The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North

Articles from the April 27, 2008 edition


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  • Drizzle follows perfect storm of news as 2008 mining season gets under way

    Curt Freeman, For Mining News|Updated Apr 27, 2008

    Last month's perfect storm of news from around the state has blown itself out so that this month we are getting only a drizzle or two. Why? Seems straightforward to me. If you have a budget, you already have started working on it, and you are too busy working to have anything much to report. If you don't have a budget yet, it is unlikely that you will be getting one at this late date so you have even less to say. Time to put boots on the outcrops! Western Alaska NovaGold... Full story

  • Pebble seen as opportunity, not problem

    Updated Apr 27, 2008

    Partnership's new CEO shares views on challenges that giant copper-gold-moly deposit likely will face on road to development ohn Shively, the new chief executive officer of Pebble Limited Partnership, told Mining News in an April 11 interview that the Pebble Project in Southwest Alaska is a huge opportunity for both the people who live in the area and for all Alaskans. Shively said it is inappropriate for Pebble's opponents to try to stop the project before it reaches the permitting process, and irresponsible of them to be...

  • State seeks comment on coal rules

    Mining News|Updated Apr 27, 2008

    The Alaska Department of Natural Resources is seeking public comment on recent revisions to the state's surface coal mining regulations. DNR made substantial revisions to its proposed changes to the Alaska Surface Coal Mining Program based on public comments received in response to a public notice the department issued in March 2007. The proposed changes involve amending existing sections and adopting new sections in Title 11, Chapter 90 in at least 23 areas of the coal mining regulations. The revisions are designed to make...

  • Lawmakers earmark funds to educate public on possible ballot proposals

    Shane Lasley|Updated Apr 27, 2008

    The Alaska Legislature has included $25,000 in its fiscal 2009 capital budget to fund a public education campaign on Alaska mining and regulations. Rep. John Coghill, R-North Pole, and House Majority Leader Ralph Samuels, R-Anchorage, added the budget item to enable state officials to talk about the impact initiatives 07WATR and 07WTR might have on Alaska's mining industry. The initiatives appear to be headed for the ballot in August. The first draft of the budget item read... Full story

  • Pebble CEO gets $140 million budget

    Shane Lasley, Mining News|Updated Apr 27, 2008

    The Pebble Limited Partnership- an Alaska-based 50-50 partnership formed between a wholly owned subsidiary of Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd. and a wholly owned U.S. subsidiary of Anglo American plc to engineer, permit, construct and operate a modern, long-life mine at the Pebble Project-has set a 2008 budget of $140.1 million to advance the Pebble copper-gold-molybdenum project in southwest Alaska. In early April the partners appointed John Shively as the partnership's first... Full story

  • Miner seeks mineral riches on ocean floor

    Rose Ragsdale, For Mining News|Updated Apr 27, 2008

    If Alaska is the "Last Frontier," then Nautilus Minerals Ltd. surely must be exploring what can only be described as the ultimate frontier on earth - the bottom of the ocean. The Vancouver, B.C.-based junior exploration company earlier this year reported the first resource estimate for an undersea mineral deposit, ushering in what many call a new era in hardrock mining. The junior said it plans to develop substantial high-grade polymetallic (copper, gold, zinc and silver) massive sulphide deposits in 1,600 meters of water in...

  • We're awash in political skullduggery

    J. P. Tangen, For Mining News|Updated Apr 27, 2008

    It is axiomatic that democracy as a form of government doesn't work very well. If you doubt me, you should consider watching the television program "Survivor" sometime. In that show, a group of people are marooned in a desert location (along with a couple of hundred medical support staff, television producers, and aircraft pilots) for 39 days to decide who among them should be given $1,000,000. One-by-one the players are voted out of the group until only two or three remain;...

  • Millrock widens Alaska exploration focus

    Shane Lasley, Mining News|Updated Apr 27, 2008

    Millrock Resources Inc. has added four significant Alaska gold properties to its portfolio in preparation for substantial exploration in 2008. Millrock is currently working on its 2008 exploration budget, but early estimates are that the company will spend between $3 million and $4 million on its Alaska properties this year. The bulk of the budget will be applied to exploration at the Ketchem, Estelle and Divide properties, Millrock President Greg Beischer told Mining News...

  • High-grade assays continue at Freegold's Golden Summit project

    Shane Lasley|Updated Apr 27, 2008

    Vancouver, B.C.-based Freegold Ventures Ltd. April 24 posted results from drilling in Fence 6 North at its Golden Summit Project about 20 miles north of Fairbanks. The work is a continuation of a 40,000-foot phase 2 drill program with close-spaced shallow holes. Freegold said Fence 6 North, the westernmost fence drilled on the property, intersected gold mineralization similar to that encountered in fences drilled to the east. The assay results showed three-foot intervals of...

  • Zazu Metals explores Red Dog's neighbor

    Shane Lasley, Mining News|Updated Apr 27, 2008

    After purchasing a 50 percent interest in the Lik in Northwest Alaska last year, Zazu Metals Corp. has begun to explore the zinc-lead-silver-rich property. In 2007, the Vancouver, B.C.-based junior drilled 1,400 meters in 11 holes with the intention of confirming 26,200 meters of historic drilling completed on the property. Lik is located about 22 kilometers, or 14 miles, northeast of the Red Dog Mine, the world's largest zinc mine. Teck Cominco Ltd., operator of the Red Dog...

  • Yukon budgets funds to support mining

    Rose Ragsdale, For Mining News|Updated Apr 27, 2008

    The Yukon Government has earmarked more than $1 million in its fiscal 2008-2009 budget for programs aimed at supporting both hardrock and placer mining in the territory. The government budgeted $700,000 for the Yukon Mining Incentives Program, subject to legislative approval. The program is designed to promote and enhance mineral prospecting, exploration and development activities in Yukon by providing a portion of the risk capital required to locate and explore mineral deposits. "We are proud to support the independent...

  • Chinese flock to mineral-rich region

    Rose Ragsdale, For Mining News|Updated Apr 27, 2008

    Chinese investors are gradually building inroads into ownership of mining companies operating in Yukon Territory as part of a worldwide push to acquire reliable sources of precious and base minerals. According to a report released by PricewaterhouseCoopers in March, mining merger and acquisition activity in 2008 is set to top 2007's record $158.9 billion total as the number and size of deals escalate. The report also noted the emergence of Chinese and Russian companies as major players in the acquisition hunt. Companies from...

  • Yellowknife demands EA for Giant cleanup

    Rose Ragsdale, For Mining News|Updated Apr 27, 2008

    The City of Yellowknife has invoked a little-used federal law to force the Contaminants and Remediation Directorate (CARD) of Canada's Department of Indian and Northern Affairs to complete an environmental assessment of its remediation plans for 237,000 metric tons of arsenic stored within the city limits. CARD, in cooperation with the Government of the Northwest Territories, proposes to render harmless, mounds of arsenic trioxide dust left behind in 15 underground chambers by owners of the abandoned Giant Mine, once a...

  • Junior seeks JV partner for SW claims

    Mining News|Updated Apr 27, 2008

    Liberty Star Uranium and Metals Corp. April 10 said it has received interest from "more than one large global mining company" in becoming a joint venture partner to explore the 113,000-acre Big Chunk property that borders the northern and western edges of the Pebble Property in Southwest Alaska. The Tucson, Arizona-based junior said expressions of interest came within two days of a March 26 announcement that Liberty Star is seeking a partner to explore the property. "It is early in the process and the company has no way of ju... Full story

  • Tonogold outlines gold potential at Nyac

    Rose Ragsdale, For Mining News|Updated Apr 27, 2008

    Tonogold Resources Inc., in hopes of drawing attention to its search for an Alaska partner, released a geology, geochemistry and drilling report April 17 that covers exploration from 2005 to 2007 of its Nyac Porphyry Gold Project in southwestern Alaska. The Nyac property consists of 57,600 acres and is located at the western end of the Alaska-Yukon Tintina Gold Belt on lands owned by Calista Corp, the Alaska Native regional corporation for the Yukon-Kuskokwim region. Tonogold leases the Nyac property from Calista. During 2007... Full story

  • Gold properties with golden neighbors

    Shane Lasley, Mining News|Updated Apr 27, 2008

    Freegold Ventures Ltd. is returning to explore the gold-rich hills of the Goodpaster Mining District this summer and follow up on its quest for mineral riches near Fort Knox. The busy miner outlined its 2008 exploration program March 31 for the Rob gold property in Interior Alaska about 110 miles southeast of Fairbanks as well as plans for its Golden Summit property north of Fairbanks. The 2008 program will include ground geophysics, geologic mapping and additional core drilli...

  • NovaGold focuses on Alaska properties

    Shane Lasley, Mining News|Updated Apr 27, 2008

    Vancouver-based NovaGold Resources Inc. April 14 assured investors that it has a "clearly defined strategy" to rebuild shareholder value from the setbacks suffered in the market last fall when the company and partner Teck Cominco Ltd. elected to delay development of the Galore Creek Project in northern British Columbia. NovaGold's new strategy is a focus on Rock Creek and Donlin Creek, the junior's gold projects in Alaska. NovaGold also reported earnings of $28 million, or 27... Full story