The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
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In the famous words of Sherlock Holmes, the game is afoot! After seasonally slower news from Alaska's mining industry in March and April, the dam has broken with over two dozen Alaska mining project news releases issued in the last month. Including those projects moving forward that have not released their 2019 plans, Alaska has become a very busy place under the sun. All of our major metal mines reported strong performances in the first quarter, several of Alaska's most...
Ucore Rare Metals Inc. May 29 announced a victory in the legal row over its option to acquire IBC Advanced Technologies Inc., part of Ucore's plans to establish a rare earth elements processing facility in the United States. Utah-based IBC is the pioneer of molecular recognition technology, a highly selective process for isolating an element or group of elements from solution. Using a solution derived from Ucore's Bokan Mountain project in Southeast Alaska, IBC and Ucore...
Nighthawk Gold Corp. May 28 reported it cut record high-grade gold in a hole at Colomac, the flagship project on the company's Indin Lake gold property in Northwest Territories. The company kicked off its 2019 drill program at Indin Lake in March and recently completed 16 holes to test specific high-grade targets within the 3,000- by 9,000-meters Colomac Main sill. This drilling spanned zones 1.5, 2.0, 2.5, and 3.0 with all holes intercepting gold mineralization. Hole C19-08 c...
Triumph Gold Corp. is making significant, new strides toward unlocking the geological secrets of Freegold Mountain, a district-scale property that could produce one of the richest copper-gold resources yet discovered in the Yukon. The Canadian and Yukon governments, meanwhile, are moving forward with a joint effort to spur mine development in the Dawson Range where the Freegold Mountain project is located along with many others, including the Casino copper-gold and Coffee...
There are many mine sites, towns and claims that invoke familiarity and prestige in the minds of present-day prospectors, but probably none as famous as the Klondike. Klondike, and the Yukon Territory where it is found, are intrinsically linked to the Gold Rush that began the long endeavors of countless people in striving towards dreams filled with riches and comfort. As many know, these efforts wouldn't always pay off and the sweat and tears of these daring individuals paved...
When it comes to managing its more than 1.5 million acres of land in a region of Southcentral Alaska renowned for its natural beauty, Copper River salmon, abundant wildlife and one of the richest lodes of copper to ever by mined on earth, Ahtna Inc. balances development for the prosperity of its current shareholders and preservation of resources for future generations. An important facet of this management is ensuring that there are plenty of plants, fish and wildlife to suppo...
With nearly indistinguishable characteristics, niobium and tantalum are considered the "indispensable twins" among the 35 minerals and metals considered critical to the United States. "Niobium and tantalum are transition metals that are almost always found together in nature because they have very similar physical and chemical properties," the U.S. Geological Survey wrote in a 2018 paper on the twin metals. While nearly identical twins, they each have their own set of unique...
While copper is not on the United States Geological Survey's list of 35 minerals and metals critical to America, there is no doubt of this metal's importance to both the everyday and avant-garde technologies vital to America's economy and security. "None of the other critical minerals work without copper," Trilogy Metals President and CEO Rick Van Nieuwenhuyse told Mining News. Automobiles are a prime example of how emerging technologies and green energy will drive the demand...
The strength and durability of steel and other alloys is greatly enhanced by adding a small amount of vanadium, currently the primary use of this critical mineral. While this toughness is legendary, the future of vanadium could rest in another set of more subtle traits that could make it the element of choice for large-scale storage of renewable energy generated by wind and solar. "Vanadium is becoming more widely used in green technology applications, especially in battery...
With more than 100 known tin occurrences, Alaska is considered the best place in America to establish a domestic source of this critical alloy metal that has defined human progress since the dawn of the Bronze Age. "Today, Alaskan tin deposits are known to be widespread, occurring from the central Alaska Range north to the Brooks Range and across Interior Alaska ... Southwest Alaska and the Seward Peninsula," according to the 1997 publication, Mineral Deposits of Alaska. And...
Roughly 78 percent of the United States' beryllium needs are met by domestic mine production, making it unique among the 35 minerals and metals that have been listed as critical to America. While the U.S. Geological Survey's definition does not state that America must be net import-reliant on a mineral or metal for it to be considered critical, this is a common thread among most of the other 34 on the list. Among the lightest and stiffest of the metals, beryllium has unique...
Since the stampedes of prospectors trekked North in the latter half of the 19th Century, the lure of Alaska's rich gold lodes has drawn dreamers and miners North. Today, four hardrock mines and hundreds of family-run placer operations across the Last Frontier churn out roughly 1 million ounces of this alluring precious metal each year – and the largest stores of aurum discovered here have yet to be realized. Despite being a relatively rare metal that has served as a c...
Antimony is a poor conductor of heat, an attribute that lends itself to this semi-metal's most common use, as an ingredient to make clothing, mattresses and other products flame resistant. While making work clothes and household items safer and less likely to catch fire is a relatively new use for antimony, humans have been using antimony for other purposes for more than 5,000 years. "For example, the ancient Egyptians and early Hindus used stibnite, which is the major ore...
Extremely rare, yet a vital ingredient to emerging solar panel technologies, tellurium is the epitome of what it means to be a critical metalloid, an element that possesses the properties of both a metal and non-metal. "Most rocks contain an average of about 3 parts per billion tellurium, making it rarer than the rare earth elements and eight times less abundant than gold," the United States Geological Survey wrote in a 2015 report on this critical metalloid. "Grains of...
Extremely hard and with the highest melting point of all the elements on the periodic table, tungsten is vital to a broad spectrum of commercial and military applications, yet there are no mines in the United States producing this durable metal. Nearly 60 percent of the tungsten consumed in the U.S. during 2018 was used to make the cemented tungsten-carbide, a compound of roughly equal parts tungsten and carbon. Roughly twice as strong as steel, tungsten carbide is often...
Titanium conjures images of the durable and lightweight metal used to build aircraft, replacement hips, high-end bicycle frames and even quality golf clubs. While its outstanding weight-to-strength ratio and corrosion resistance makes this critical metal ideal for these applications, roughly 93 percent of the world's titanium is used to impart a stark whiteness to many of the consumer goods we use every day. "Titanium is different than most other metallic elements in that it...
Zirconium and hafnium are closely related elements that share bonds that tie them together in nature, an affinity that carries over into their industrial applications. "Zirconium and hafnium are metals that are used in the chemical and nuclear-reactor industries in applications for which corrosion resistance, structural stability at high temperatures, and specific alloying properties and (or) specific neutron-absorption characteristics are required," the United States...
The six platinum group elements – platinum, palladium, rhodium, ruthenium, iridium, and osmium – are amongst the rarest metals on Earth. This scarcity, coupled with PGEs' uses in the automotive, petrochemical and electronics industries, has this group of industrious precious metals firmly planted on the United States Geological Survey's critical minerals list. "PGEs are indispensable to many industrial applications but are mined in only a few places," USGS inked in a 2017 rep...
A vital ingredient in stainless steel and superalloys, chromium is considered by the United States Geological Survey as "one of the nation's most important strategic and critical materials." "Because there is no viable substitute for chromium in the production of stainless steel and because the United States has small chromium resources, there has been concern about domestic supply during every national military emergency since World War I," the USGS explains. Rich chromite...
At least 125 million electric vehicles are expected to be traveling global highways by 2030, which means the world is going to need a lot more graphite in the coming decade and beyond. This is because graphite serves as the anode in the lithium-ion batteries that power these EVs, not to mention the growing number of portable tools and electronics that use the same type of battery. According to Mineral Commodity Summaries 2019, an annual report published by the United States...
In addition to being a past producer and a future source of most of the 35 minerals and metals considered critical to the United States, Alaska currently contributes a globally significant amount of one of these vital metals – germanium. While not a widely known metal, germanium has optical qualities that make it an important ingredient in fiber-optics, infrared optics, electronics and solar energy systems. "The extensive use of germanium for military and commercial a...
If you are reading this article on your computer, tablet or phone, you are almost certainly looking through indium as we speak; and, if that devise happens to be a touchscreen you have the unique properties of this critical mineral to thank as you scroll down to read more about indium and where it can be found in Alaska. This is because indium-tin oxide is used as a transparent conducting film applied to virtually every flat-panel display and touchscreen on the market. This...
While not the flashiest of the 35 minerals on the United States Geological Survey's critical list, barite plays an essential role in America's energy sector. Barite derives its name from barús, the Ancient Greek word for heavy, owing to an exceptionally high specific gravity for a non-metallic mineral. It is this weight that makes barite a key element to the oil and gas sector and lands the mineral on USGS' critical list. "More than 90 percent of the barite sold in the United...
Cobalt is a critical safety ingredient in the cathodes of lithium-ion batteries powering the ever-increasing number of electric vehicles traveling global highways and a plethora of cordless electrical devices. "Globally, the leading use is in the manufacture of cathode materials for rechargeable batteries – primarily lithium-ion, nickel-cadmium, and nickel-metal-hydride batteries – which are used in consumer electronics, electric and hybrid-electric vehicles, energy sto...
It is difficult not to be optimistic about the future of the mining industry in Alaska these days. Although the industry is still No. 2 – as compared to oil and gas – it remains lucrative, safe and healthy. Predictably, that will remain the case for eons to come as new projects are brought online. Economically, from Kotzebue to Juneau, mining's direct impact is significant. Nearly 14 thousand direct and indirect jobs can be attributable to the industry and those jobs can pay...
