 g/t silver. The samples were...
Dozens of small explorers mounted exploration campaigns in 2010 in and around the historic Stewart Gold Camp in northwestern British Columbia, and as assays trickle in from samples and core sent to labs this spring and summer, many of them are reporting encouraging results. The Stewart Gold Camp, located about 20 miles, or 35 kilometers, from the B.C./Alaska border, is an emerging, world-class mining district that continues to offer discovery opportunities for major gold-copper and precious metal polymetallic deposits. The...
