The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
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An all-of-government strategy is beginning to unfold in the US. Over the first two years following the passage of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act, the U.S. Department of Energy has invested billions of dollars into establishing a clean energy supply chain in the United States. These heavy investments, however, have neglected one vital link – the domestic mines needed to supply the processing facilities, battery plants, and other energy t...
High-grade REE concentrate previously destined for China is now on its way to Saskatchewan for further processing. As home to the first rare earths mine in Canada, Vital Metal Ltd.'s Nechalacho project in Northwest Territories grabbed national headlines as the initial link of a burgeoning rare earth supply chain that would be completely independent of China. With this being hailed as a major milestone for Canada and its allies, Vital's announcement late last year that it...
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...
With a summer marred by unprecedented wildfires behind them, companies exploring the mineral-rich Northwest Territories are reporting impressive results from their 2023 programs. Seeking new deposits of valuable minerals, ranging from ever-popular diamonds and precious metals to recently designated "critical minerals," such as lithium, rare earth elements and zinc, a score of explorers took to the field across the territory. "An exciting new chapter is emerging for mining in t...
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...
A growing imbalance in the supply and demand for rare earths is creating a challenge for the companies that produce this suite of technology elements and an opportunity for the scientists seeking ways to leverage their unique properties in new and intriguing ways. While it is true that the global transition to zero-carbon energy and transportation is creating new rare earths demand that threatens to outstrip the global supply, the real disparity has more to do with which of...
There is nearly a $1 trillion chasm between where the United States' lithium battery supply chain is today and where it needs to be by 2035 in order to build the envisioned green energy future where electric vehicles are charged with low-carbon energy. Roughly 40% of this investment will need to go toward ensuring there is a plentiful supply of cobalt, graphite, lithium, nickel, and other battery materials. Simon Moores, CEO of Benchmark Mineral Intelligence and one of the...
Alaska mining and Washington policy leaders gather to discuss forging a path forward to critical minerals in US's Arctic state. Building upon the discussions and strategic ideas set in motion during the 2022 "Alaska's Minerals: A Strategic National Imperative" summit, the U.S. Department of Energy's Arctic Energy Office co-hosted a two-day summit this week to advance policy recommendations for development of critical mineral resources in the North American Arctic. For the Unit...
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)...
Vital Metals CEO resigns after just 4 months; Ucore adds former Vital top executive to its growing team. With former Vital Metals Ltd. Managing Director Geoff Atkins joining the team at Ucore Rare Metals Inc. and John Dorward tendering his resignation as director and CEO of Vital, this week saw a carousel of executive changes at rare earths companies with ties to the North of 60 Mining area. Under Atkins' leadership, Vital transformed the Nechalacho deposit in Northwest...
More gold, strong zinc prices helped push value higher; critical minerals could add a boost moving forward. Alaska mines produced approximately $4.51 billion worth of nonfuel minerals last year, a 16% increase over the $3.89 billion in 2021, and an impressive 42.7% jump over the $3.16 billion of mined products during 2020, according to the U.S. Geological Survey's Mineral Commodity Summaries 2023 report. The rise in Alaska mine production value is largely due to increased...
Less than three years after bringing its ambition to mine rare earth elements to Canada, Vital Metals Ltd. is rapidly establishing its presence on the world stage as one of few miners of rare earth minerals outside of China. In July 2021, the Australia-based company became the first to extract rare earth-rich material for commercial processing from the ground in Canada – a country known to host vast undeveloped quantities of the coveted resources. Vital Metals is also only t...
Following an AU$45 million (US$31.6 million) infusion of cash in July, Vital Metals Ltd. has gone through some significant changes that are being reflected in a new strategy that slows the ramp-up of production at the company's rare earths separation plant in Saskatchewan and focuses the company's resources on expanding production at its Nechalacho Mine in Canada's Northwest Territories. Shortly following this financing anchored by AU$30 million (US$21 million) contributed by...
Honored for local hire and business opportunities at Canada's first rare earths mine. Cheetah Resources Corp. Nov. 20 announced that it has been honored with the 2022 Northwest Territories Mining and Exploration (MAX) economic leadership award for its innovative Indigenous and northern employment and procurement at Nechalacho, as well as the rare earth mine's contribution to the mining and export sectors of the NWT economy. "Vital has successfully developed an entire...
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...
A shortage of the graphite required for the lithium-ion batteries powering the transition to electric mobility is elevating the criticality of Graphite One Inc.'s plans to develop a mine in Alaska and advanced graphite processing and recycling facility in the Pacific Northwest. "Our strategy is to build a complete graphite anode supply chain – from mine to battery – located in the United States," said Graphite One CEO Anthony Huston. "And to complete the circular economy for...
Electric Vehicles require six times the minerals than their fossil fuel forebearers With even the most basic models boasting sophisticated driver-assist, navigation, infotainment, diagnostics, and other advanced digital systems being fed power from oversized versions of the lithium-ion batteries found in your laptop or smartphone, electric vehicles are becoming personal computers that you can drive. While this puts a whole new spin on the term mobile computing, riding around i...
Russia's invasion of Ukraine, America's tenuous relationship with China, and global competition for the enormous volume of mined materials needed to build the envisioned clean energy future has elevated the urgency for the United States to bolster domestic critical mineral supply chains. For many, these geopolitical and economic realities have elevated the development of Alaska's incredible critical mineral resources to a national imperative. The urgency of this matter is why...
US invests heavily into developing domestic rare earth element processing plants Despite what their name suggests, rare earths are not all that scarce. An efficient and environmentally sound technology capable of separating this tightly bonded group into the 15 individual elements of innovation, however, is truly unique and the key to establishing a rare earths supply chain in North America. There are currently no commercial-scale rare earths separation facilities in North...
Magnet rare earths transform motion to energy; and energy to motion and music While all 15 of the rare earths have special properties that have been called magical, alchemistical, and futuristic, seven of these elements are imbued with a powerful magnetism that is hard to resist when it comes to creating a high-tech future powered by clean energy. The magnetic qualities of these rare earths – praseodymium, neodymium, samarium, gadolinium, terbium, dysprosium, and holmium – are...
Hudson Resources Inc. August 22 announced it has signed an agreement with Neo Performance Materials Inc. to sell its Sarfartoq Carbonatite Complex in southwest Greenland. Located roughly 35 miles (60 kilometers) from the international airport in the town of Kangerlussuaq, Sarfartoq would provide Neo with a rare earths project that is close to North Atlantic tidewater between the U.S. and Europe. Exploration carried out by Hudson has outlined 5.88 million metric tons of...
Rare earths from the Nechalacho Mine being delivered into the supply chain marks the opening of a new critical minerals chapter in the story of mining in Northwest Territories – a saga that includes a 1930s gold rush to the territory's capital, a whole new town to support the Pine Point zinc mine, and the unlikely discovery of world-class diamond deposits in the famed Lac de Gras region. "We have an opportunity to add to our rich and long-standing mining story," Northwest Terr...
With renewed interest in nuclear to generate zero-carbon electricity for the clean energy future, coupled with Russia's ongoing war in Ukraine, the past-producing Ross-Adams uranium mine on Ucore Rare Metals Inc.'s Bokan Mountain project in Southeast Alaska has caught the attention of unnamed parties interested in this potential domestic source of nuclear fuel. While Ucore says it is entertaining the unsolicited offers to investigate Bokan's uranium potential, any efforts on t...
With its Alaska Strategic Metals Complex on pace for completion in 2024, Ucore Rare Metals Inc. has launched a trenching and bulk sampling program at Bokan Mountain that will provide the information needed for a prefeasibility study that details the plan for a mine at the rare earths project in Southeast Alaska. Located on Prince of Wales Island, the Dotson Ridge deposit at Ucore's Bokan Mountain project hosts 4.79 million metric tons of indicated resource containing 31,722...
Innovation Metals Corp. Jan. 4 reported that the RapidSX rare earths and critical minerals separation technology it developed for use at Ucore Rare Metals Inc.'s planned Alaska Strategic Metals Complex (Alaska SMC) and other applications is on pace to be ready for commercial adoption and implementation via revenue-producing licensing agreements by the end of 2022. This includes the completion of a demonstration plant at its commercialization and development facility in...
