The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
Sorted by date Results 1 - 12 of 12
Though plummeting metals prices and fading investor confidence have hammered the mining sector this year, the Northwest Mining Association's 114th annual meeting in Reno, Nevada, Dec. 1 - 5 drew more than 2,000 attendees, a crowd the yearly gathering has not seen in more than a decade. Miners and others attending the NWMA meeting said the economy and its impact on the mining industry is their primary concern. The meeting's two luncheon speakers echoed that concern in discussin...
As 2008 winds inexorably to a close, I found myself looking for words adequate to describe what will go down in history as one of the most memorable years in many a moon. Words like tumultuous, unpredictable, singular, turbulent, chaotic, confusing, and unsettling hardly do justice to the past year's events. As usual, the mining industry played its small but vital role in the scheme of world events. The first half of the year brought stratospheric commodity prices, while the...
I've been thinking a lot about numbers lately, maybe because it is the end of the year, and therefore a time for reflection. But when I read about hundreds of billions of dollars committed to re-energizing the economy or billions of people occupying the planet or billions of pounds of copper from a possible mine at Pebble, I just get confused. That may be because I cannot count past 10 without taking my shoes and socks off. What do big numbers mean to Alaska's mining...
The Government of the Northwest Territories and three diamond mines in the Northwest Territories entered a Memorandum of Understanding to further development and retention of the Arctic territory's diamond mining work force. The agreement was signed in Yellowknife Nov. 27 by Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment Bob McLeod; Minister of Education, Culture and Employment Jackson Lafferty; BHP Billiton Diamonds Inc. President Ricus Grimbeek; Diavik Diamond Mines Inc. President Kim Truter; and Chantal Lavoie, senior vice p...
Hecla Mining Co. now has until Feb. to pay off the remaining balance on the $240 million bridge loan it took out to purchase Rio Tinto's 70.27 percent of the Greens Creek Mine near Juneau, Alaska. In April, the Coeur D'Alene-based silver miner agreed to pay $750 million ($700 million in cash and $50 million in Hecla common stock) to its Greens Creek partner, Rio Tinto, for 100 percent ownership of the Southeast Alaska silver mine. Hecla put about $340 million from its...
NORTHERN DANCER PROJECT, Yukon Territory - Folded into the rocks of this remote valley astride the border between Yukon Territory and British Columbia is at least 20 percent of the world's known tungsten resource. And overlapping that abundance is a hefty deposit of molybdenum. For Largo Resources, this mineral wealth 290 kilometers, or 180 miles, southwest represents a major opportunity and hopefully, a surmountable challenge. The Toronto-based junior is pursuing Northern Dancer and another advanced-stage project in Brazil,...
Redfern Resources Ltd. has come up with a new plan for transporting supplies and ore up and down the Taku River between the company's Tulsequah Chief zinc-copper-lead-gold-silver project in British Columbia and the Port of Juneau, about 40 kilometers, or 65 miles away. The new proposal, submitted to the Alaska Department of Natural Resources Nov. 19, outlines the use of shallow draft river tugs, tracked articulated vehicles, modified Morgan Skidders, and several other support...
As financial conditions in the mining industry spiral deeper into a trough with the overall economy, the two westernmost governments in Canada are taking steps to cushion the fall, at least for mining companies doing business within their jurisdictions. The Yukon Legislative Assembly moved in November to provide new certainty to Yukon's mineral sector by passing amendments to the territory's Quartz Mining Act and Miners Lien Act. In British Columbia, meanwhile, officials set in motion plans to introduce legislation, subject...
One of the techniques that miners use to effectively and quickly mount a mining exploration program in the wilds of Alaska and Northwestern Canada is to hire out to knowledgeable contractors much of the work involved, including the actual exploring and decision-making. But it takes a very special kind of temp agency to fulfill such demanding job requirements. Equity Exploration Consultants Ltd. is one firm that has met this need for 20 years. The Vancouver, B.C.-based consultant has racked up considerable international...
Tahera Diamond Corp. Dec. 15 said it got court approval to cease operations at the Jericho Mine in Nunavut on Dec. 13. The Department of Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, meanwhile, intervened under territorial law and intends to retain Tahera's former employees to conduct ongoing care and maintenance of the defunct diamond mine. Toronto-based Tahera said the shutdown and government takeover of care and maintenance was needed because the company lacked funds to continue care and maintenance of Jericho and because it had...
Geoinformatics Exploration Inc. Dec. 11 said it has satisfied the acquisition conditions required to earn a 100 percent interest in the Whistler Project from Kennecott Exploration Co. by completing the 2008 field season. The agreement allows Kennecott to retain a back-in right to acquire either a 51 percent or 60 percent interest in the project. Whistler is one of the largest groups of contiguous mineral claim blocks held by a single company in Alaska, outside of existing mines and mine development projects. The project...
Pacific North West Capital Corp. has agreed to pay $500,000 to acquire an option to purchase a 100 percent interest in a company that owns the Nixon Fork gold mine. Pacific North West Capital said it paid $100,000 to Mystery Creek Resources Inc., an Alaska subsidiary of St Andrews Goldfields Ltd. upon signing a letter of agreement to the transaction. The Vancouver, B.C.-based junior has until Feb. 15 to exercise the option. A payment of $100,000 is required on closing of the...
