The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
Sorted by date Results 1 - 15 of 15
As coal mine safety leaped into the national spotlight this year, miners in Alaska and Canada thankfully have been left out of the loop. That's because Canada has only two underground coal mines and Alaska has none. The only underground coal mine in Western Canada is on Vancouver Island and is a mostly mechanized operation with just 17 employees. Canada's other mine that fits the profile is located in Nova Scotia. "It's primarily underground coal mining at issue, and we don't have any, right now," said Steve Borell,...
A U.S. appeals court ruled July 3 that a lawsuit can proceed against Canadian mining company Teck Cominco Metals Ltd. over the release of hazardous waste in Canada that reached the United States. Teck Cominco, the world's biggest zinc producer, had argued the lawsuit should be dismissed because U.S. environmental laws don't apply to a Canadian company that dumped waste in Canada. The lawsuit was filed by two members of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation in Washington state who claimed Teck should be...
In its application for water rights for the Pebble project, Vancouver-based Northern Dynasty reveals details of its environmental baseline studies and proposed mine facilities. Northern Dynasty filed the application with the state of Alaska's Department of Natural Resources in mid-July, providing three hefty folders of information regarding the North Fork Koktuli, the South Fork Koktuli and the Upper Talarik Creek watersheds in the Bristol Bay area. The state will likely request additional material from Northern Dynasty...
The annual running of the bulls in Pamplona can't hold a candle to the statewide frenzy that is going on right now across the length and breadth of Alaska. Measure it any way you like - meters drilled, helicopter hours used, geologists or engineers on the payroll, gallons of fuel burned or gallons of peanut butter consumed - it all comes out the same. The Alaska mineral industry is running at or over capacity and there is no sign that that will change any time soon. The last month saw the start of multiple drilling programs...
The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation is seeking public comment on its plans to issue an air quality control minor permit to Teck Cominco Alaska Inc. for the Red Dog Mine in northwest Alaska, according to a public notice published June 22. Teck Cominco plans to install a 50,000 cubic feet per minute baghouse, or giant industrial filter, to control dust emissions that are escaping from the coarse ore storage building at the huge zinc and lead mine. Teck Cominco has been monitoring the level of ore concentrate...
City officials in Seward are entertaining the idea of using coal to fuel an electricity generation plant in the Southcentral Alaska coastal town. But Seward's city council is also investigating the merits of tidal waves and wind and other possible sources of power to replace all or part of the electricity Seward currently purchases from Chugach Electric Association, an Anchorage utility. Chugach's power has proven to be unreliable when winter avalanches knock down power lines and cause blackouts. To address the problem, city...
Afeasibility study published in July has confirmed that Vancouver-based Sherwood Copper's Minto copper-gold-silver project in the Yukon could be economic for at least six years. That is the initial projected mine life, but Sherwood is continuing its exploration program to expand the current resources. A key component of the project is the plan to retrofit Alaska's Skagway Ore Terminal to receive shipments of concentrate. Sherwood acquired Minto from ASARCO last year and gave the open pit project a new lease of life,...
Arctic Slope Regional Corp. and multinational BHP Billiton signed a series of agreements in July providing BHP Billiton an exclusive right to explore and possibly develop the coal-bearing land held by ASRC in northwestern Alaska. The Western Arctic region includes a number of known low-sulfur bituminous coal-bearing areas. ASRC holds land and mineral rights in the region as a result of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971. BHP Billiton will begin an exploration program on ASRC lands north of the Brooks Range in...
Diamond production in Canada's North is delivering more than vast profits to mining companies and millions of carats to eager consumers around the globe. Since its first diamond was discovered in 1991, Canada's North has emerged as a world-class diamond producer. Three of the biggest diamond mines, all in the Northwest Territories, are expected to generate $26 billion in gross domestic product over their lifetimes and provide around 125,000 person years of employment. Diamond mining also has spawned a support industry of...
The British Columbia Environmental Assessment Office is seeking public comment on an application for an environmental assessment certificate filed by NovaGold Canada Inc. in May. The Vancouver, B.C.-based junior mining company proposes to construct and operate a $1.1 billion open-pit mine operation at its Galore Creek Project in northwestern British Columbia east of the Alaska Panhandle. NovaGold Canada is 100 percent owned by NovaGold Resources Inc, which is also developing the Donlin Creek and Rock Creek mining projects in...
In a significant, but not altogether surprising move, Toronto-based Barrick Gold has made a hostile takeover bid for Vancouver-based NovaGold Resources, the owner of several assets in Alaska and British Columbia. At the same time, Barrick and Vancouver-based Pioneer Metals announced an agreement for Barrick, the world's largest gold producer, to acquire Pioneer. The deals are all related because NovaGold was in the midst of a hostile takeover bid for Pioneer. Pioneer owns claims that could be crucial to the development of Nov...
Alaskans are taking their first look at proposals to develop the coal resources in the Cook Inlet area, as project developers attempt to complete the NEPA process for the second time. A previous design for the Chuitna coal project was evaluated in an environmental impact statement and permitted in the early 1990s, but it never got off the drawing board. Since then there have been substantive changes in the project design and in the regulatory requirements, so a new EIS will be prepared. Public scoping meetings to discuss the...
Alaska's placer mining industry has been almost wiped out by the Clean Water Act. In addition, every surface and subsurface lode mining operation has been forced to go through the dreaded process of getting a "404" dredge and fill permit from the Army Corps of Engineers. From Kensington to Pogo, access roads have been engineered and redesigned at great cost to minimize the impact on Alaska's "wetlands," even where the road is miles away from any water body. Since 1972, when...
Fairbanks Gold Mining Inc. is moving ahead with plans to build a heap leach facility at the Fort Knox gold mine that could reduce its gold ore processing costs by as much as two-thirds. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Alaska departments of Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation released applications, draft permit, public notice and decisions June 29, relating to Fort Knox and the proposal for a 30-day public review and comment period. Fairbanks Gold is a subsidiary of Kinross Gold Corp. Fort Knox is an...
When Margaret "Peggy" Kent corralled partners and a core staff in 2003 to launch Century Mining Co., it was a package of nine groups of promising mining claims near Juneau in Southeast Alaska that she waved in front of investors to incite a stampede of capital to the startup. Kent knew properties such as the Treadwell Mine and surrounding claims in the historic Juneau Gold Belt had a venerable reputation for rich deposits of precious metals. The belt, after all, did produce 6.8 million ounces of gold and 3.1 million ounces...
