The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North

Articles from the April 18, 2004 edition


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  • Changing names

    Patricia Liles, Mining News editor|Updated Apr 18, 2004

    Businesses occasionally change names, usually to reflect a different structure, ownership or image. It's a task not lightly undertaken, as the transformation process can sometimes be confusing. For example, there's answering telephone calls - a daily ritual. A company or business name change affects that comfortable opening line of conversation. Sometimes it takes a while to work out the details, as I am learning. My name changed recently, when I married the love of my life. Just a few days after our wedding, my husband and... Full story

  • CORRECTIONS

    Updated Apr 18, 2004

    In the March edition of North of 60 Mining News the Rock Creek photo on page 2 was incorrectly credited to Patricia Jones. That photo came from NovaGold. On page 3 of the March edition, in the story about Alaska's mineral industry, the amount reported for Red Dog mine's 2003 profit was $59 million. That number is incorrect. Red Dog's profit last year was $50 million....

  • Spring drilling for diamonds at Shulin Lake property completed

    Patricia Liles, Mining News editor|Updated Apr 18, 2004

    Calgary-based Golconda Resources Ltd., operator of the Shulin Lake diamond exploration joint venture, has concluded a spring drilling program conducted in March at the Southcentral Alaska property. About 25 miles due west of the Parks Highway and about 80 miles north of Anchorage, the Shulin Lake project is targeting a volcanic occurrence that has previously yielded micro-diamonds and diamond indicator minerals. It's the first known discovery of diamonds from a bedrock source in Alaska, according to joint venture partner...

  • Alaska releases bedrock geological maps for Pogo area

    Patricia Liles, Mining News editor|Updated Apr 18, 2004

    The Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys has published a new bedrock geologic map of the Salcha River-Pogo area in the central Big Delta quadrangle of Alaska. The bedrock geologic map, released in late March, covers approximately 435 square miles within parts of the Fairbanks and Goodpaster mining districts, including the Pogo gold deposit, an area seeing a resurgence of claim staking activity in recent months. The map provides ground-truth geologic mapping, conducted during the summers of 2000 through 2002,...

  • Mining bill awaits Alaska House concurrence on technical changes

    North Of 60 Mining News|Updated Apr 18, 2004

    Alaska miners who file their paperwork late will not immediately lose a mining claim, but would pay a penalty for the late filing under a bill that passed the Alaska Senate April 6 and was headed back to the House for concurrence on technical changes. House Bill 344, sponsored by Rep. Hugh Fate, R-Fairbanks, changes the current law that says if a miner misses the filing deadline for annual rental fees, statements of annual labor and production royalty for a mining claim, the claim is considered abandoned. Both the early March...

  • Gold poised to leap ahead in Canada

    Gary Park, Mining News Calgary Correspondent|Updated Apr 18, 2004

    Gold exploration is being fired up in British Columbia and Canada's three northern territories, rekindled by improved metal prices. "The industry is finally coming back," declared Dan Jepsen, executive director of the British Columbia and Yukon Chamber of Mines. The British Columbia Ministry of Energy and Mines is counting on exploration doubling last year's spending of C$55 million, helped by the provincial government's efforts to reduce bureaucratic delays and introduce tax incentives for mining investments. Optimism has... Full story

  • After rebuff, Israeli consortium bids second time for BHP Billiton's Ekati diamond mine

    Gary Park, Mining News Calgary correspondent|Updated Apr 18, 2004

    Having been rebuffed last June, an Israeli diamond consortium has made a second unsolicited bid for the lucrative Ekati mine in Canada's Northwest Territories. But the offer by the DGI Group of Cos. drew a light-hearted response from Ekati owner BHP Billiton, with a spokesman in Yellowknife suggesting that "this comes around every year ... take it with a pinch of salt." Graeme Currie, a mining analyst with Canaccord Capital, told the Financial Post that BHP, having spent millions of dollars to secure diamond exploration prosp... Full story

  • Claim staking takes off

    Patricia Liles, Mining News Editor|Updated Apr 18, 2004

    Prospectors looking for valuable minerals in Alaska hit the ground hard in 2003, laying claim to 507 square miles of state and federally controlled land in the Last Frontier. That's about double the effort by claim stakers in 2002, said Dave Szumigala, a geologist with the Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys, during a presentation at the March 2004 biennial conference of the Alaska Miners Association in Fairbanks. "It shows that Alaska is on people's radar screens worldwide," he said. Claim staking has conti...

  • Ambler JV agreement announced

    Patricia Liles, Mining News Editor|Updated Apr 18, 2004

    Hunting hard in remote elephant country, NovaGold Resources can claim a lion's share of kills. Now the aggressive junior has to prove whether it's found any trophies that will make the company a metals producer. NovaGold announced March 26 an agreement with Kennecott Exploration and Kennecott Arctic to acquire a 51 percent interest in the Ambler gold, silver, copper and base metals property in remote northwestern Alaska. Previous exploration on Arctic, the most advanced target on the Ambler property, identified an inferred... Full story

  • Kensington gold mine review moves forward

    Patricia Liles, Mining News Editor|Updated Apr 18, 2004

    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...

  • Alaska sees significant mining developments in March, says Freeman

    Curt Freeman, For North of 60 Mining News|Updated Apr 18, 2004

    Although the traditional Alaska field season has not really arrived yet, three significant developments occurred in March: Teck Cominco and Sumitomo Metal Mining received final permits for the Pogo gold project from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency allowing construction to move ahead at flank speed, Anglo American acquired its first U.S. mineral property in years by signing a joint venture option on Nevada Star's MAN nickel-copper-platinum group element project and Nov... Full story

  • Going underground at Cliff Mine

    Patricia Liles, Mining News Editor|Updated Apr 18, 2004

    Calgary-based Western Warrior Resources Inc. plans to conduct underground geological mapping and additional drilling this year at the company's Cliff Mine gold exploration project at tidewater near Valdez, Alaska. "As soon as the snow goes out, we'll start more geological mapping and sampling," company President Bruce Evans told Mining News in early March. "We plan to go underground to do some of the mapping and we will conduct more drilling." Western Warrior holds a 100 percent interest in the historical Cliff Gold Mine,...

  • NWT Diavik mine outlook muddied

    Gary Park, Mining News Calgary Correspondent|Updated Apr 18, 2004

    Low-grade ore has delivered a setback to the flourishing Diavik diamond mine in the Northwest Territories. Toronto-based Aber Diamond, 40 percent operator of the joint venture with 60 percent partner Rio Tinto, said the material has forced it to revise this year's production target from 8.2 million carats to the "mid to upper range" of 7 to 8 million carats. It said the problem is a "shell of low-grade kimberlite mud surrounding the ore body. "This low-grade material will continue to dilute the grade of ore processed through...

  • Pebble activity in southwestern Alaska heats up

    Patricia Liles, Mining News Editor|Updated Apr 18, 2004

    A surge in claim staking surrounding the Pebble gold-copper-molybdenum deposit in southwestern Alaska has continued through the first three months of 2004. Anchorage-based geological consultant Bill Ellis, part owner of Alaska Earth Sciences, estimates a total of 512 square miles of land has been recently staked for mineral prospecting in an area surrounding the Pebble deposit. State records show that a total of 564 square miles, or 361,440 acres, is claimed by mineral prospectors in the Pebble area, according to Kerwin Kraus... Full story

  • AngloGold 'keen' on Alaska projects

    Patricia Liles, Mining News Editor|Updated Apr 18, 2004

    Describing Alaska as "a good place to do business," AngloGold (U.S.A.) Exploration's president of North America said the company's focus is shifting away from projects in Nevada and parts of Canada. The company increased its landholdings through a sizeable claim staking effort in recent months in the area surrounding the Pogo gold deposit, and is negotiating a land lease in the Livengood area. Total exploration spending in Alaska is planned for $2 million, which is more than two-thirds of the company's North America green-fie...