The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
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Alaska legislators are at odds on how to proceed with a state-funded study of the Pebble Project and what effect building a mine at the enormous copper-gold-molybdenum deposit will have on the people and environment of the Bristol Bay region of Southwest Alaska. With US$750,000 appropriated in the fiscal 2011 Alaska state budget to advance such a study, the Alaska Legislative Council formed a subcommittee to move the review forward. Chaired by Alaska House Speaker Mike...
As termination dust falls across most of Alaska, the curtain has come down for the bulk of the exploration projects around the state; however, mine development programs as well as mine-site exploration continue apace as does some exploration work in tropical Southeast Alaska. With few exceptions, preliminary conclusions drawn from 2010 work indicate that 2011 is going to be a busy year. And though a lot of exploration and development is still going on for gold, copper...
Every two years or so we experience a glorious exercise known generally as the political cycle wherein, heretofore, unknown members of our community stand up and invite all the world to throw stones at them. At the conclusion of the exercise, those who have hung around long enough get to vote on who withstood the beating best. Truly this is euphoric to watch if, like me, you are a political junkie. The victor then gets to wrap himself in the mantle of public office and does...
Jurisdictions such as Alaska and British Columbia have long mining histories dating back more than 100 years. Throughout this time the industry has seen tremendous changes and advancements, in particular implementation of modern environmental and reclamation practices that are a far cry from those of historic operations. Today, overwhelming proof exists that land reclaimed from a mine can go on to once again support natural wildlife habitat. It's true that historic mining's legacy is not always viewed in a positive light,...
Focused on becoming a million-ounce-per-year gold producer, NovaGold Resources Inc. put a "for sale" sign at its Rock Creek gold project on the outskirts of Nome in Northwest Alaska. A sale of the nearly completed gold mine would provide the Vancouver B.C.-based junior with additional funds and allow its team to concentrate its resources on developing its two enormous assets - a 50 percent interest in the Galore Creek copper-gold project in British Columbia and half ownership...
With copper-gold-molybdenum intercepts up to 500 meters thick and a location near tidewater on the Pacific Rim, Full Metal Minerals Ltd.'s Pyramid Project on the Alaska Peninsula is shaping up as a significant copper deposit. Chilean copper producer Antofagasta Minerals S.A. joined the junior to explore Pyramid earlier this year and the partners launched an initial 1,668-meter drill program at the porphyry copper-gold-molybdenum project in August. Antofagasta Minerals, a...
More and more explorers are buying up and/or staking claims in an elongated area of central British Columbia that is emerging as a significant rare earth metals play, while juniors line up to mobilize exploration crews to begin searching the area for economic concentrations of rare earths. All of this attention is focused on a major continental geologic feature known as the Rocky Mountain trench, a southeast-northwest trending swath of mountainous ground that could host numerous potentially economic concentrations of rare met...
British Columbia's Ministry of Energy, Mines & Resources and Geological Survey are sponsoring an international workshop on the geology of rare metals Nov. 9-10, 2010 at the Harbour Towers Hotel in Victoria, B.C. The two-day gathering will focus on various aspects of rare earth elements (lanthanides, yttrium and scandium) and other rare metals (mainly niobium, tantalum, lithium, beryllium, zirconium, hafnium). Among the scheduled technical presentations: Rare Metals - Markets and Strategic Importance Geology of the Rare M...
With final 2010 exploration in hand, Golden Predator Corp. said its Clear Creek Project vaulted to the front of the pack of the eight gold projects that it is aggressively exploring in Yukon Territory. Clear Creek is located 65 kilometers, or about 40 miles, northwest of Mayo in central Yukon. Golden Predator can earn a 100 percent interest in the property, subject to a 3 percent net smelter return royalty, of which 1 percent on 77 quartz claims can be bought back for C$1 million and 2 percent on 55 quartz claims can be...
Mining is becoming increasingly important to Alaskans looking for good-paying jobs. Not only does the industry provide high wages, the geographical diversity of the mines provides employment opportunities to oftentimes economically challenged rural regions of the vast state. According to the Alaska Department of Labor & Workforce Development, the number of mining jobs in Alaska has jumped 40.3 percent since 2000, almost triple the statewide average employment growth of 14.1...
The resurgence of mining industry activity in Yukon Territory is bringing with it the prospect of more commercial activity in Southeast Alaska, specifically in the coastal community of Skagway. Though tiny in size with only 850 year-round residents, Skagway is home to one of Alaska's most strategically located ice-free, deepwater ports. The Skagway Ore Terminal at the port stores 65,000 tons a year of copper-gold-silver concentrates from Yukon's only operating mine, Capstone Mining Corp.'s Minto Mine. And once a month for...
Precious and base metals alike enjoyed significant price gains over the past year, a bull run that is expected to carry into 2011, according to the Morgan Stanley Global Metals and Mining Team. Safe-haven investments, driven by worries of a softening U.S. dollar and a spreading of the European debt crisis, are expected to keep investors buying large quantities of gold and silver. At the same time, base metals are expected to be nudged by "significant growth in emerging...
Building on the success of the inaugural edition of our annual minerals exploration magazine, North of 60 Mining News Editor Rose Ragsdale and I are proud to present the 2010 Mining Explorers. This second edition of Mining Explores provides a comprehensive overview of the major and junior mining companies investing the capital and time needed to unlock the enormous mineral potential of Alaska, northern British Columbia, Northwest Territories, Nunavut and the Yukon Territory....
A highlight for 2010 has been the startup of the Kensington gold mine in June. I first testified at a hearing on the Kensington project in Haines in 1990. Gold price fluctuations, environmental group attacks, financial markets, etc. all played a role in the saga. Coeur Chairman and CEO Dennis Wheeler should be commended for his diligence and determination to make Kensington into a mine. However, I am disappointed about one item at Kensington, and it does not involve the quality of the orebody, the work of the company or the...
With all eyes pointed north, the mineral industry in Yukon is having a banner year in 2010. A number of regions are continuing to attract high-profile attention. With two new mines starting production and encouraging discoveries throughout the territory, the year has been very exciting. Exploration Claim staking in the White Gold area, the Dawson Range and the 60 Mile area has been robust in 2010 with many new companies (more than 20) involved in the staking rush. Kinross Gold Corp. issued a friendly takeover offer for...
When I wrote a first editorial for Mining Explorers last year, it was on the occasion of Nunavut celebrating its first 10 years as a separate territory, and so it was fitting to review some of the accomplishments of the decade. Now, as we enter into a second decade, many of the fruits of those labors are coming to bear. That first decade, 1999-2009, wasn't, of course, without its share of both accomplishments and setbacks. Early in Nunavut's short life around 2002, three long-producing mines closed: the Polaris and Nanisivik...
The search for furs opened up the Northwest Territories more than 400 years ago, bringing explorers and traders to the North. In today's economy, it's the search for - and the development of - mineral resources that is the one of the main cogs in the NWT economy. It's an industry that contributes more than C$1 billion annually to our economy and creates more than 2,000 direct jobs. And while the past two years have been challenging for the mining industry everywhere due to the global economic crisis that has seen exploration...
British Columbia is home to an incredibly dynamic mining sector which is helping to lead B.C.'s economic recovery. This is due to our abundant natural resources, excellent environmental and safety standards and competitive tax and regulatory systems. Mining is an estimated $5.7 billion industry for B.C. based on 2009 production values. It was the sixth highest year for exploration spending at $154 million and more than 350 exploration projects around the province were active in 2009. British Columbia is ranked among the best...
The Last Frontier, as Alaska has long been labeled, is as applicable a moniker today as it was to prospectors who ventured to the territory at the end of the 19th century. Alaska is considered one of the most mineralized provinces on Earth, but due to an inter-related combination of Arctic weather, rugged terrain, limited infrastructure and high exploration costs, the state's vast mineral potential remains at the edge of exploratory expansion. Though the Far North state...
Constantine Metal Resources Ltd. kicked off 2010 by presenting a debut resource estimate for its Palmer copper-zinc-gold-silver project in Southeast Alaska. Based on 32 holes drilled into the RW and South Wall zones of the property's Glacier Creek prospect through 2009, an inferred resource of 4.12 million metric tons grading 2.01 percent copper, 4.79 percent zinc, 0.30 grams per metric ton gold and 31 g/t silver (using an NSR cut-off of US$75/t) has been calculated for the...
AXI: TSX Venture Exchange President and CEO: John Gingerich, P. Geo VP Engineering and Technology: Florin Gheorghiu, Ph.D. Vice President, Exploration: Steve Roebuck Advanced Explorations Inc. is focused on developing the Roche Bay magnetite project located near the eastern coast of Nunavut. AEI plans to produce iron products initially from the C zone, one of four zones on the 3,730-hectare, or 9,213-acre, property. The C zone has an inferred resource of about 357 million metric tons averaging 28.07 percent iron to 250...
AEM: TSX Vice-chairman and CEO: Sean Boyd, C.A. President and COO: Eberhard Scherkus, P. Eng. Senior Vice President, Exploration: Alain Blackburn, P. Eng. Agnico-Eagle is an international growth company focused on gold exploration and development activities in four countries. Agnico-Eagle's LaRonde Mine in Quebec is Canada's largest operating gold mine in terms of reserves. In March, the 37-year-old company achieved commercial production at its Meadowbank Gold Mine located in the Kivalliq region of Nunavut about 70...
Corvus Gold Corp., a new junior formed to explore International Tower Hill Mines Ltd.'s non-Livengood assets, hit the ground running with C$8 million worth of partner-funded exploration on its four Alaska properties and a 10,000-meter drill campaign on its sole-owned gold property in Nevada. By the time the Corvus' ticker symbol, KOR, lit up on the Toronto and New York Stock exchanges in August the new explorer was well into the summer exploration its promising Alaska...
AXR: TSX/AXU/NYSE-A President and CEO: Clynton R. Nauman Chief Operating Officer: Brad A. Thrall Vice President, Exploration: Stan Dodd, M.Sc. Alexco Resource Corp., founded in 2004 in British Columbia, is a precious metals exploration company with a silver focus and a growing environmental services business. After completing an initial public offering in January 2006 on the TSX, Alexco has successfully established itself on two fronts. The company and two subsidiaries, Access Mining Consultants Ltd. and Alexco Resource US...
Efforts to build an electricity transmission line critical to economic development of northwestern British Columbia moved closer to reality in 2010. Cheered by the prospect of access to cheap power, scores of miners flocked to the region to re-activate dormant projects and scour the mountainous terrain for new discoveries. The Canadian government allocated C$130 million in funding for construction of the Northwest Transmission Line in September 2009, providing critical funding for the estimated C$404 million needed to build...
