The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
Sorted by date Results 1 - 16 of 16
The majority of Alaska voters followed the lead of their governor the August 26 primary, turning down Ballot Measure 4 at polling booth by a margin of nearly three to two. When Gov. Sarah Palin took her governor's hat off Aug. 25 and threw it in the "Vote No on Measure 4" ring; she joined leaders across the state in voicing their support for the state's mining industry and the agencies that regulate it. "Let me take my governor's hat off just for a minute here and tell you,...
The Canadian government Aug. 26 said it will invest $100 million over the next five years in its new Geo-mapping for Energy and Minerals program. The funding is an extension of the $34 million Canada committed to the geo-mapping program earlier this year. "As I've said before, 'use it or lose it' is the first principle of sovereignty in the Arctic," Prime Minister Stephen Harper said in announcing the additional funding. "To develop the North we must know the North. To protect the North, we must control the North. And to...
Hecla Mining Co.'s purchase of the remaining 70.3 percent interest in Greens Creek Mine from its partner Rio Tinto earlier this year resulted in both cash losses and increased silver production for the second-quarter of 2008. The Idaho-based silver producer said the purchase of the Southeast Alaska silver mine, along with unloading its Venezuelan assets, will increase silver production while lowering political risk. Second-quarter 2008 silver production increased 60 percent...
Teck Cominco Ltd. reported that the second-quarter was highlighted by the strong performance of the Vancouver, B.C.-based major's copper division. Elk Valley Coal was also a large contributor, benefiting from the phase in of the 2008 coal year prices of $275 per ton, up from $93 per ton 2007 coal year prices. The strong copper and coal performance was offset somewhat by weak zinc prices and a stronger Canadian dollar. In Alaska, Teck Cominco reported a significant decrease in...
Teck Cominco Aug. 1 filed a motion in a U.S. district court, asking the court to enforce a settlement between the operator of the Red Dog Mine and six residents of Kivalina, a Northwest Alaska village 66 miles, or 106 kilometers, downstream from the mine. Teck Cominco wants U.S. District Judge John Sedwick to enforce the settlement with changes agreed upon last spring. Besides an undisclosed cash settlement, Teck had agreed to seek permits to build a 54-mile-long pipeline for...
Several drilling programs started in the last month and several others began reporting initial results from programs commenced earlier in the summer. Two of Alaska's operating mines reported strong operating results and two new mineral resource estimates have been released. Alaska's seasonal exploration efforts are entering the second half of the season, while commodities prices continue to slide, inflation rates increase and operating costs increase. While nobody likes to admit it, there is mounting evidence that the mining...
Change is on the tip of everyone's tongue these days, and it is inevitable that change will occur. It is a perfectly normal law of nature; however, it is equally demonstrable that the more things change the more they remain the same. Newton captured the concept which is as true in politics as it is in physics. We have all watched as the environmental movement matured and the guerrilla tactics honed in the '60s and refined in the '70s and '80s developed into a major domestic industry in the '90s. Perhaps the most illustrative...
DAWSON CITY, Yukon - Atop a wooded peak in this land of mountains and deep valleys near the confluence of the White and Yukon rivers, a New Zealand-based miner is hard at work exploring for gold. Underworld Resources Inc., a junior organized in 2007, has come to the Far North in hopes of making a commercial discovery at the White Gold and Black Fox Gold properties in west central Yukon Territory, about 95-123 kilometers, or 59-76 miles, by air south of Dawson City. Organized with an initial public offering in March 2007, Unde...
Ucore Uranium Inc. is reporting positive assay results from core samples drilled by two rigs churning at the Bokan Mountain uranium and rare earth elements exploration project 60 kilometers, or 37 miles, southwest of Ketchikan. The company is also awaiting assay returns for mineable quantities of REEs used for many high-tech applications. In addition to verifying uranium and REEs reported in earlier drilling, the 6,000-meter program will test the company's geological model...
DAWSON CITY, Yukon Territory - Underworld Resources Inc., like a growing number of juniors, owes its chance to make a huge mineral discovery in Yukon to a couple of modern-day prospectors, Shawn Ryan and Cathy Wood. But Ryan and his wife and partner, Wood, are a far cry from stereotypical prospectors. No grizzled, elderly loners, these two are quiet parents in their 30s. Ryan is an energetic entrepreneur with a boyish grin and a rapid-fire style of conversing. He began tramping up and down the steep hills of western Yukon 11...
Only nine months after reaching commercial production at its high-grade Minto copper-gold mine, Sherwood Copper Corporation made a significant dent in its bank debt. The company said strong copper prices along with increased production and decreased operating costs allowed for the payment. Second-quarter 2008 production totaled 12.8 million pounds of payable copper at an estimated total cash cost of C96 cents per pound of payable copper (after estimated by-product credits and...
MAX Resource Corp. Aug. 18 said it has completed a 10-hole diamond drill program totaling 7,664 feet, or more than 2,358 meters, at its Gold Hill molybdenum project located about 212 miles, or 342 kilometers, north northeast of Anchorage. The first drill hole of the 2008 program tested the zone to the east of hole 07-05 to examine the continuation of high-grade mineralization encountered in hole 07-01 and under hole 07-03. Hole 07-03 did not cut the entire interval and mineralization was visibly increasing at the bottom of...
Denison Environmental Services, a division of Denison Mines Inc., has won a three-year, $21.6 million contract for care and maintenance at the Faro Mine Complex in the Yukon. A subsidiary of Canadian uranium producer Denison Mines Corp., the company was chosen after a six-month competitive bidding process overseen by the Yukon government of Yukon. Ontario-based Denison Environmental will provide care and maintenance services at the Faro Mine Complex, including: the ongoing collection and treatment of contaminated water, the...
Northern Tiger Resources Inc. began drilling in July at its Sonora gold-silver-copper-molybdenum project, located 110 kilometers, or 68 miles, northwest of Carmacks, Yukon. The 5,244-hectare, or 12,952-acre, Sonora property is located within 40 kilometers, or 25 miles, of the Minto copper-gold mine owned by Sherwood Copper Corp. Sherwood is providing logistical support to Northern Tiger through use of its Minto Mine access road and airstrip to expedite mobilization of fuel and supplies and through crew accommodations during...
Full Metal Minerals Ltd. has taken the first step in transitioning from explorer to miner at its Lucky Shot high-grade gold property in the historic Willow Mining District about 145 kilometers, or 90 miles, north of Anchorage. The company is tunneling into the mountain to recover a 5,000 metric-ton bulk sample of the high-grade mineralization it has outlined with two years of surface drilling at the property. The exploratory mining will help define the resource and the gold...
De Beers officially opened its first two mines outside of Africa in northern Canada in late July. The Snap Lake Mine in Northwest Territories and the Victor Mine in northern Ontario, together, are expected to produce 2 million carats a year. They are Canada's fourth and fifth diamond mines. Snap Lake is expected to employ 560 people and produce an average of 1.4 million carats a year for about 20 years. The Victor mine, which is close to the Attawapiskat First Nation, expects to employ 400 people and produce 600,000...
