The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
Sorted by date Results 476 - 500 of 588
Kutcho Creek is another copper-zinc project in the mineral-dense region of northern British Columbia that is rapidly headed toward development. Among the numerous mines and mining development projects in the area are NovaGold's Galore Creek and bcMetals' Red Chris. The 100 percent-owned Kutcho Project is the sole major asset of Western Keltic Mines Inc. which has spent about C$25 million in the past three years at the property. Well into a C$4.8 million field and construction program this season, the Vancouver-based junior...
The Red Dog Mine, 17 years after startup, is unquestionably the economic and human resources success story of the Northwest Arctic Borough. Zinc and lead prices are strong, and production is up at the mine, which is operated by Teck Cominco Alaska on lands owned by the Alaska Native regional corporation, NANA Regional Corp. But the world's largest producer of zinc concentrate continues to be plagued by issues surrounding its discharge of wastewater. Treated water from the mine is released into tributaries of the Wulik River,...
Gold Crest Mines Inc., a Spokane, Wash.-based junior gold exploration company, reported promising results Oct. 8 from its 2007 exploration drilling campaign at the Kisa Project in the Kuskokwim Mineral Belt of southwest Alaska. Organized a little over a year ago by a group of mining industry veterans, Gold Crest has a wholly owned Alaska subsidiary, Kisa Gold Mining Inc. It is KGMI that began exploring about 93,500 acres in three different and distinct areas of Alaska in late 2006. KGMI has established 14 claim groups in two...
A rich piece of Alaska's gold mining history is sitting in a dump in Tok after being demolished because the Bureau of Land Management deemed it dangerous. The Jack Wade Dredge at Mile 86 of the Taylor Highway was dismantled last month. The abandoned dredge sat on the bank of Jack Wade Creek for 72 years and was a popular tourist attraction on the 160-mile road from Tok to Eagle. "People loved to camp at it and to pan for gold there," said Robin Hammond, the postmaster in the small mining town of Chicken a few miles south of...
Redcorp Ventures Ltd. and subsidiary Redfern Resources Ltd., said they received approval from the British Columbia Environmental Assessment Office for proposed design and infrastructure changes to the original mine plan of Tulsequah Chief Mine Development Project The Vancouver-based junior is working to reopen Tulsequah Chief, an underground zinc-copper-lead-gold-silver mine near the B.C.-Alaska border that closed in 1957. Redfern is developing a project with 5.4 million metric tons in probable reserves to be produced in 8 ye...
A Canadian federal court slapped Imperial Metals Corp. in September with a significant regulatory setback in its bid to develop the copper-and gold-rich Red Chris project in northwest British Columbia. But the results of its 2007 drilling program and some progress toward bringing power to the property gave the mid-tier mining company some good news. Located 280 miles north of Smithers, B.C., and 11 miles southeast of the village of Iskut, the Red Chris porphyry copper-gold deposit is considered one of the most...
Coeur D'Alene Mines Corp., owner and operator of the Kensington Gold Project near Juneau, has agreed to work with Southeast Alaska environmental groups on a new plan to dispose of the proposed mine's tailings. Coeur D'Alene CEO Dennis Wheeler told the Juneau Chamber of Commerce Aug. 30 that the company will accept an invitation from the Southeast Alaska Conservation Council, Sierra Club Alaska Chapter, and Lynn Canal Conservation to work together to allow Kensington to begin production by developing temporary and permanent...
A quest by Teck Cominco Alaska Inc. to expand operations at the Red Dog Mine in northwestern Alaska is moving forward as regulators prepare to conduct a series of public scoping meetings Oct. 2-5 in affected communities. Red Dog, the world's largest producer of zinc concentrate, began production in 1989. It is located 82 miles north of Kotzebue on land owned by NANA Regional Corp., the Alaska Native regional corporation for northwest Alaska. Current mining of Red Dog's main deposit is scheduled to wind down between 2010 and...
With project financing under way and initial construction of a 15-mile access road completed, Yukon Zinc Corp. is loping toward a production decision in October that could see the silver-rich Wolverine project in southeastern Yukon Territory become the region's next significant zinc-silver mine. Since outlining its development plans in a feasibility study in January, the Vancouver, B.C.-based junior has made dramatic progress toward constructing a 1,400-tonne-per-day underground mine and mill plant to develop the...
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals indicated in late August that it may be willing to resurrect the waste disposal plan for the Kensington Gold Mine Project that a three-judge panel rejected in May. The appeals court asked SEACC, Sierra Club and Lynn Canal Conservation, who are plaintiffs in the case, to respond by October to an appeal of the earlier ruling against mine developer Coeur D'Alene Mines Corp., which had proposed a plan for disposing of treated tailings plan that involved Lower Slate Lake. The request seemed...
Indicator Minerals Inc. is that most fortunate of Canadian junior exploration companies, one with a prospect so enticing that a major has signed on to do some heavy lifting. The three-year-old Vancouver, British Columbia-based venture is well into its third season of exploration, poring over more than 4 million acres of mineral claims in the Far North's Nunavut Territory in search of Canada's next big diamond discovery. Indicator's most promising prospect to date is the Darby property, located on nearly 700,000 acres of...
DeBeers Canada Inc. is exploring the Gahcho Kué project in the Northwest Territories this summer, hoping to confirm its potential to become the company's second major diamond mine in the Canadian Arctic. Of the four major mining projects De Beers is developing, two are in Canada, which has emerged in the past 15 years as one of the world's most prospective diamond mining regions. The two advanced Canadian developments are the Snap Lake Diamond Project in the Northwest Territories and the Victor Diamond Mine Project, in...
Redfern Resources Ltd., developer of the Tulsequah Chief Project in northwestern British Columbia, is advancing an ingenious and economical way to access the remote mine site. But the idea to build a year-round transportation system that would use Alaska waterways instead of a contentious 96-mile access road to the mine site from Atlin, B.C., is also encountering opposition. Redfern, a subsidiary of Vancouver, B.C.-based Redcorp Ventures Ltd., has been working since the 1990s to re-open Tulsequah Chief, an underground...
The newly rehabilitated Skagway Ore Terminal took delivery July 17 of its first ore concentrate shipments since early 1997. Sherwood Copper Corp. produced the concentrate at the Minto copper-gold mine in the Yukon Territory and hauled it to the terminal by truck. Sherwood is renting about 25 percent of the terminal to store and load its concentrate onto oceangoing bulk carriers bound for a smelter in Asia. Testing of the terminal's rebuilt load-out conveyor went well and the remainder of rehab work on the terminal is...
Molybdenum prices have gained altitude and performed a "loop the loop" in recent years that aerobatic pilots would envy. Skyrocketing from a low of $2 a pound in 2002 to a peak of $50 a pound in 2005, before dipping to the $20-a-pound range last year and climbing back to $33.75 a pound in mid-June, moly prices are having a heck of wild ride. Mining companies, in response, have been scrambling to expand and start up molybdenum projects. The trend is particularly evident in mineral-rich British Columbia, where 1,350...
Current nickel prices may be the icing on the cake for rapidly growing Toronto-based Pure Nickel Inc. As Nevada Star Resources Corp. joined the company in a reverse takeover this spring and became Pure Nickel, prices for the shiny metal hurtled skyward. More than tripling in the past 14 months, nickel prices will remain under upward pressure this year, according to industry analysts. Booming demand, especially from China, will spur consumption to exceed production for a second consecutive year, causing nickel cash prices to...
Though environmentalists appear to be fighting to curtail logging in the Tongass National Forest in Southeast Alaska, the stakes are much bigger, according to concerned Alaskans. The battle currently being waged in and out of the courts is actually aimed at stopping all resource development within the 16 million-acre forest, they say. "The opposition to the Tongass is focused on cutting the trees," said Steve Borell, executive director of the Alaska Miners Association. "But as soon as logging is dead, they will refocus on...
As summer approaches, Niblack Mining Co. is assembling everything it will need from people to permits to tunnel 6,000 feet into the heart of Lookout Mountain on Prince of Wales Island in Southeast Alaska. The Vancouver, B.C.-based junior wants to explore at depth zones believed to be rich in copper, gold, zinc, silver and other marketable minerals. Niblack Mining hired Henry Bogert as operations manager for the project in March. Juneau resident Bogert is a longtime mining and civil engineer with degrees from Montana Tech and...
More junior mining companies than ever appear to be seeking their fortunes in precious metals and gems in the wilds of northwestern Canada these days and more seem to be joining the throng every day. Still, few of these modern-day explorers are drawn to the Far North by the allure of high-rank coal and metallurgical minerals such as cobalt and bismuth. But Fortune Minerals of London, Ontario, is one such firm. Founded in 1988, Fortune Minerals went public a year later. In the 18 years since, the company has gotten lucky more...
After several years of revision, Alaska is closing in on the goal of bringing its surface coal mining regulations in line with federal rules governing the same activities. The Alaska Department of Natural Resources says changes are necessary to the Alaska Surface Coal Mining and Reclamation Act to make it consistent with corresponding federal regulations administered by the U.S. Department of the Interior under the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977. DNR proposes revisions and additions to Alaska regulations,...
With startup of the Minto advanced stage copper-gold project in the central Yukon just around the corner, Sherwood Copper Corp. has already embarked on a plan to add to reserves and extend production at the site. Minto, a relatively small project by industry standards, is a standout because of its exceptionally high grade copper reserves. Its reserves currently exceed 356 million pounds of copper, with estimated recovery rates of 95 percent for copper and silver and 75 percent for gold. Sherwood, a Vancouver, British...
Strong markets and solid production powered hardrock mining companies with large operations and investments in Alaska to outstanding performances in 2006. Teck Cominco, operator of the Red Dog zinc-lead mine near Kotzebue and the Pogo gold mine in the eastern Interior near Delta Junction; Kinross Gold Corp., owner of the Fort Knox gold mine near Fairbanks, Hecla Mining Co., part owner of the Greens Creek silver mine in Southeast Alaska; and Coeur D'Alene Corp., developer of the Kensington Gold Project near Juneau, reported...
Western Copper Corp., the spinoff from Western Silver Corp. charged with bringing the Yukon Territory's Carmacks copper deposit into production, cleared a significant regulatory hurdle recently. The Yukon Environmental and Socioeconomic Assessment Board notified Western Copper in February that its proposal for the Carmacks Copper Project was adequate, under terms of the Yukon Environmental and Socioeconomic Assessment Act and opened the review to public comments on the proposal. Carmacks, which is 100 percent owned by...
Eagle Plains Resources Ltd. of Cranbrook, B.C., has both breadth and depth when it comes to mineral exploration in western Canada. The aggressive junior has acquired more than 36 properties in a dozen years, including 22 in British Columbia; nine in the Yukon Territory; two in Northwest Territories (one project is 5,500 square kilometers); and three in Saskatchewan. Properties controlled by Eagle Plains offer exploration opportunities for gold, uranium, silver, copper, molybdenum, zinc, lead, rare earth minerals including...
BcMetals Corp.'s plans to develop its potentially lucrative Red Chris copper-gold project in northern British Columbia may be moot now that Imperials Metals Corp. is the apparent winner of a recent bidding war for the Vancouver, B.C.-based mining company. But the ambitious junior's plans got a big boost in January when British Columbia Transmission Corp., the crown corporation responsible for the province's power transmission lines, said it will move ahead with construction of a proposed extension of its Northwest...
