The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
Sorted by date Results 26 - 43 of 43
A recent agreement between Vital Metals Ltd. and Ucore Rare Metals Inc. marks a major milestone in establishing a complete North American rare earths supply chain with links in Northwest Territories, Saskatchewan, and Alaska. Vital has already established Canada's only rare earths mine at its Nechalacho project in Northwest Territories and is building a processing facility in Saskatchewan to upgrade the high-grade ore into a midstream carbonated product with a mix of rare...
Ucore Rare Metals Inc. Nov. 17 announced that the United States Forest Service has issued a one-year authorization for trenching and bulk sampling at the Bokan Mountain 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 metric tons of total rare earth oxides – 14 lanthanide elements, yttrium, and scandium – plus 1.05 met...
Lightweight, strong, and resistant to corrosion, titanium is best known for the properties it lends to rockets, aircraft, and high-performance sports equipment. Only about 3% of the more than 8 million metric tons of titanium minerals mined each year globally, however, go into high strength-to-weight ratio and corrosion-resistant alloys. What does drive the mass majority of the demand for this critical mineral is "enwhitening." According to the United States Geological...
Racing to become Canada's first miner of rare earth elements, Vital Metals Ltd. had clocked another milestone by producing a 12-kilogram sample of rare earth carbonate in a bulk sampling program at its Nechalacho rare earths project located 100 kilometers (62 miles) southeast of Yellowknife, the capital of Northwest Territories. Vital is hoping to begin production of rare earth oxide at Nechalacho in the second quarter of 2021, with early production from a North T starter...
From a world-class graphite deposit in the Northwest to rare earths on the Southeast Panhandle, Alaska has the potential to offer a sustainable and secure supply to meet the coming explosive demand for the minerals and metals crucial to the renewable energy and electric vehicle sectors in North America and around the globe. International Finance Corporation, part of the World Bank Group, estimates that this shift to low-carbon energy and electric mobility will create nearly...
Wind turbines, solar panels, and the batteries that store the electricity these renewable energy sources generate are creating new demands for an array of minerals and metals, many of which are not mined in the United States. Recognizing that mines lie at the front end of America's expanding renewable energy supply chains, federal officials have determined that critical mining projects must be eligible for Fast-41, a program established in 2015 to improve the timeliness,...
Due to their vital importance to American manufacturing and the fact that 100% of U.S. supply comes from overseas, primarily China, rare earth elements top the list of minerals and metals deemed critical to the United States. When the U.S. Geological Survey plugged in 52 critical mineral commodities into a recently developed supply risk tool, six rare earth elements – dysprosium (No. 1), yttrium (No. 2), neodymium (No. 3), lanthanum (No. 5), cerium (No. 6) and praseodymium (...
Graphite One Inc. Oct. 1 said President Donald Trump's declaration that the United States' heavy reliance on foreign nations for critical minerals is a national emergency highlights the importance of the company's plans to establish a domestic graphite supply chain by developing a mine at its Graphite Creek deposit in Alaska. The U.S. is 100% dependent on imports for graphite, which is currently the primary anode material in the lithium-ion batteries that power smartphones,...
Avalon Advanced Materials Inc. Feb. 6 reported that headway is being made at its Will Scarlett rare earth elements recovery project in Illinois and Nechalacho REE Mine project in Northwest Territories. Avalon said the December agreement by Canada and the United States to co-operate on critical minerals supply chain development, particularly rare earths, has resulted in new government initiatives in both countries to support the creation of these supply chains. The critical...
Ucore Rare Metals Inc. Dec. 23 announced that it is collaborating with an Ohio-based advanced material manufacturer to respond to an open request from the Pentagon for a strategic assessment of the domestic heavy rare earth element (HREE) market, in conjunction with an engineering evaluation of the viability of HREE separation capabilities at various sites within the United States. Materion Corp., Ucore's new Ohio-based colleague, is an advanced materials supplier with a...
USA Rare Earth LLC and Texas Mineral Resources Corp. has made a major advancement toward developing the heavy rare earth separation technology that the U.S. Army is looking to invest in. The Army recently sent memos requesting information on the costs to develop separation facilities that can produce heavy rare earths, which tend to be the least abundant but most highly prized of the 17 elements considered rare earths. Further details on the Army memos and Pentagon's push to...
Avalon Advanced Materials Inc. Oct. 30 announced that Australia-based Cheetah Resources Pty Ltd., a private company recently acquired by Vital Metals Ltd., has made the final cash payment to acquire the near-surface resources at the Nechalacho rare earth elements project at Thor Lake, roughly 100 kilometers (60 miles) southeast of Yellowknife, Northwest Territories. According to a resource calculated in 2012, the Upper zone at Nechalacho hosts 47.2 million metric tons of indic...
With the issuance of five presidential determinations related to the domestic production of rare earth metals and magnets, President Donald Trump is making it clear the White House sees this group of 17 technology elements as essential to the security of the United States. In five memos sent to the secretary of defense on July 22, Trump made an official determination under Section 303 of the Defense Production Act of 1950 that domestic production, separation and manufacturing...
Canada is one of the world's richest sources of raw commodities, not least of which are the so-called rare earth elements. While China currently dominates global production and hosts some 35 percent of the world's known resources, observers believe Canada is endowed with world-class rare earths deposits, which could account for as much as 40-50 percent of the world's REE reserves. Demand for rare earth elements, along with lithium minerals, tin and other critical materials,...
Ucore Rare Metals Inc. Sept. 24 reported it has entered into an agreement to acquire the property to build its Strategic Metals Complex, or SMC, a rare earth element and strategic metals refinery and separation plant to be built near the Southeast Alaska port town of Ketchikan. The SMC being planned for the six acres Ucore is acquiring north of Ketchikan will utilize IBC Advanced Technologies' molecular recognition technology, commonly known as MRT, to separate rare earths...
What does Molycorp Inc.'s bankruptcy have to do with the price of rare earths in China? Some analysts say everything, while other experts in the field point to other weaknesses as the root cause of the American REE Goliath's undoing. When China put a chokehold on its exports of rare earth elements in 2010, Molycorp was already well on its way to seizing the opportunity to reopen the Mountain Pass Mine in California, an operation hailed for its ability to re-establishing an...
The mining company that’s been working Southeast Alaska’s rare earths project is enthusiastic about President-elect Donald Trump’s support for an independent U.S. strategic metals industry, which Ucore Rare Metals’ top executive says will favorably impact its plans for a domestic Strategic Metals Complex. According to Jim McKenzie, president and CEO of Ucore, China controls more than 90 percent of the global mining and production of rare earths ore and exhibits “near complete control over each subsequent stage of the suppl...
Two seminal events related to the Alaska mining industry occurred in the past month. First, in late June, Coeur d'Alene Mines Corp. reported the commencement of production at it Kensington gold mine near Juneau. The mine has now joined the ranks of large-scale producers here in Alaska but only after lots of years and lots of dollars, capped by a trip to the U.S. Supreme Court! Hat's off to Coeur for its commitment to Alaska and for its desire to do this job right. Secondly,...
