The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
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An interesting tale of a mineral that has shaped human progress for over a millennium, from alchemy to modern industry. Mysterious, enduring, and occasionally deadly, few elements have woven themselves into the tapestry of human history quite like antimony. Revered for its alchemical potential and wielding a double-edged role as both poison and remedy, this versatile element found its way into everything from ancient makeup and medicine to early batteries and, ultimately, a...
Separation and processing are the master link of US supply chain. From tech devices such as smartphones and computer monitors to clean energy products like electric vehicles and wind turbines, household goods like vacuum cleaners and refrigerators, and military hardware such as F-35 fighters and communications equipment, rare earths have a critical role to play in nearly every facet of America's economy and security. The United States, however, currently relies on China for ne...
Projects, initiatives, and technology expand scandium supply chain security. While it may not have quite as strong a chemical bond to its adopted lanthanide siblings as they do each other, scandium does possess similar enough characteristics and is almost always found at the same geological gatherings (deposits) as the rest of its rare earth family. Named for the Latin word for Scandinavia, "Scandia," – as the mineral was thought to only dwell off the Nordic peninsula – sca...
Pentagon turns to Idaho gold mine for a strategic domestic supply of critical metalloid. Falling in the grey area between metals like zinc and nonmetals like carbon, antimony is a semi-metal that possesses some interesting properties that make it a vital ingredient in a wide range of household, industrial, high-tech, and military goods. Despite its widespread uses, many people have never heard of antimony and fewer still realize that this intriguing metalloid is considered...
As China curbs exports of the strategic and critical metalloid, America's Last Frontier reemerges as potential domestic supplier. China's coming state-controlled restrictions on antimony exports has significantly elevated the criticality and price of this semi-metal that is already a top concern from many officials within the U.S. Department of Defense due to its use in military hardware and the dearth of antimony mines in the United States. An element that has properties that...
As a mineral-rich Canadian province and a top global hub for mineral exploration and mining, British Columbia has the geology and technical expertise to be a global powerhouse when it comes to supplying the minerals and metals needed for the clean energy transition. Canada's westernmost province, however, has been lagging many of its mining peers when it comes to a cohesive strategy to take full advantage of the generational opportunity on its doorstep. The provincial...
With Donlin Gold reentering the feasibility study stage, Ambler Metals waiting on the reevaluation of the permit needed for a road to the Ambler Mining District, and an overall lack of investment capital, mineral exploration spending in Alaska dropped during 2023. While the overall sector was down, there continued to be some bright spots – most notably, a growing interest in Alaska's critical minerals potential. In July, the U.S. Department of Defense awarded Graphite One I...
From breaking ground at Alaska's next gold mine to the advancement of North of 60 projects focused on delivering the metals needed for the transition of low-carbon energy, and an impressive safety milestone at Alaska's only coal mine to a history of the helicopters that make mineral exploration across the North possible, here is a countdown of the 10 most popular North of 60 Mining News articles in 2023: No. 10 - CORE celebrates Manh Choh, Lucky Shot Contango Ore Inc., a...
Raging wildfires and record hot temperatures challenged the well-laid plans of a score and more of mineral explorers in Canada's Yukon this year as the 2023 field season shifted into high summer. Most of the companies, however, managed to carry out their exploration for gold, silver, copper, and other minerals across the territory. The fierce and sometimes out-of-control blazes marked one of the worst wildfire seasons seen in Canada in nearly 30 years, consuming more than...
Ambler Metals LLC, a joint venture equally owned by Trilogy Metals Inc. and South32 Ltd., dialed back 2023 exploration at its Upper Kobuk Mineral Projects as it waited for the U.S. Bureau of Land Management to reevaluate previously issued federal permits for a proposed 211-mile industrial access road to the metal-rich Ambler Mining District in Northwest Alaska. Covering 448,217 acres of the famed Ambler District, UKMP hosts the advanced staged Arctic Mine project and more...
Graphite has not been mined in the United States for decades, which makes the nation largely beholden to China for its supply of this largest ingredient in the lithium batteries that power everything from smartphones and household appliances to electric vehicles and military hardware. On a mission to accelerate the development of a domestic supply chain for the enormous quantities of graphite required for America's green energy and high-tech future, the U.S. Department of...
Armed with new leadership and a plan to rapidly explore and develop its lithium prospects in Canada, Li-FT Power Ltd., set out in late 2022 on a bold quest to confirm historical prospects of lithium near the capital of Northwest Territories. While aggressive, the move was far from lacking precedent. Yellowknife, after all, has a history of delivering mineral riches, most notably upwards of 12 million ounces of gold from the legendary Con and Giant mines throughout much of the...
Backed by DOD, BSNC, Graphite One completes drill program to support study of graphite supply chain critical to US Thanks in large part to substantial backing and support from the U.S. Department of Defense and Bering Straits Native Corp., Graphite One Inc. completed a 57-hole drill campaign at the Graphite Creek project in western Alaska that is focused on accelerating the completion of a feasibility study for developing an advanced graphite material supply chain in the...
Massive increase in mining needed to bridge abyss to US's clean energy ambitions; a bad reputation holds the sector back. RENO, Nev. – With policymakers, regulators, automakers, and the public at large looking for "a miracle" from the American mining sector, National Miners Day 2023 was like no other for the more than 1,800 industry representatives that convened for the American Exploration & Mining Association's annual meeting and convention. The miracle being asked of the mi...
State's inaugural sustainability report details the ESG advantages of looking North to Alaska for energy transition metals. The global energy transition has steered Alaska to a critical minerals crossroad that will shape the economic future of America's Last Frontier. On the one hand, the push for low-carbon energy is expected to put a dent in the demand for petroleum, which has been Alaska's economic lifeblood for more than five decades. On the other, Alaska happens to be...
From Pentagon's $37.5M grant to Graphite One to emerging nickel deposits, critical minerals are a hot AK mining topic. With Washington investing billions of dollars into ensuring safe and secure critical mineral supply chains, many mining companies are focusing more sharply on unlocking Alaska's potential to be a domestic source of the 50 minerals and metals critical to America's economic well-being and national security. The growing list of critical minerals being sought...
Separating your plastics, paper, metals, and food waste has generally been a personal choice throughout most of modern recycling history. However, current demand for resources predicts we won't have enough to support net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. Hence, now is the best time for consumers to become educated and self-determined with their buying power, manufacturers to begin considering recycling as part of the initial design, and a new circular economy that resurrects a tr...
Powering nearly 10% of the world's energy needs and roughly 20% of America for over 50 years, nuclear energy is a highly controversial power provider that ticks all the boxes for zero-emission electricity. Much like most contemporary fuels, running these reactors takes something dug from the earth – uranium. In 2017, the United States Geological Survey was charged with identifying which minerals and metals are critical to the U.S. Its original list of 35 critical minerals, f...
From the Pentagon's multi-million-dollar investment in Graphite One Inc. to China's restrictions on the exports of gallium and germanium, Alaska's current critical minerals supply and future potential was in the headlines and subtext of American news stories over the past month. Alaska as a future source of minerals critical to the clean energy transition grabbed headlines after the mid-July news that the U.S. Department of Defense awarded Graphite One Inc. $37.5 million to...
For those in the know, Alaska's resources aren't just some surprise windfall for renewable energy technologies. While precious metals like gold and silver have been the primary focus of more than a century of mining up north, the 49th State is home to 49 of the 50 materials on the United States' critical minerals list and has a history of stepping up to the plate to provide America with critical minerals when they are needed the most. Looking ahead over the next two to three...
Trilogy Metals Inc. April 4 reported that the final set of assay results from the 2022 drilling at the Upper Kobuk Mineral Projects includes the best hole ever drilled at Arctic when it comes to the grade of the metals encountered times the length of the intercept. "We are pleased to close out the reporting of our 2022 drilling campaign with additional high-grade results that reaffirm Arctic as one of the highest grade, open pitable copper deposits in the world," said Trilogy...
The Northwest Territories capital city of Yellowknife is emerging as a northern link in North America's electric vehicle supply chain. Already home to Canada's only rare earths mine, a 160-kilometers (100 miles) area around this northern mining town happens to be enriched with the lithium and cobalt that is in massive demand for EV batteries, along with numerous other minerals critical to both Canada and the United States. A roughly 9,600-square-kilometer (3,700 square miles)...
Gold dominates Alaska mineral exploration, but a critical shift arises. Since the discovery of gold in what is now the Alaska capital city of Juneau, prospectors, geologists, and fortune seekers have spent more than 140 consecutive summer seasons exploring The Last Frontier's golden potential. With these endeavors turning up rich aurum lodes in every corner of the state, except for the oil-rich North Slope, the nearly century-and-a-half tradition of seeking and discovering wor...
From antimony historically mined near the Interior Alaska city of Fairbanks to the zinc and germanium produced at the Red Dog Mine, America's 49th State is a past producer, and a potential future source of the minerals and metals deemed critical to the United States. Earlier this year U.S. Geological Survey updated and expanded its list of critical minerals to include 50 minerals and metals essential to the economic or national security of the U.S. and which has a supply...
Supply, demand, and risks to the US supply chain define criticality Metaphorically speaking, critical minerals are not set in stone. Instead, the criticality of these basic building blocks of modern society shifts with the demands for any given mineral, the ability of the mining sector to keep pace with that demand, and the geopolitics of where that supply comes from. "Mineral criticality is not static, but changes over time," said Steven Fortier, director of the National...
