The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
Sorted by date Results 1 - 10 of 10
With access granted and exploration permit in hand, Usibelli Coal Mine Inc. has started a drill program at its Wishbone Hill property 10 miles northeast of Palmer, Alaska. The fourth-generation, family-owned company said the estimated 14 million tons of bituminous coal at Wishbone Hill can fill an important market need among electric utilities that are committed to generating cleaner power. The bituminous coal produces high-heat, yet is ultra-low in sulfur. This summer's...
Two seminal events related to the Alaska mining industry occurred in the past month. First, in late June, Coeur d'Alene Mines Corp. reported the commencement of production at it Kensington gold mine near Juneau. The mine has now joined the ranks of large-scale producers here in Alaska but only after lots of years and lots of dollars, capped by a trip to the U.S. Supreme Court! Hat's off to Coeur for its commitment to Alaska and for its desire to do this job right. Secondly,...
On July 9 Alaska's Superior Court entered an order in a case now pending against the state's Department of Natural Resources concerning the propriety of a series of multiple land use permits and temporary water rights permits that had been issued to the Pebble Limited Partnership and its predecessors in conjunction with the exploration of the so-called Pebble deposit in southwest Alaska. I am counsel of record for an intervenor in this matter; therefore, it ill-behooves me to...
Thompson Creek Metals Co. Inc. and Terrane Metals Corp. said they have completed a definitive agreement for the Denver-based molybdenum producer to purchase Terrane Metals with cash and stock valued at about C$650 million. The deal, which won approval of both Thompson Creek and Terrane's boards of directors, will be proceed under a court-approved plan of arrangement under British Columbia law. Thompson Creek, meanwhile, signed over to Royal Gold Inc. one-quarter of life-of-mine gold production from Terrane's most advanced...
Though most of the gold fever sweeping northern Canada these days is focused on Yukon Territory's White Gold district to the west and near Agnico-Eagle Mines Ltd.'s new Meadowbank Mine to the east in Nunavut, a growing number of explorers are trekking to the territory in between. Mining companies are returning to the Northwest Territories as gold prices set records, including a recent high of US$1,260 per ounce. But most of these explorers are targeting known deposits or previously identified mineralization rather than...
China, which mines the majority of the global supply of rare earth elements within its borders, has, over recent years, increasingly restricted its exports of the unique minerals to non-China-based production facilities. This trend has continued with a July announcement that the Far East country intends to slash its exports of the high-technology metals by an additional 72 percent. Rare earth minerals are made up of 17 elements including terbium, thulium and yttrium. They are...
In June 2009, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down a 6-3 ruling that upheld a tailings disposal permit for the Kensington gold mine near Juneau. Owner Coeur d'Alene Mines Corp. fired up Kensington's mill June 24, one year and two days after the high court made its decision. "The startup of production at Kensington represents the culmination of a communitywide effort by the Juneau community, which has supported the project from the beginning and who will participate in the...
As we contemplate manned space flights to Mars, it may be hard to believe that there are still vast areas of the earth's surface that we have yet to explore. Believe it. The world's knowledge of the geology of Canada's Far North is very limited. To fill this knowledge gap, Canada's federal government embarked in 2008 on an aggressive C$100 million, five-year geological mapping program known as Geo-mapping for Energy and Minerals, or GEM, that at its halfway mark this summer is beginning to yield significant dividends in the...
PEBBLE - Pebble Partnership CEO John Shively opened his June 21 presentation to the Anchorage Chamber of Commerce Make it Monday Forum with the query, "How many people here have heard of the Pebble Mine Project?" The room resonated with laughter in response to Shively's rhetorical question. Though everyone at the luncheon, like the majority of their fellow Alaskans, have been inundated with media coverage regarding Pebble, not even Shively knows what the final plan for the...
FORTYMILE - The storm clouds responsible for the torrential rains that recently washed away long sections of the Taylor Highway are not the only source of rumbling in the Fortymile region of eastern Interior Alaska. Full Metal Minerals Ltd. has launched the Rolling Thunder Project here this summer. The staking and exploration initiative is targeting the lode source of more than half a million ounces of placer gold recovered historically from the streams draining the rolling...
