The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
Sorted by date Results 1 - 9 of 9
Despite the abundance of good news from the Alaska mining industry this month, there is an unusual black cloud hanging over the industry that threatens to rain on our parade of projects. Domestic and international markets got a severe case of the jitters during the recent United States debt crisis. The resulting economic uncertainty contributed to significant metal price volatility. For example, the London gold price jumped 20 percent, from about US$1,480 to US$1,770 during the month prior to the debt deferral and has since d...
It's hard to be associated with the mining industry in Alaska at this point in history and not be euphoric about the price of gold. At this writing, gold has broken through $1,900 per Troy ounce and is still headed north at a rapid clip. The diverse factors that reflect on this development are imponderable. Just a few would include the fact that Congress is on vacation; the President checked his leadership credentials at his campaign headquarters and headed for the beach; a Republican candidate for the nation's highest...
As Alaska embarks on building a major new hydropower generation project, the question of whether the endeavor could spur development of hardrock mines in Interior and Southcentral Alaska arises. Gov. Sean Parnell signed energy legislation in mid-July aimed at moving the Susitna-Watana hydroelectric project toward licensing and construction with first power anticipated in 2023. Senate Bill 42, sponsored by the governor, allows the Alaska Energy Authority to advance the engineering and design of the Susitna Dam. "The Susitna Da...
YUKON TERRITORY - "There's gold, and it's haunting and haunting; It's luring me on as of old; Yet it isn't the gold that I'm wanting; So much as just finding the gold." This passage from the "Spell of the Yukon" is as applicable to the contemporary stampede of explorers seeking mineral riches in the home of the Klondike as it was to the prospectors of which Robert Service wrote more than a century ago. It is estimated that the modern rush of prospectors to Yukon Territory...
Though still a ways from completely sorting it out, the Government of British Columbia and the province's mining industry have taken long strides recently toward mastering the intricacies of social responsibility, especially in meeting requirements of law and conscience in aboriginal relations. During the past 12 months, the provincial government inked the first-ever mine revenue-sharing agreements with First Nations and BC Hydro successfully negotiated impact agreements with at least five First Nations as part of continuing...
Five months after the devastating blow dealt to uranium markets by the earthquake and tsunami that damaged Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s Fukushima Dai-Ichi power station in March, global markets are showing signs of life as miners in Nunavut report encouraging drill results and exploration activity. Uranium spot prices remain depressed by Japan's ongoing nuclear crisis - down 24 percent since the week before the March 11 event - and leading uranium producers are predicting significant declines in world consumption of the...
Tyhee Gold Corp received a raft of good news in recent weeks, including approval by 98 percent of its shareholders Aug. 17 to do away with the company's poison pill, or shareholder rights plan. The junior is exploring the Yellowknife Gold Project in Northwest Territories where it is focused on developing a 4,000-metric-ton-per-day gold mining operation with annual production exceeding 108,000 ounces of gold by 2013. Termination of the company's rights plan became effective Aug. 19, and rights held by shareholders under the...
DAWSON CITY - "Assays are pending" seems to be the three most common words uttered by companies exploring the mineral-rich lands of Canada's Northwest. After a weeklong trek through Yukon Territory, it is easy to see why. All across this hotbed of mineral exploration gold seekers are applying the "Shawn Ryan technique" of collecting close-spaced (typically 50-meter) grid soil samples to identify gold and other minerals associated with the precious metal. These extensive...
A March ruling by U.S. District Judge John W. Sedwick, which reinstated the so-called "Roadless Rule" in the Tongass National Forest, promised an early end to Ucore Rare Metal Inc.'s 2011 exploration at its Bokan Mountain rare earth elements project on Prince of Wales Island and left several other Southeast Alaska mineral projects needing special permission to carry out planned drilling. "The implementation of the 'roadless rule' in the Tongass National Forest by Judge...
