The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
Sorted by date Results 1 - 14 of 14
Power, road access and availability of limestone are all key issues that Placer Dome is working through in its effort to produce a feasibility study for the 28-million ounce gold deposit called Donlin Creek, in remote southwest Alaska. The major mining company is "on schedule" to produce a feasibility study in the second quarter, project manager Gregg Bush told Mining News on Feb. 5. "There's no white smoke yet, but so far, there's no black smoke," he said. "We're encouraged." Placer Dome is working through the...
With diamond production soaring in the Northwest Territories, prospectors are ready to flood the region as Canada works its way into third place among world's producers. The Northwest Territories and Nunavut governments have issued more than 2,000 permits covering more than 70 million acres, the bulk of them stemming from exploration work done last spring and summer. Nunavut, which issued permits only once a year in February, has logged a record 1,518 permits covering 64 million acres, compared with a mere 190 permits and 9 m...
If it can't be grown, it's got to be mined" is a popular bumper sticker slogan in Fairbanks, an Interior Alaska town founded more than 100 years ago by miners who struggled for gold found in creeks draining the surrounding rugged hills. The connection to mining is still strong in this community, something I have appreciated throughout my 12 years of living in the Fairbanks area. My first landlord in Fairbanks was a former placer miner, and through that connection, I came to know others in the industry. That personal...
Drills will start turning on the Golden Summit property within a month's time of its owner signing a new joint venture agreement with a mid-tier mining company. Freegold Ventures Ltd., a Vancouver, B.C.-based junior exploration firm, optioned its Fairbanks-area exploration property to Meridian Gold Inc., a low-cost gold producer in North and South America. The exploration deal, announced Jan. 23, was followed by a Feb. 11 announcement that drilling on the property will start by Feb. 27. It will be among the first exploration...
Settlement of a legal spat has also ended a joint diamond exploration venture in the Northwest Territories and Nunavut. Ashton Mining of Canada and Pure Gold Minerals finally resolved a lawsuit that was launched in May 2002. They teamed up in 1993 to hunt for diamonds in the Slave geological area of the two territories, with Ashton holding 90 percent of about 540,000 acres and Pure Gold holding the balance. But the partnership crumbled with Pure Gold suing over an alleged reach of the joint venture. Under the settlement,...
The U.S. Forest Service has dismissed an environmental group's appeal of an agency decision to allow operators of the Greens Creek mine to expand its tailings pile for the mining operation on Admiralty Island, some 18 miles southwest of Juneau, Alaska. Greens Creek, an underground hardrock mine that produces gold, silver, copper, lead and zinc, received final regulatory approval for a tailings expansion project on Feb. 4, more than three years after submitting its initial construction proposal to state and federal...
Three exploration companies independently and secretively launched major land staking efforts in December, laying claim to more than 300 square miles of state land surrounding the Pebble gold-copper-molybdenum deposit in southwest Alaska. Characteristics of such large, multiple-porphyry deposits and past exploration success at Pebble sparked the substantial interest by prospectors who hope to find similar mineralization. "It's the largest porphyry alteration in the world and a variety of the characteristics of such...
Mary Pat Wyatt was dismayed when she began assessing the assortment of objects that would become the first collection of the Juneau-Douglas City Museum. With a background in art history and sculpture, and stints at the Smithsonian Institution and the Anchorage Historical and Fine Arts Museum, Wyatt was used to baskets, ivory and finely sewn moccasins. What she found in Juneau was wrenches, lots of them. Old, greasy, mass-manufactured wrenches left over from the town's mining boom. "One of the first things I did was create...
Kinross Gold, owner and operator of the Fort Knox gold mine, said during a company-wide exploration presentation that Fairbanks area work will focus on in-pit expansion, the Gil and Ryan Lode prospects and six early stage properties. Company executives described 2003 results from Kinross properties in North and South America, and in Russia. The company will spend $20 million in 2004, spread throughout those properties, officials said in a Jan. 29 conference call. The company did not provide specific spending plans for...
State and federal regulatory agencies released a draft version of a supplemental environmental impact statement Jan. 23 for the Kensington underground hard rock gold mine. Project developer Coeur Alaska Inc., a subsidiary of Coeur d'Alene Mines Corp., one of the world's largest silver producers, wants to build mine and mill facilities that would produce approximately 2,000 tons of gold-rich ore per day, requiring a year-round work force of about 225 people. It's the third time agencies have reviewed the Kensington project und...
As in past years, Canada's Fraser Institute (www.fraserinstitute.ca) has released the results of its annual mining investment attractiveness survey for 2003-2004. The survey represents responses from 132 junior mining companies and 27 senior mining companies who rated policy potential issues (regulatory and infrastructure), mineral potential and overall investment attractiveness in 53 political jurisdictions around the globe. The companies participating in the survey accounted for exploration budgets totaling US$642.4...
An increase in sales coupled with significantly higher zinc and lead prices helped the Red Dog Mine in northwest Alaska post a $50 million profit in 2003, turning round from a $28 million loss posted the prior year. Red Dog's operator, Teck Cominco Ltd., released its fourth quarter and year-end reports for 2003 on Feb. 4, announcing net earnings of $149 million for the mining company. Higher earnings are due mainly to rising zinc, copper and gold prices, which rose significantly during the fourth quarter, the company said....
Vancouver, B.C.-based Teryl Resources plans to drill up to 15 reverse circulation holes on its West Ridge gold exploration property, located just south of the True North mine, about 10 miles west of the Fort Knox in Interior Alaska. In a Feb. 9 press release, the junior exploration company said it submitted an amendment to its existing exploration permit with the Alaska Division of Mining, Land and Water Management requesting permission to drill targets on West Ridge. Teryl expects to receive approval before the end of...
Alaska state regulators have signed off on completed reclamation work at the shuttered Ryan Lode mine some 10 miles northwest of Fairbanks in the midst of a hilltop residential area. But gold prospecting work will continue this year at the old heap leach mine site by its owners, Fairbanks Gold Mining Inc., which owns and operates the Fort Knox gold mine about 30 miles away. Fairbanks Gold, a subsidiary of global mining giant Kinross Gold, spent nearly $800,000 on reclamation and closure work at Ryan Lode since acquiring it...
