The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
Sorted by date Results 1 - 17 of 17
Alaska Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell has appealed a lower court ruling to the Alaska Supreme Court concerning the proposed Alaska Clean Water Initiative, he said in a statement Nov. 7. The lieutenant governor denied certification of the proposed 07WATR initiative submitted earlier this year by Art Hackney, who represents the Renewable Resource Coalition, on grounds that it appropriated a water resource from one user group for another. The coalition is a group that is fighting proposed development of the giant Pebble...
Adanac Molybdenum Corp. said Nov. 7 it has begun construction at its open-pit molybdenum mine site near the headwaters of Ruby Creek about 125 kilometers, or 78 miles southeast of Whitehorse, near Atlin, B.C. With a permit from the B.C. Ministry of Forests, work is under way on an access road and associated earthworks. Construction is expected to continue through the winter of 2007-08 on excavation of overburden, installation of a 550-person onsite camp and preparation of all construction infrastructures. "The years of prepar...
Representatives Nick Rahall, D-W.V., and Jim Costa, D-Calif., introduced H.R. 2262, the Hardrock Mining and Reclamation Act of 2007, in the U.S. House of Representatives as a replacement for the 1872 Mining Law. Since the bill passed the House with a vote of 244-166 Nov. 1 it has received criticism from Democrats and Republicans alike. Just before the legislation came up for a vote in the House, the Bush administration issued a statement that the president strongly opposed...
Laura Skaer, executive director of the Northwest Miners Association, outlined the top 10 problems she sees with H.R. 2262 at the Alaska Miners Association convention in early November. The bill: Would require a 4 percent gross royalty tax on existing mining operations, and an 8 percent levy on new operations; Has a mine veto provision that allows the Secretary of the Interior to deny an operations permit to a project that complies with all other laws and regulations if t...
Alaska mining activity climbed to new heights in 2006 with the value of exploration, development and production exceeding $3.5 billion. Production values more than doubled, leaping to $2.86 billion from $1.4 billion in 2005, according to Alaska's Mineral Industry 2006, an annual report released Nov. 7. Continuing high zinc prices played a key role in the record-breaking tally for the industry, the report said. The Red Dog Mine north of Kotzebue, the world's largest zinc mine,...
Northgate Minerals Corp. of Vancouver has posted a loss of $11.9 million for the third quarter after dropping plans to develop the Kemess North project in northern British Columbia. The quarterly loss reflects a $32.35 million charge against the value of the Kemess North project, which a joint panel of the governments of British Columbia and Canada recommended be scrapped. The loss compared with a profit of $14.9 million, or 7 cents a share, in the third quarter of 2006. Northgate reports its financial results in U.S. dollars...
The price of gold surged through $800 per ounce recently, headed north; and all gold miners (as well as the producers of many other commodities in the United States) are bound to have a happy Thanksgiving because of it. At the recent Alaska Miners Association Convention the faces of the more than 600 attendees confirmed the good news. Happy days are here again - or are they? The cautionary note, of course, is that currency traders are also hooting and hollering. If the price of gold was going up, and the price of the...
If you ever wondered how Canada's diamond mining boom got its start, then taking the time to read "Barren Lands: An Epic Search for Diamonds in the North American Arctic" by Kevin Krajick is a good idea. Published in 2001, this nonfiction treatise on the subject is technical enough for professionals and yet simple enough for laymen. In 388 pages, Krajick, a prizewinning journalist, transports the reader like some literary "Dr Who", through 464 years of diamond exploration in the Arctic and elsewhere around the globe. From...
Sultan Minerals Inc. is another Canadian junior with ambitious plans to cash in on higher prices by taking up where others left off in British Columbia. Sultan, a publicly held company in the Lang Mining Group, is hoping to revive tungsten and lead-zinc mining at the historic Jersey-Emerald property in southeastern B.C. The Vancouver, B.C.-based junior mining company is also eager to exploit a potentially larger molybdenum mineralization encountered beneath the other metals deposits. Incorporated in 1989, Sultan has focused...
The government of Nunavut reported figures in early November suggesting the Canadian territory is heading for its eighth year of record spending on mineral exploration and development. A sector that injected about C$26 million into the economy in 1999 is now expected to pump in more than C$256 million in 2007. That's nearly one-quarter of Nunavut's entire gross domestic product and a 17 percent jump from last year. Over 65 exploration companies were active in Nunavut in 2006. With the Jericho diamond mine, operated by Tahera...
Between phase 7 of its exploration program, a new heap leach facility and an extended mine life, Fairbanks Gold Mining Inc. is ramping up activity to boost production more than 6,000 ounces annually at the Fort Knox gold mine in Interior Alaska. The "exciting" growth will mean new hires and major equipment purchases, Fairbanks Gold executive Dan Snodgrass told the Alaska Miners Convention in early November. Snodgrass said Fairbanks Gold, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Canadian mining giant Kinross Gold Corp., plans to hire...
Canada's ministries of Fisheries and Oceans and Natural Resources have joined the attorney general of Canada and Imperial Metals Corp. subsidiary bcMetals Corp. in appealing a Sept. 25 ruling of the Federal Court of Canada, which set aside a federal screening report issued May 2006 on bcMetals' Red Chris project, according to Imperial Metals. At issue is the nature of the discretion of federal authorities to scope a project under the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act. Imperial is pursuing startup in 2008 of Red Chris, a...
Toronto-based Barrick Gold Corp., the world's largest gold producer, and Vancouver-based junior NovaGold Resources Inc. have agreed to a 50-50 partnership on the world-class Donlin Creek project in western Alaska. Barrick and NovaGold have agreed to form Donlin Creek LLC. The new company will operate the project and is owned equally by both partners. Donlin Creek LLC will have four board members, with two members selected by each company. NovaGold nominated Doug Nicholson,...
For those of you who could not attend the Alaska Miners Association convention in Anchorage in early November, you missed what I understand was a record attendance and presentations on some of the most exciting mining developments in the last decade. In addition, I noticed a lot more business being conducted around the conference hotel than is normally the case. Geologists and engineers from companies large and small could be seen hunkered down over reports and maps with...
Though owners of the Greens Creek Mine on Admiralty Island 18 miles south of Juneau say the underground operation ore grades have begun declining after some 15 years of production, they estimate the mine will produce commercial quantities of gold, silver, lead and zinc for at least another decade. "We have 7.6 million tons of reserves left and it gives us 10 more years of production," said Mike Satre, mine technical superintendent at Kennecott Greens Creek Mining Co. Greens Creek Mine is a joint venture between Kennecott...
Coeur Alaska Inc., operator of the Kensington Gold Project near Juneau, has joined Southeast Alaska Conservation Council, Lynn Canal Conservation and Juneau's Sierra Club in drafting a new plan for disposing of tailings from the mine project. Juneau Mayor Bruce Botelho announced the agreement Nov. 15, saying Coeur Alaska and the groups "will ask the U.S. Forest Service to examine the use of a site near Comet Beach for disposal of the Kensington mine tailings." Two weeks earlier, a three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit Court of...
Since agreeing to acquire the Alaska portfolio of South Africa major AngloGold Ashanti in August 2006, International Tower Hill Mines of Vancouver, B.C., has been exploring the state and expanding its claims as it goes. A total of nine properties were involved in the junior exploration company's agreement with AngloGold. In the 15 months since, International Tower Hill has purchased 100 percent interest in seven of the properties and entered into joint ventures with AngloGold...
