The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
Sorted by date Results 1 - 18 of 18
Bristol Bay tribal leaders are tracking a dispute over where to dump waste from a gold mine in Southeast Alaska, fearing the outcome will set a precedent that could harm the rivers they fish. Seven Alaska Native village corporations have signed a resolution supporting the Southeast Alaska Conservation Council, one of three environmental groups who sued the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers over permits issued to the Kensington gold mine, which is slated to begin operations in late 2007. The environmental groups claim the corps'...
Environment Canada, a department of the federal government, has laid charges against Vancouver-based Miramar Mining and four related companies for alleged offences related to a fuel spill at a mining exploration camp at Windy Lake, Nunavut. The charges resulted from an inspection and subsequent investigation by Environment Canada enforcement officers, following a report of a 19,000 liter fuel spill on June 16, 2004. Miramar is charged with violating the federal Fisheries Act, the Migratory Birds Convention Act and the Nunavut...
Vancouver-based NovaGold Resources has upped the ante in its battle against a lawsuit from another Vancouver junior mining company, Pioneer Metals. NovaGold announced a takeover bid for Pioneer in mid-June, offering to purchase 100 percent of Pioneer's shares for C$0.57 per share in cash. The dispute centers around NovaGold's Galore Creek project in northwestern British Columbia, where the company is considering locating a tailings facility on Pioneer's Grace property. Pioneer filed a lawsuit against NovaGold last October,...
After several years of legal wrangling and negotiations, Teck Cominco Metals Ltd., the world's largest zinc producer, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency have reached an international agreement to investigate contamination in the Upper Columbia River in northeast Washington. Under the agreement, which EPA hailed June 2 as a "landmark" settlement, Teck Cominco will fund and perform EPA-monitored scientific studies of decades of past pollution in the river running downstream about 150 miles from Canada into U.S....
Alaska's Resource Development Council members were treated to three different perspectives on the Pebble project at their annual meeting in Anchorage June 13. Several hundred people had a rare chance to hear in person from the chairman of Vancouver-based Hunter Dickinson, the group that owns Northern Dynasty and several other mining companies. Bob Dickinson usually relies on Northern Dynasty COO Bruce Jenkins and Environmental Project Manager Ella Ede to get the message across within the state. After Dickinson's...
The last month has seen the 2006 summer season's first offering of new discoveries, new drilling results and new companies in Alaska. While a number of programs were delayed due to an unseasonably cold spring (bring on the global warming!), most programs have moved to Plan B, C or D and are now fully engaged under the midnight sun. Western Alaska Triex Minerals and Full Metal Minerals reported their planned diamond drilling program has begun on the Boulder Creek uranium project on the Seward Peninsula. The $1.1 million progra...
We who live in Alaska are unusually fortunate for, among many other things, the fact that so much of the recorded history of the state is still within the recollection of friends and neighbors still alive. As each day passes, however, those cherished witnesses pass on and each such case is a page in time that is turned. Whether Native or Pioneer, scoundrel or statesman, Alaskans get to rub shoulders with our newsmakers. From time to time we choose to memorialize those who...
After staking 25,600 additional acres in the Nyac Gold District earlier this year, Tonogold Resources Inc. has embarked on Alaska exploration it hopes will yield a big payoff. The California-based junior mining company began drilling June 7 at Bonanza Ridge, one of six gold prospects it aims to explore with a drill this summer. "We are very excited to begin drilling operations at Nyac. Our exploration activities of 2005 delineated extensive drilling targets with great mineralization and our 2006 exploration program calls for...
Sherwood Copper Corp. dashed out of the starting gate this spring, racing not only to bring the Minto project in northern Yukon Territory to production as early as the second quarter of 2007, but also to boost anticipated copper production from the tri-mineral deposit to 40 million to 50 million pounds per year. Sherwood, a Vancouver, B.C.-based junior mining company, is eager to capitalize on high metals prices, especially for copper, and a projected worldwide shortage of at least 100,000-120,000 tons a year of that...
With gold prices near historic highs, Little Squaw Mining Co. is busy laying the groundwork for exploring its vast mining property for gold in the highly prospective Chandalar district about 200 miles north of Fairbanks. The Spokane-based junior mining company launched a $1.7 million exploration program this spring that includes more than 10,000 feet of drilling in 30 or more holes on at least 10 gold prospects where Little Squaw said it previously established the presence of rich gold values. The program also calls for...
As a worker strike drags on at the huge Ekati Diamond Mine in Northwest Territories, local businesses are beginning to worry whether the dispute could have a detrimental effect on the territory's image as a good place for mining companies to do business. The Ekati mine, one of three diamond producers in the region, is 186 miles northeast of Yellowknife and 124 miles south of the Arctic Circle. About 375 members of the local bargaining unit of the Public Service Alliance of Canada walked off the job April 7 when talks broke...
Kennecott Greens Creek Mining Co. and Connors Drilling LLC have agreed to pay a $12,900 penalty to resolve two alleged federal Clean Water Act violations at the Greens Creek mine near Juneau, Alaska. Connors was conducting exploratory drilling operations near Zinc Creek in June 2004, when there was a discharge of drilling mud and diesel fuel into the creek, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. "The mining industry is an important part of Alaska's economy, but it must operate responsibly and manage its waste...
South Africa's AngloGold Ashanti has signed a letter of intent with Vancouver-based International Tower Hill Mines for the sale and option of all of AngloGold's Alaska mineral exploration properties and associated databases to the Canadian company. Under the terms of the agreement, AngloGold will sell ITH a 100 percent interest in six Alaska properties (Livengood, West Pogo, Coffee Dome, Gilles, Caribou and Blackshell) covering a total of 246 square kilometers. In consideration for the sale, ITH will issue to AngloGold 19.99...
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the State of Alaska released a public notice and draft project authorizations June 1, relating to the NovaGold Resources Rock Creek mine project located eight miles outside Nome. A 30-day public review and comment period ends June 30. The Rock Creek project includes two locations, the Rock Creek mine and mill complex north of Nome in the Snake River watershed, and the Big Hurrah Mine east of Nome in the Solomon River watershed. According to its public notice, the Alaska Department of...
Hanson Industries Inc., the Spokane, Wash.-based development company, has asked the State of Alaska for permission to explore areas of the historic Goodnews Bay Platinum Mine, which it has owned since 1980. The move comes in the wake of rapidly soaring prices for the rare metal, and coincides with an exploration program being undertaken in the same mining district by Pacific North West Capital Corp. Pacific North West, a Vancouver, B.C. junior mining company, announced in April that it had acquired an option from Calista Corp...
Mining exploration spending in the Yukon Territories during 2005 was estimated at C$53 million, up 141 percent over the previous year, according the Yukon Minerals Advisory Board annual report issued June 1. The report said that was a significant improvement over prior years, but it represents just four percent of the total exploration investment in Canada in 2005, which was $1.3 billion. The lion's share went to Ontario, British Columbia, Quebec, Saskatchewan and Nunavut. Must continue at 2005 levels The report said it is...
Construction is under way at Alaska's Nixon Fork gold mine near McGrath, and the underground mine should be in production later this summer. Ontario-based St. Andrew Goldfields recently received the state and federal permits necessary to recommence mining at Nixon Fork, which has been closed for several years. St. Andrew is the latest in a series of companies that have operated in the area since 1919. In June St. Andrew announced that it had appointed William Burnett mine manager for Nixon Fork. Burnett has been exploration...
True North Gems said results of the 2005 exploration program at its sapphire property near the village of Kimmirut, along the south coast of Baffin Island, Nunavut, reinforces the company's belief that the seven-square-mile Beluga property could become a world-class gem district. The results, announced May 16 by company officials, include the discovery and confirmation of 12 gem sapphire occurrences as well as a gem-quality cobaltian spinel, the recovery of a 110-tonne mini-bulk sample and nearly 700 feet of diamond core...
