The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
Sorted by date Results 1 - 12 of 12
Alaska's minerals industry has taken the surprising step of working with a state legislator to propose a new property tax on large mines. It isn't a purely humanitarian gesture: most of all, mining companies are looking for stability in the tax system and this bill would provide them with a way to estimate their costs more accurately. Senate Bill 179, introduced by Sen. Gene Therriault, R-North Pole, April 18, after consultation with the Alaska Miners Association, would levy a property tax of 4 mills for 15 years on mines in...
Toronto-based Kinross Gold has appointed Tye Burt as president and CEO, replacing Bob Buchan, the company said in a release March 23. Burt moves to Kinross from Barrick Gold, where he was vice-chairman and executive director for corporate development. Prior to that he spent 16 years in corporate finance, including some time as chairman of Deutsche Bank Canada. Burt sits on the board of directors of the Ontario Financing Authority and is chairman of technology developer NRX Global. Bob Buchan, who founded Kinross in 1993,...
Thanks to a gutsy move by the tiny Yukon River village of Galena, mine developers across the state could soon possess a new option for solving one of their biggest headaches - find a cheap source of power for their operations. Galena, like most remote Alaska communities, is virtually held captive by high energy costs. But nuclear power from a small 10-megawatt nuclear reactor could rescue the Bush village from economic bondage, according to a recent U.S. Department of Energy study of Galena's energy alternatives. Power costs...
Since the Pebble project began hitting the headlines, Bob Loeffler has been asked some strange questions. People accost the mild-mannered director of the Alaska Department of Natural Resources' Division of Mining, Land and Water and demand to know why he issued permits for the Pebble project and when it is going to break ground. Loeffler is puzzled, because he hasn't issued any permits for the Pebble project. The developer, Northern Dynasty, won't even submit its permit applications until next year. Loeffler spoke to the Newh...
Alaska Native corporations have considerable experience partnering with mining companies and have seen economic benefits for their shareholders from the mining industry. They are also aware of people's concern about the effect of mining on the subsistence lifestyle, as became clear in a panel discussion on "Mining and the Native Perspective" at the Newhalen conference in April. Greg Beischer of Bristol Environmental and Engineering Services Corp. a subsidiary of Bristol Bay Native Corp., introduced the panel. Beischer, an...
Residents of Southwest Alaska - including a former state governor - expressed passionate opinions about the proposed Pebble open-pit mine at a conference in the village of Newhalen April 7-9, demonstrating that there will be a host of social issues to deal with even if mine developer Northern Dynasty can overcome the project's daunting environmental and economic hurdles. Local Natives are worried about the threat to their subsistence lifestyle, lodge owners and guides fear tourism could change and anti-mining NGOs are making...
By suing the U.S. Department of Interior for quiet title to the state's rights of way for the Coldfoot-Chandalar Lake, Caro-to-Coldfoot and Wiseman-to-Chandalar trails, the state of Alaska may breathe new life into a century-old gold mining region. The lawsuit, filed April 11 in federal district court in Washington, D.C., also named Alaska Northwest Natural Gas Transportation Co., Yukon Pacific Co., Petro Star Inc., Doyon Ltd. and several other non-federal stakeholders with claims to land adjoining or surrounding the trails...
Coal is king again in Canada as producers scramble to increase their output to take advantage of new clean-coal technologies and to meet surging demand in Asia. Natural Resources Minister John Efford believes coal will be at the forefront of a mining boom in 2005, accompanied by the opening of uranium, diamond and nickel mines. He has promised coal miners that the Canadian government's implementation plan for the Kyoto Protocol, announced April 13, will strike a balance between fuelling the economy and protecting the...
Agrium Inc. plans to proceed with a 310,000 tonne potash expansion at its Vanscoy, Saskatchewan, potash mine, the company said in an April 11 statement. The expansion will increase Agrium's total annual potash capacity to 2.1 million tonnes. Construction is scheduled to begin in July. The additional production will come on line in late 2006. Agrium is evaluating an additional similar-sized expansion to further increase mine capacity. "We expect global supply and demand for potash to remain tight for the foreseeable future...
The multi-billion dollar plans for northern gas pipelines could generate some profitable spin-offs in the mining sector. The Arctic lines will create a heavy demand for molybdenum, which enables high-value steel alloys to withstand extreme temperatures and pressures. Now fetching US$30 per pound, up tenfold from two years ago, the metal could soar to US$60 given that there is no easy substitute, said Jim David, president of Leeward Capital. That prospect could also signal a revival of the molybdenum sector, which experienced...
On the cusp of what promises to be one of the busiest mineral exploration and development seasons in the last 20 years, the mineral industry is madly preparing its personnel and equipment all across the state. Despite the late season snows and unusually cool temperatures being experienced as this summary is being written, many of Alaska's exploration programs are either under way or will be sometime in early May. Competition for funds within and between companies remains fierce as projects in the U.S., Canada, Europe,...
Power, lime and logistics are the three major challenges Placer Dome needs to address this year as it moves ahead with the Donlin Creek gold project in southwest Alaska, project geologist James Fueg told a meeting of the Alaska Miners' Association and Society of Mining Engineers in Anchorage April 13. Placer Dome is the operator of the project, which is a joint venture with NovaGold Resources. Both companies are based in Vancouver. In terms of the power supply, there is no regional grid or generating capacity. The project is...
