The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
Sorted by date Results 551 - 575 of 588
Kinross Gold Corp., owner of the Fort Knox gold mine near Fairbanks, reported a 27 percent jump in proven and probable reserves at year-end 2005 to 24.7 million ounces of gold. The year-over-year increase from 19.4 million ounces in 2004 marks the fifth consecutive year of reserves growth. Digging its way out of an accounting tangle that began nearly two years ago, Kinross posted the reserves figures in February along with financial results for the first nine months of 2005. The third-largest primary gold producer in North...
Northern Dynasty Ltd., would-be developer of the Pebble project, is convinced that the huge copper-gold mineralization in southwestern Alaska can be accessed and brought to market in an environmentally benign manner that promises economic prosperity for the region. Part of its confidence stems from Hunter Dickinson Inc., the management team that guides the Canadian junior mining company. Hunter Dickinson has a track record of working to develop successful, modern copper-gold deposits. One such venture is the Kemess South Mine...
The Pogo Gold Mine Project near Delta Junction began gold production Feb. 12, nearly a month ahead of schedule, Sumitomo Metal Mining Co. Ltd. and Sumitomo Corp. jointly announced Feb. 13. The companies said construction at Pogo progressed well enough to enable the project to advance production from an originally scheduled start in March. Pogo is estimated to contain 7.7 million tons of gold ore that should yield just under a half-ounce of gold per ton. The mine employs about 240 permanent workers. Sumitomo Metal is the...
What's in a name? Apparently, a lot, says the Association of Mineral Exploration British Columbia. The Vancouver, B.C.-based nonprofit trade group changed its name in January from BC & Yukon Chamber of Mines, the moniker it has proudly used since its inception in 1912. The new name, accompanied by a new logo, more accurately reflects the association's membership of 3,400 individuals and 100 companies and its role as the organization that represents the interests of the mineral exploration community working or based in...
Yukon Territory has approved a mine site reclamation and closure policy for new hard rock mines developed in the Yukon, effective immediately. Yukon, which devolved from the Canadian federal government in recent years, is now responsible for primary regulatory decisions involving major mines in the territory. "Devolution created an opportunity to develop a 'made in the Yukon' approach to managing hard rock mine developments, operations, reclamation and closure," said Laurie Sthamann, a spokeswoman for the Yukon Government's M...
Most Alaskans have never heard of Robert B. Gillam, the self-made Anchorage money man who built from scratch an investment empire approaching $10 billion in financial assets under management. But Gillam recently emerged as a central figure in the ongoing fight to stop development of the mammoth Pebble copper-gold deposit near Iliamna in southwest Alaska. He testified in favor of House Concurrent Resolution 29 at a hearing Feb. 10 before the Alaska House Committee on Natural Resources in Juneau. HCR 29 is a resolution that...
A bill being considered by the Alaska Legislature this session may put to rest, once and for all, recent controversy over proposed easing of certain restrictions on wastewater discharges in fish spawning areas of Alaska streams. House Bill 328, introduced by House Fisheries Chairman Rep. Paul Seaton, R-Homer, would set in statute Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation regulations that prohibit the use of so-called "mixing zones" in the state's natural waterways. The move is aimed at protecting the pristine image of...
Teck-Pogo Alaska is back on track to achieve first production this quarter at the Pogo gold mine project near Delta Junction after clearing up a dispute that erupted last year with Golden Valley Electric Association over electricity rates. Teck-Pogo complained to the Regulatory Commission of Alaska in October that GVEA planned to renege on a contract the two companies entered in January 2005 in which GVEA agreed to provide up to 13 megawatts of power to Pogo during its operating life and binding the mine's owner to a yearly...
Golden Valley Electric Association hopes to get help from a mediator to resolve its long-running dispute with the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority regarding the Healy Clean Coal Project. The electric cooperative, which serves Interior customers from Healy to Fairbanks and east to Delta Junction, filed a motion in Alaska Superior Court in Fairbanks, requesting mediation in the case, saying it has the best chance of a lasting resolution. "Golden Valley believes mediation will allow both parties to come to the...
It is business as usual at Red Dog, the world's largest producer of zinc concentrates. But a new general manager is in charge of guiding operations at the huge production facility 90 miles north of Kotzebue. John Knapp, 49, took on the top job at Red Dog earlier in December, when his boss, Robert G. Scott, was appointed vice president of base metal mining at Teck Cominco Ltd., the mine's owner. Knapp came to work as mill manager at Red Dog in January after 25 years at other Teck Cominco lead/zinc operations, most recently...
A young prospector stopped by the Vancouver, British Columbia, offices of Firestone Ventures Inc. last winter, enthusiastically promoting a diamond property he had explored in Alberta. But Lori Walton, Firestone's president and chief executive, looked past recent hoopla over evidence of kimberlites in Alberta. With rare insight, she snatched up something else in the young man's portfolio. "I took a look at his uranium property in southern Alberta and liked what I saw," said Walton in a recent interview. The longtime...
What do you get when you mix a known, high-grade copper deposit near the Yukon River plus millions of dollars of mining equipment on site with an aggressive junior mining company bent on making things happen? Excitement, that's what. "Minto will be the Yukon's next mine," said Stephen Quin, president and chief executive of Sherwood Copper Corp. "We've got all the permits or they are due to be extended, and we just need to update costs in the feasibility study." Yukon Premier Dennis Fentie signed a 10-year extension of a Type...
It isn't every day that a junior mining company takes a project all the way to development. In fact, it "rarely" happens, according to Dr. Harlan Meade, president and CEO of Yukon Zinc Corp., the successor company to Expatriate Resources Ltd. But the Yukon Zinc-Silver Project in southeastern Yukon Territory is well on its way to becoming such a rarity. Vancouver, B.C.-based Yukon Zinc filed its environmental assessment report for the Wolverine deposit Nov. 3, setting in motion a permitting and public review process expected...
For geologist T. Greg Hawkins, the question at Mount Skukum/Skukum Creek isn't where to find the gold and silver that nature sequestered in this steep-sided valley. Rather, it's how to attract investment capital to extract the soft yellow and bright gray metals from deposits he knows span the Wheaton River on the valley floor. "The secret of these types of operations is to get into production as soon as possible," said Hawkins, who is chairman of Tagish Lake Gold Corp., owner of 987 full or fractional quartz claims covering...
It's widely understood that Canada is Alaska's third-largest market with exports of $242 million in 2004. But our next-door neighbor is an even bigger source of goods and services imported to the state, $289 million last year. That's right. Canada accounted for 2,600 direct jobs in Alaska in 2004, while direct and indirect employment generated by Canadian enterprises totaled 7,500 positions in the state with a $330 million payroll. These are among findings of a new report, "Canada's Impact on Alaska," prepared for the...
Higher prices for precious and base metals, gemstones, coal and other minerals are luring explorers back to the Yukon Territory, and this resurgence in mining activity has government officials grappling with ways to encourage the miners to stay. The number and variety of mining exploration projects under way this year bodes wells for the territory's future and for government's chances of re-awakening what many call a sleeping giant - Yukon's mining industry. "Yukon is coming back," says Ivan Jacobsen, a stockbroker at Canacco...
Cash Minerals Ltd. launched a 6,000-meter drill program at its Lumina uranium property in the Wernecke Mountains of east-central Yukon Territory earlier in October in response to outstanding results of a summer 2005 exploration program. The summer work confirmed uranium mineralization at Lumina ranging up to 7.67 percent (153.4 pounds per ton) over 1.4 kilometers. Cash Minerals President and CEO Basil Botha said Oct. 12 the company was so "impressed and enthusiastic" with an average grade of 1.22 percent (24.4 pounds per...
Alaska's long struggle to bring the Healy Clean Coal Plant on line may come to fruition if state officials find a willing operator. But the Healy plant is not the only clean coal power plant in the far Northwest. Genesee-3, the most advanced coal-fired plant ever built in Canada, is being hailed as an unqualified success after only six months in operation. A joint venture of Epcor Utilities and TransAlta Corp., Genesee-3 came on line March 10. The 450-megawatt generating plant near Edmonton, Alberta cost C$795 million to...
Monogold Resources Inc. posted results Sept. 15 of sampling results from its 2005 summer exploration program at the Nyac Gold Project in southwestern Alaska that reinforce its geologists' theory that the prospect contains a gold deposit similar to the Fort Knox gold mine near Fairbanks. (See story in June 19 issue of Mining News.) Tonogold said the latest results represent fill-in sampling done in previously identified prospect areas within a 57,600-acre parcel in the Nyac Mining District in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta. High...
Yukon Zinc Corp., formerly Expatriate Resources, is rapidly advancing a moderate-size project in southeast Yukon toward development. The Yukon Silver-Zinc Project is centered largely on the Wolverine deposit tucked into the side of a mountain in the Finlayson district about 237 kilometers northwest of Watson Lake. The deposit is estimated to contain a 6.2 million-tonne resource. Yukon Zinc employees and contractors culminated nine months of drilling this year Sept. 19 by punching an underground tunnel through the mountain to...
Coping with the unexpected is a challenge facing Teck Cominco in Alaska this summer, as both its Pogo Mine project near Delta Junction and the Red Dog Mine near Kotzebue encounter the unexpected. Construction of the Pogo gold mine is rapidly moving toward completion in time for an early 2006 startup. But workers are grappling with poor ground conditions in underground development at the project. The mine, 85 miles southeast of Fairbanks, is estimated to contain 7.7 million tons of ore that should yield just under a...
In the far north, one Canadian firm is trying to do for sapphires, emeralds and rubies what explorers did for diamonds in the 1990s. True North Gems, a Vancouver, British Columbia-based mining company formed in 2001, is pursuing three advanced exploration projects for precious gemstones, two in Canada and a third in nearby Greenland. "True North's efforts are a direct spinoff of Canada's success in the diamond trade," said President William Rohtert, who heads the company's exploration team. "Canada, in the last few years,...
U.S. energy legislation currently working its way toward finalization in Congress provides $200 million in aid for programs that develop ways to convert coal into synthetic fuels such as clean diesel, along with billions in loans and incentives to encourage environmentally friendly methods of burning coal to generate electricity. A huge federal transportation bill still in the U.S. House also promises assistance for those seeking to convert coal into clean-burning transportation fuels. These funds could spur existing...
Kinross Gold and Teryl Resources are advancing their Gil Joint Venture Project from exploration to the development stage in hopes of identifying a viable source of new high-grade gold ore for production. The joint venture plans to permit the deposit once sufficient baseline data has been collected. A $793,800 budget has been approved this year for permitting and engineering work. A full feasibility study is expected to be completed by the end of the year, and a production decision by Kinross, which holds an 80 percent interes...
Other mining projects may be jumping on the bandwagon, but Teck Cominco still leads the race to find local gas reserves to feed the voracious appetite of a large-mine power plant in Alaska. Seven years after discovering gas deposits in shale near the Red Dog lead/zinc mine, the owner of the huge Northwest Alaska mine is ready to drill a two-well exploration program in hopes of replacing costly diesel fuel it must barge in every year. Though oil companies have developed gas reserves to power production facilities on the North...
