The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
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The COVID-19 pandemic has led NANA Corp. and its mining partners, Teck Resources Ltd. and Ambler Metals LLC, to adjust their mineral exploration and mine development plans in order to meet the ever-evolving health and safety mandates to keep shareholders, employees and residents of Northwest Alaska as safe as possible. "Although the pandemic was unexpected, learning to adapt is nothing new for the region and Iñupiaq people. For 40 years, NANA shareholders have supported...
Trilogy Metals Inc. July 8 confirmed that the 2020 field programs at the Upper Kobuk Mineral Projects in Northwest Alaska has been deferred due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Ambler Metals LLC, a joint venture operating company equally owned by Trilogy Metals and South32 Ltd., had budgeted US$22.8 million for the 2020 program. Following the novel coronavirus outbreak, Ambler Metals met with NANA Corp., the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) regional corporation for...
Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd. said its Pebble project could provide another source of jobs and revenue to an Alaska economy challenged by an interrelated combination of COVID-19 and low oil prices. Though fewer than 400 cases of COVID-19 have been diagnosed in Alaska, placing it among the lowest states in the country on an absolute and per capita basis, the economic impact of the global pandemic on the largest of the United States is both severe and ongoing. As a result of...
NANA Corp. and Ambler Metals LLC April 29 said they are working together to determine how a summer field season at the Upper Kobuk Mineral Projects in Northwest Alaska can progress while protecting communities and balancing job opportunities for residents of the region. Earlier this year, Ambler Metals, a joint venture operating company equally owned by Trilogy Metals Inc. and South32 Ltd., approved a US$22.8 million budget for the 2020 program at UKMP, which is a large land...
Trilogy Metals Inc. April 8 said Ambler Metals LLC still plans to carry out the US$22.8 million program at the Upper Kobuk Mineral Projects in Northwest Alaska, but COVID-19-related health concerns and restrictions could delay or even prevent the planned 2020 work. This year's work program at UKMP was announced following the February formation of Ambler Metals, a 50-50 joint venture partnership between Trilogy Metals and South32 Ltd. The largest part of this program will...
In the midst of the COVID-19 outbreak and following the cancellation of the Alaska Miners Association 2020 Spring Convention in Fairbanks, AMA Executive Director Deantha Crockett takes the time to answer 20 questions on how the pandemic is affecting Alaska's mining sector and the association; Alaska's economy; state and federal mining policy; and due process for the Pebble Mine project. Q. Alaska Miners Association recently made the difficult decision to cancel its spring...
Trilogy Metals Inc. Feb. 26 announced that Ambler Metals LLC, a joint venture operating company equally owned by Trilogy and South32 Ltd., has approved a US$22.8 million budget for the 2020 program aimed at advancing the Upper Kobuk Mineral Projects (UKMP) in Northwestern Alaska. The largest part of this program will focus on advancing studies to prepare the Arctic mine project for permitting. A 2018 prefeasibility study for Arctic detailed plans for an open-pit mine and...
South32 Ltd. and Trilogy Metals Inc. Feb. 11 announced the finalization of a joint venture to advance exploration and development of the Upper Kobuk Mineral Projects in the Ambler Mining District of Northwest Alaska. Australia-based South32 has contributed US$145 million to fund this new JV named Ambler Metals LLC and Canada-based Trilogy provided the 426,690-acre Upper Kobuk Mineral Projects (UKMP) to the new JV owned equally by the two companies. The funds contributed by...
North of 60 Mining News is proud to introduce 20 questions for 2020. Over the course of this series, Mining News will interview mining and political leaders from Alaska, British Columbia, Northwest Territories, Nunavut and Yukon. Each interview will include 20 questions on mining, markets and doing business across Alaska and Canada's North. For the inaugural 20 questions for 2020, Mining News talks with Contango ORE Inc. CEO Rick Van Nieuwenhuyse, a longtime mining executive...
Trilogy Metals Inc. Jan. 16 reported that its geotechnical and hydrological drill program at the Arctic mine project continued to show the consistency and high grades of the copper-zinc-lead-gold-silver mineralization within this volcanogenic massive sulfide (VMS) deposit in Northwest Alaska. The 2019 field program at Arctic involved advanced engineering and environmental work in support of Trilogy Metals' feasibility study for the Arctic Project and permitting. In December,...
Contango ORE Inc. Jan. 6 announced that Rick Van Nieuwenhuyse has taken over as President and CEO of the Texas-based mineral exploration company advancing the Peak Gold project in eastern Alaska. Former President and CEO Brad Juneau has transitioned to executive chairman of Contango ORE, a company he co-founded and lead for the past decade. "I have known Rick for several years and followed his success with admiration," said Juneau. "We are extremely pleased that he has agreed...
In November 1996, a little over 23 years ago, I began writing quarterly mining news summaries for the Society of Economic Geologists (SEG). Shortly after that, I began writing monthly summaries for this publication's ancestor, Mining News Alaska, and have continued both monthly, quarterly and annual mining news summaries ever since. With this summary, I have written my last Alaska update for North of 60 Mining News. When I wrote my first summary, Greens Creek was milling only...
With two Australian companies making major investments and several exploration companies from Down Under chomping at the bit to get into the field, 2020 is shaping up to be the best year for Alaska's mining sector in a decade. When you add up the investments South32 Ltd. plans to make in the Ambler Mining District and other exploration projects; Northern Star Resources Ltd.'s spending at the Pogo gold mine; and the exploration dollars at least five other Aussie companies are...
Development of the rich mineral resource in Alaska's Ambler Mining District took another major leap forward with the Dec. 19 announcement that Australia-based South32 Ltd. is investing US$145 million to become a 50 percent joint venture partner in Trilogy Metals Inc.'s Upper Kobuk Mineral Projects (UKMP). This Northwest Alaska project covers a more than 70-mile (115 kilometers) stretch of Earth's crust that is uncommonly rich in a variety of precious, base and critical...
As the year winds down, mineral industry evaluations for 2019 are being published at a rapid rate. One of the most interesting such global reviews is EY Global Mining and Metals' annual "risk radar" for mining and metals, outlining what mining companies perceive as the top ten risks facing them in the near future. This publication stated that, for the second straight year, "social license to operate" remains the number one risk facing mining companies in 2020. This was...
Valhalla Metals Inc. is excited about new targets identified by airborne geophysics flown over Sun, a volcanogenic massive sulfide exploration project in Alaska's Ambler Mining District that is rich in zinc, lead, copper and silver. Valhalla is a private Alaskan mineral exploration company formed in 2018 by a team of geologists and industry professionals to acquire and explore Sun and potentially other projects in the Ambler district and across the state. According to a...
Trilogy Metals Inc. Nov. 7 reported copper- and zinc-rich volcanogenic massive sulfide intersections in all six holes drilled at the Sunshine prospect on its Upper Kobuk Mineral Projects (UKMP) in Northwest Alaska. UKMP is a roughly 353,000-square-acre land package that covers most of the Ambler Mining District. This massive land package covers two world-class deposits – Arctic and Bornite –and numerous other prospects and targets across a roughly 60-mile-long stretch of the...
An abnormally long fall has allowed the Alaska mining industry to extend seasonal work well into mid-October, creating a lot of new information about project work conducted around the state. Exploration efforts, in particular, benefitted from this additional field time. Based on information available to date, 2019 exploration expenditures are expected to be in the $135-140 million range, well ahead of the $120-125 million exploration spending tracked for 2018. In addition,...
Trilogy Metals Inc. Oct. 28 reported the final set of assay results from the 2019 drill program at Bornite, part of the company's Upper Kobuk Mineral Projects (UKMP) in the Ambler mining district of Northwest Alaska. The open-pit portion of Bornite hosts 40.5 million metric tons of indicated resource averaging 1.02 percent (913 million pounds) copper; and 84.1 million metric tons of inferred resource averaging 0.95 percent (1.77 billion lb) copper. The underground portion of...
The Ambler Mining District in Northwest Alaska covers a more than 70-mile (115 kilometers) stretch of Earth's crust that is rich in a variety of precious, base and critical minerals. So rich, that nearly 40 years ago U.S. Congress wrote road access to Ambler into the laws of the land. Today, much of the Ambler District is covered by the Upper Kobuk Mineral Projects (UKMP), a partnership that brought Bornite and a number of other copper-rich prospects on Alaska Native lands...
If you have watched the metals markets over the last month, you know why Alaska's mineral industry has surged, stalled, swerved, swooped, slowed, shelved and stuttered, sometimes all at the same time! Gold has gone above US$1,500 per ounce; copper pundits are predicting an increasingly dour future; zinc markets are looking to dive below $1.00 per pound; tin markets have marched strongly upward due to supply disruptions; and silver bulls are calling for annual worldwide...
The initial results from 2019 drilling at the Upper Kobuk Mineral Projects in Northwest Alaska has the Trilogy Metals team excited, especially the first hole from the Sunshine exploration target about eight miles (13 kilometers) west of the Arctic Mine project. The US$18.2 million carried out this year at UKMP included six holes (1,357 meters) of exploration drilling at the Sunshine prospect, 10 holes (7,610 meters) of resource upgrade and expansion drilling at the Bornite...
When it comes to mineral exploration incentives, currency exchange and infrastructure, Alaska is at a disadvantage in the realm of attracting exploration investments from Canada and Australia, countries that are home to the majority of mining companies. The Far North State's vast and underexplored mineral potential, however, trumps these handicaps in the minds of a growing number of miners and mineral explorers. Mining executives from around the globe perennially rank Alaska...
South32, an Australia-based major base metal and coal producer spun out of BHP Billiton in 2015, is expanding its presence in Alaska. This company went into business with an impressive portfolio of base and precious metals mining assets in Australia, South Africa and Brazil. While all of South32's initial portfolio was south of the Equator, the Perth-based major is interested in high-quality exploration and mining projects around the globe. "Our exploration activities are...
Trilogy Metals Inc. is closing in on the completion of a feasibility study for Arctic, the first of a series of mines the company envisions being developed across the Upper Kobuk Mineral Projects in Northwest Alaska's Ambler Mining District. Arctic, the most advanced of the Upper Kobuk Mineral Projects, hosts 43.04 million metric tons of probable reserves averaging 2.32 percent copper, 3.24 percent zinc, 0.57 percent lead, 0.49 grams per metric ton gold and 36 g/t silver. A...
