The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
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The Supreme Court of Canada ruled Jan. 21 that federal regulators must confine their mine project review scoping decisions to alternatives allowed under provisions of the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act. But in a unanimous decision, Canada's high court declined to set aside the federal regulatory decision that prompted the legal challenge - an environmental assessment of the Red Chris copper-gold porphyry project in northwestern British Columbia. The case arose when MiningWatch challenged the environmental assessment,...
Though federal and provincial regulators prevailed in a legal challenge to the green light they gave Imperial Metals Corp. for the Red Chris copper-gold porphyry project in northwestern British Columbia, the proposed mine has another major hurdle to clear. Development of Red Chris into a mine is contingent upon construction of a power line to service northwest British Columbia. A 2005 feasibility study for the project was based on the assumption that a power supply would be available at Tatogga near Iskut, about 23 kilometers...
As researchers around the world strive to shrink the level of greenhouse gases pouring into the atmosphere from fossil fuel combustion and other sources, one aspect of the challenge is taking on new dimensions. Coal has long been recognized as a dirty and deadly fuel. Researchers conducting autopsies in the 1800s found the lungs of infants to be black, sparking early fears that coal emissions were toxic. Yet it took more than 170 years for scientists to develop methods to remove toxic gases from coal combustion emissions that...
The Government of Yukon has issued an immediate one-year interim withdrawal from mineral staking for all Crown Land, Category B settlement lands and fee simple lands in the Peel Watershed Region of Yukon Territory in hopes of providing certainty during an ongoing regional land use planning process. The Peel Watershed Region is one of eight regions for which mineral-rich Yukon Territory is developing land use plans. The Peel watershed is located north of Mayo in northeast Yukon Territory. A major subbasin of the Mackenzie...
I must join what appears to be a growing parade of voices criticizing some aspect of the mega-blockbuster sci-fi movie, Avatar, and add my two cents. Critics have complained about the movie's story line, citing everything from its blatant allusions to the worst aspects of the recent war in Iraq (a la military contractors run amok) to its disturbing similarity to some of the most shameful chapters in western history where Europeans brutally exploited gold and other precious metals controlled by Native Americans. But the bone...
Terrane Metals Corp. has decided to move ahead with construction of a C$900 million open-pit copper-gold mine at the Mt. Milligan Project in north-central British Columbia. Robert Pease, Terrane's president and CEO, told investors Jan. 12 that the junior is talking with Japan's Mitsubishi Corp. and Sumitomo Corp., as well as other companies, in search of financing alternatives for the project, which has a C$172 million construction budget for 2010. Terrane plans to start construction at Mt. Milligan in July, and will need to...
Among juniors actively working to attract majors to invest in mineral exploration projects scattered across Canada's Far North, one Vancouver, B.C.-based company leaped to the front of the pack recently in Nunavut Territory. Commander Resources Inc. is exploring the Baffin Island Gold Project, a district-scale project with multimillion-ounce potential covering an entire greenstone belt about 175 kilometers, or 105 miles, in length east to west. Baffin is one of at least four giant gold deposits currently being explored in...
The prospector who discovered the highly promising White Gold property near Dawson City, Yukon Territory says he believes the future is beyond bright for the region - it's blazing. Shawn Ryan, a self-taught mineral hunter who has spent the past 12 years tramping the Klondike bush and adjacent areas, is being honored by the Association for Mineral Exploration in British Columbia at its annual Mineral Exploration Roundup Jan. 18-21. AMEBC is singling out Ryan as the 2009 recipient of the coveted H.H. "Spud" Huestis Award for ex...
Just as junior and major mining companies have important roles to play in the chain of developments that lead, hopefully, to discovery of substantial mineral deposits and subsequent commercial development, individual prospectors occupy a critical niche in the industry's life cycle. In the vast and remote stretches of northwestern Canada, this is especially true and the need for mineral prospectors is acute. Yet, rather than being thick on the ground, individuals who hunt for minerals are relatively rare. Most mineral...
After focusing on its ruby-rich claims in Greenland for the past few years, True North Gems Inc. has returned to Yukon Territory to hunt for rare earth elements rather than gems. The junior has confirmed the presence of significant REE and niobium mineralization at its True Blue gem aquamarine property located 55 kilometers, or 34 miles, south of Ross River, in southern Yukon Territory. True North reported completion of an eight-day field program in August and testing of samples in November. The field program was primarily...
Selwyn Resources Ltd., owner of the zinc and lead deposit of the same name in the mountains of eastern Yukon Territory, has entered a binding framework agreement with a large Chinese corporate investor that is ready to pump C$100 million into developing the world-class property. Selwyn, in a statement Dec. 14, said it will partner with Yunnan Chihong Zinc & Germanium Co. Ltd., an integrated lead and zinc producer with 60-plus years experience in exploration, mining, smelting and downstream processing. Chihong, which is...
Western Copper Corp. won the coveted Robert E. Leckie Award for 2009 for outstanding reclamation of old abandoned workings on the Casino Property in west-central Yukon Territory. But the junior exploration company also went beyond the expected and developed a system for ongoing recycling and reclamation that could one day render the need for remedial cleanups at mine properties relics of the past. The Government of Yukon presented the Leckie Award to Western Copper Nov. 24, at the Yukon Geoscience Forum, in recognition of...
Two diamond mines in Northwest Territories are vowing to recruit new workers locally rather than continue a longstanding practice of seeking candidates in southern Canada. Diavik Diamond Mines Inc., operator of the Diavik Mine, and De Beers Canada, owner of the Snap Lake Mine, reported plans in late November and early December, respectively, to add employees next year in anticipation of production increases. But the mining companies said they will concentrate on locating and training new employees who live in Northwest...
An accidental discharge of deadly arsenic trioxide at the old Giant gold mine in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories this fall has brought into focus the potential impact of an ongoing project to reclaim the mine site. The project includes the future disposition of the 237,000 metric tons of arsenic trioxide currently stored underground at the site within the Yellowknife city limits. The hazardous substance was abandoned when mine owner Royal Oak Mines went bankrupt in 1999. In order to prepare a remediation plan for the...
A review panel has recommended that most of the Peel River watershed region in northeast Yukon Territory be withdrawn from industrial use, including mineral resource development. In long-awaited recommendations, the Peel Watershed Planning Commission is seeking to ban mining activity in 80 percent of the 68,000 square kilometers, or 26,255 square miles, that comprises the Peel watershed region. The Peel area is one of eight regions for which mineral-rich Yukon Territory is developing land use plans. It is located north of May...
The race to become the next operating mine in Yukon Territory is heating up as two projects, Alexco Resource Corp.'s Bellekeno silver project and Yukon Zinc Corp.'s Wolverine volcanic massive sulphide project, appear to be running neck and neck as they enter the home stretch. Currently, Yukon Territory has only one operating mine, the high-grade Minto copper-gold mine, which began commercial production in October 2007. Owned by Minto Explorations Ltd., a subsidiary of Capstone Mining Corp, the open pit mining operation is...
Kaminak Gold Corp. is one of the frontrunners in the exploration rush sparked by Underworld Resources Inc.'s recent gold discovery in the White District of Yukon Territory. In less than six months, the junior mining company has acquired and explored claims that offer as much promise initially as Underworld's White Gold Project did in its first season of exploration. Kaminak is primarily a prospect generator with a successful business model that targets discovery-stage projects with strong exploration potential for strategic c...
Work got under way in October on stage 2 of Yukon Energy's Carmacks-Stewart transmission line, a long-needed infrastructure project aimed at dramatically improving access to and affordability of electricity in Yukon Territory. Canadian and territorial government officials unveiled the enhancement of existing hydropower infrastructure at the Mayo hydrofacility along with stage 2 of the Carmacks-Stewart transmission line in the spring, noting that it would be the first project to be funded under Canada's new C$1 billion Green...
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency formally approved Alaska's application Oct. 31 to administer the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Program. The approved state program is called the Alaska Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (APDES) Program, and the transfer of full program responsibilities is a four-phase process that will be completed Oct. 31, 2011. The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation Division of Water submitted a final application to the EPA in 2008 for authority to permit wastewate...
Fortune Minerals Ltd. has identified a site in Saskatchewan for a processing facility for its Nico Project located 160 kilometers, or 99 miles, northwest of Yellowknife, Northwest Territories. The junior said Nov. 3 that it entered into an agreement to purchase land near Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, where it aims to build its southern hydrometallurgical facility for the Nico gold-cobalt-bismuth-copper project in Northwest Territories. Fortune wants to start a vertically integrated mining operation at Nico by 2012, assuming it...
Romios Gold Resources Inc. Nov. 11 reported the discovery of significant copper, gold and silver mineralization on its Dirk Property located about 37 kilometers, or 24 miles, southeast of NovaGold Resources Inc.-Teck Resources Ltd.'s giant Galore Creek deposit and 7 kilometers, or 4 miles, northwest of Romios' Newmont Lake Property in northwestern British Columbia. Only two zones, Dirk and Telena, of a number of mineralized zones indentified on the newly discovered Dirk property have been sampled to date. A total of 15...
Ucore Uranium Inc., a junior based in Halifax, Nova Scotia, has shifted its primary focus at the Bokan Mountain Granite complex in Southeast Alaska from uranium to rare earth elements. Ucore changed the name of its U.S. subsidiary from Bokan LLC to Rare Earth One LLC to reflect its evolving focus at the heavy rare earth element-rich prospect on the southern end of Prince of Wales Island about 60 kilometers, or 37 miles, southwest of Ketchikan. "The property goes well beyond its superficial prospects as a prior high-grade...
Recession, what recession? That could have been the cry of some gold exploration companies in Yukon Territory in 2009. Thanks to several very impressive gold discoveries in 2008 at a time of unprecedented highs in gold prices, momentum lost in other sectors of Canadian mineral exploration seemed to hardly touch the gold-rich hills of this mining-friendly jurisdiction. Some 63 companies started 2009 with planned exploration programs in Yukon, but before all was said and done, a horde of additional gold seekers poured into the...
Mineral-rich Nunavut Territory celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2009 and mining explorers seeking diamonds and precious and base metals brought their drills to the party. The territory, home to only 31,000 people living in 25 small, scattered communities, covers 1.9 million square kilometers, or one fifth the land mass of Canada and dwarfs Alaska by nearly 200,000 square miles. Of the young territory's economic prospects, mineral resource development offers perhaps the most long-term potential. "When I started work in...
Most of the mining companies looking for minerals in northern British Columbia ushered in 2009 with high hopes and little else. "It's a perfect storm. The credit crunch in the world financial system has led to a worldwide recession and a collapse in commodity prices. In equities, there is nowhere to hide. Financing has become expensive and difficult to get. I have never seen more difficult conditions for junior resource companies in my entire career," said Hard Creek Nickel Corp. President and CEO Mark Jarvis in describing...
