The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
Sorted by date Results 126 - 150 of 239
NovaGold Resources is heading towards the Center of the Universe this year. No, the Vancouver-based junior won't be mining in outer space; it turns out that the Center of the Universe is in Alaska - which will come as no surprise to some residents of the 49th state. Astronomers may disagree about the accuracy of the name, but geologists believe that the Center of the Universe deposit could contain healthy reserves of copper, lead and zinc. NovaGold plans a 3,000-meter drill campaign at the deposit this year, as part of its...
In the early days of exploration at a property near the small town of Delta Junction in Interior Alaska, a bunch of geologists who'd had a few too many beers began jumping up and down. They may have been jumping for joy, imagining a rich gold vein beneath their feet, or more likely they were jumping to keep warm, as this region is one of the coldest on the planet in winter. Someone nicknamed the strange dance the Pogo dance, and the name stuck. Today in the same spot, Pogo mine is producing its first gold bars, a joint ventur...
Two Alaskans prominent in the mining industry have spent years nurturing dreams of railroads. Both presented their visions at the Arctic International Mining Symposium in Fairbanks the week of March 13. Professor Paul Metz, a geologist at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, wants to see a rail link from Alaska to Canada. Steve Borell, executive director of the Alaska Miners Association, hopes that one day a railroad from the Brooks Range to Norton Sound will be built, providing access to the vast reserves of coal on the...
Just because Alaska is nowhere near any of the world's kimberlite provinces, doesn't mean that geologist David Szumigala is giving up hope on finding diamonds in the state. "Thinking conventionally doesn't mean that you are right!" is Szumigala's approach to the problem. Without the presence of kimberlite, he had to draw up an alternative geological model that would explain how diamonds could theoretically be formed here. In what Szumigala calls his eclogite model, carbon-rich sediments get subducted (sucked down a trench)...
A bill in the Alaska Legislature introducing a mining production tax would ensure that the people of the state derive the maximum benefit from the use of resources, as guaranteed in the constitution, according to the bill's sponsor. Rep. Paul Seaton, R-Homer, a commercial fisherman, believes that the mining industry is not contributing enough to the state compared with the fishing industry and the oil and gas industry. His bill would impose a tax of 0.6 percent of the gross value of the resource at the point of production in...
British Columbia's reputation as a region where the mining industry could flourish hit a low point in the 1990s, but the picture is completely different today. That's how Bill Bennett, the Canadian province's minister of state for mining, sees the situation after returning from a jam-packed Mineral Exploration Roundup event in Vancouver in January. The atmosphere at Roundup this year was "almost elation," Bennett said in an interview with Mining News. "Commodity prices are behind us, but there was also a lot of specific inter...
Alaska's main rival in the international coal market is Indonesia, developer and rocket scientist Bob Stiles told an Anchorage audience at a myth-busting session Feb. 3. Stiles' goal in speaking to the World Affairs Council was to put to rest common misconceptions about coal, which is too often lumped in with other energy resources by economists and the general public. As development manager for PacRim Coal, Stiles hopes to build a mine at the Beluga coal field in Southcentral Alaska. There are two main types of coal:...
Permits from the State of Alaska and the U.S. Bureau of Land Management to re-open Nixon Fork gold mine near McGrath have been issued to Ontario-based St. Andrew Goldfields. The permits become effective upon the posting of a reclamation surety bond by the company. St. Andrew plans to upgrade and refurbish the existing gold mill, including the installation of a cyanide leach circuit. The company plans to produce 40,000 to 50,000 ounces of gold a year and 1.2 million pounds of copper. Engineering is expected to be completed in...
As all miners know, if you do some digging, there's a chance you'll strike it big. Barry Kibler of California dug out his grandfather's diaries and found a treasure trove of stories about his stints working at the Treadwell gold mines in Douglas, near Juneau, in 1903-04. Kibler, a retired truck driver, recently finished transcribing the diaries of Edwin Warren and hopes to find a publisher for them. Warren himself set out for Alaska by bicycle, train and steamer, hoping to study birds and save money for his tuition at...
Pebble copper-gold mine in Alaska's Bristol Bay region is still on the drawing board, but a debate is already raging in the state Legislature over the best way to oversee the project. Although Vancouver-based Northern Dynasty has said it won't submit permit applications for Pebble for another year, while it assesses new drill results, mine opponents have launched a multimedia advertising campaign in an effort to drown out the voices of supporters and those who prefer a wait-and-see approach. The House Resources Committee...
The aftermath of Hurricane Katrina was not the ideal time to be scouring the country for three 3,500-gallon-per-minute pumps, but that's exactly what Anchorage-based Precision Power needed last fall to complete a rush job for a gold mine in the Russian Far East. Fortunately, manufacturer Gorman-Rupp happened to have three such pumps on the shelf and Precision Power met the deadline to provide the mine with customized equipment for building ice roads. "I got a phone call while I was having lunch and took the numbers down on a...
A report on the economic impact of Alaska's mining industry published in February provides a comprehensive look at the varied benefits mining brings to the state. The Alaska Miners Association commissioned the McDowell Group to prepare the report and distributed it to state legislators. Presentations to the Legislature by the AMA and the Alaska Minerals Commission in the same week emphasized the positive aspects of Alaska's mining resurgence and the importance of a stable tax regime. Much of the information in the McDowell...
Usibelli Coal Mine in Healy, Alaska, has achieved an all-time safety record for no lost time injuries. The company said Jan. 17 that from Jan. 27, 2004, to the present, Usibelli's employees have collectively achieved more than 720 days of continuous operations without a lost time injury. "This is a significant accomplishment considering the challenging conditions we work in every day, while maintaining an impressive on-time delivery schedule to our customers," said Keith Walters, Usibelli's general manager. "We have produced...
Northern Dynasty may only be a junior mining company, but it has marshaled an army of contractors to conduct baseline environmental studies for its Pebble project in southwest Alaska. Companies that competed against each other to win the contracts are now working as a team taking samples, monitoring conditions and analyzing data that will eventually be used in the permit applications for the proposed copper-gold mine. In 2005 the Pebble project employed 45 consulting firms, with a total Alaska workforce of 457, plus another...
A Vancouver-based junior that has been conducting a drilling program on its sole property, Kutcho Creek in northern British Columbia, formally entered the environmental assessment process last summer with a view to developing a mine. Western Keltic Mines will soon start making presentations to local communities to ensure that First Nations are on board. The company is striving to catch up with the more advanced development projects in the area, NovaGold's Galore Creek and bcMetals' Red Chris. Near to all of those is Barrick...
Permitting, legislation, taxation and education are some of the key issues discussed by the Alaska Minerals Commission in its 2006 report, published in January. The report praises the state's continuing efforts to improve the climate for the mining industry, but also gives a number of recommendations on what else could be done in this period of unusually high activity. The commission has advised Alaska's leaders since its creation in 1986. "A cloud of uncertainty has been cast over the industry by the U.S. Army Corps of...
The new president of Alaska-focused exploration company Select Resources is ready to talk to any potential customer or joint venture partner if there is an opportunity to develop the business. That's the message from Henry "Rick" Sandri, who was promoted from executive vice president in December after Harry Noyes resigned his officer and director positions for family reasons. Select Resources is a mining subsidiary of Bakersfield, Calif.-based Tri-Valley, an oil and gas developer. "Every asset we have is for sale, lease,...
Fort Knox mine near Fairbanks is considering the construction of a heap leach pad to improve its recovery rate and take advantage of soaring gold prices. The project is still in the planning stages, but if mine owner Fairbanks Gold Mining - a subsidiary of Kinross - decides it is viable, the estimated capital cost would be $22 million. Operating costs would be approximately one-third of the current mill operating costs, and the heap leach would be used in addition to the mill processes. "Heap leaching is being evaluated to im...
As the mining industry booms and companies rush to develop new properties, there is often one major snag in remote northern regions: inadequate infrastructure. This is the case with the Red Chris property in British Columbia, which completed the province's environmental assessment process last August. Vancouver-based bcMetals is champing at the bit to obtain permits and start construction of its proposed copper-gold mine, but everything hinges on whether or not the British Columbia government will build a 37.5-megawatt power...
Vancouver-based Sherwood Copper has acquired a second ball mill for its Minto copper-gold project in the Yukon, the company announced Jan. 5. The 10.5-foot by 12-foot Allis Chalmers ball mill was purchased from ASARCO for US$75,000, including a 900 horsepower motor, drive assembly, lubrication system and scoop feeder. This ball mill is a twin to the one that is already at the Minto site. Preliminary grinding studies indicated that the current plant design was capable of processing an average of 1,564 metric tons of ore per...
Bob Loeffler, who resigned recently as director of the Alaska Department of Natural Resources' Division of Mining, Land and Water, has joined Jade North LLC. Founded in 2000, the Anchorage-based company provides consulting services in a broad range of natural resource, Alaska Native and government sectors. In his new job Loeffler will represent clients with natural resource extraction and transport interests, as well as assist clients with land management projects and issues with government, Native and private land owners,...
Barrick Gold's takeover of Placer Dome could light a fire under the Donlin Creek project in southwest Alaska. Toronto-based Barrick, the world's No. 3 gold producer, mounted an initially hostile bid to purchase Vancouver-based Placer Dome late last year, but the two companies subsequently agreed on an offer of $10.4 billion that they believe will benefit them both. "One of the significant rationales behind the takeover bid was to build up the project pipeline," Vincent Borg, Barrick's vice president for communications, told...
Alaska's newest large mines, such as Pogo, will benefit from some of the most advanced equipment on the market, including drill rigs with computer consoles and rock bolts that expand to the right strength whether they are in an ore body or waste rock. Much of this equipment is being provided by a distributor with branches across the state, Construction Machinery International. Ken and Chad Gerondale of CMI gave details at a presentation to the Alaska Miners Association in Anchorage Dec. 14. CMI represents major manufacturers...
The government of Yukon announced the annual Robert E. Leckie award winners for outstanding quartz and placer reclamation practices Nov. 24. The awards are for companies and individuals who go above and beyond the call of duty in responsible mining and reclamation. This includes adding features to the land that notably enhance the area; returning mined land to a condition that is both structurally sound and aesthetically pleasing; or cleaning up properties mined prior to mining land use regulations coming into effect. Gimlex...
De Beers, the world's largest diamond company, is rapidly making itself at home in snow-bound Canada, thousands of miles from its base in South Africa. On the heels of its Snap Lake mine in Northwest Territories and the Victor mine in northern Ontario, De Beers filed permit applications in late November for the Gahcho Kué mine, also in Northwest Territories. The latest large-scale project will be a partnership with Mountain Province Diamonds (44.1 percent) and Camphor Ventures (4.9 percent). Construction at the Snap Lake...
