The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
Sorted by date Results 226 - 248 of 248
Anglo American plc, a 50-50 partner in the Pebble Project in Southwest Alaska, posted record earnings of $5.8 billion, or $4.40 a share, and $10.1 billion in operating profits in 2007. The results compared with $5.5 billion, or $3.73 a share, in earnings and $9.8 billion in operating profits a year earlier. Total group revenue, however, decreased 7.7 percent in 2007, dipping to $35.7 billion from $38.6 billion in 2006. "The strength of our performance was due to improved production volumes of ferrous metals, copper and zinc,...
Full Metal Minerals Corp. is gearing up for a busy 2008 exploration season. And Rob McLeod, the Vancouver, B.C.-based junior's vice president of exploration, "can't think of a better place to explore than Alaska in terms of mineral potential." McLeod told Mining News in a recent interview that the company will spend between $17 million and $20 million on exploration this year on ten projects in Alaska and one prospect in Canada's Yukon Territory. Some $6.5 million of that...
The results from Alaska's summer field campaigns continue to pour in from all over the state, while field crews wind down their summer work and kick off their winter programs. If the results released this month are any indication of what is yet to come, 2008 is fixing to be one heck of a year! Western Alaska NovaGold Resources announced that initial testing of their crushing circuit had commenced at their commissioning Rock Creek gold mine near Nome. The operation is...
As the late, great Phil Rizutto used to say when something amazing happened on the baseball field: "Holy Cow!" The last month has seen an explosion of activity across Alaska with companies working in virtually every region on a diverse package of metals including gold, platinum group elements, silver, molybdenum, lead, zinc, copper and nickel. Several new companies have entered the exploration field in Alaska and several new partners have joined forces with previously active...
Okay, the lull is over. It lasted about 25, maybe 30 minutes, after I wrote those prophetic but ill-considered words in late January! Shortly after that point I was in Vancouver for the annual Cordilleran Roundup mining conference, an annual barometer of mining activity in western North America if not the world. What I saw at the 2007 conference was a crowd well in excess of 5,000, populated by two types of people: those who were smiling from ear to ear and those whose terrified eyes reminded me of a whitetail deer in the...
Exploration spending in British Columbia hit a record high of C$265 million in 2006, a figure that the province's mining minister, Bill Bennett was proud to announce at the recent Mineral Exploration Roundup in Vancouver. Unfortunately for Bennett, he probably won't be invited to boast about the industry's successes next year, since he was forced to resign in early February after sending an obscenity-laced email to a gun club member. "British Columbians want good jobs, and they also, frankly, want the tax revenues that come...
Hang on to your hat, the data is beginning to roll in from Alaskan field programs and there are some hum dingers in this month's data and several others will be showing up next month. What's a "hum dinger"? How about an Alaska gold project at the center of a $1.5 billion corporate takeover by the world's largest gold producer? Or how about 75 feet grading more than 2 ounces of gold per ton? Or maybe silver production costs of a negative $2.28 per ounce? But wait, there's more...
The game is afoot! The last month has seen the start of a number of field programs in Alaska, marking the beginning of the traditional "field season" in the Great Land. With demand for metals remaining extraordinarily high, Alaska's mining industry is operating at capacity but well below demand. An acute shortage of drills and drillers, geologists and engineers and helicopters to move them all around is affecting exploration, development and production plans around the state. For the first time in my career, money is not in...
In the last month the Alaska mining industry has seen start-up of its first major gold mine in five years (Pogo) and approval of permits for the Nixon Fork copper-gold mine. We also saw announcement of substantial increases in copper, gold and molybdenum resources at two advanced exploration/development projects (Donlin Creek and Pebble). New development plans were offered for heap leaching at the Fort Knox gold mine and initial funding was approved for evaluation of a coal to liquids facility at the Beluga coal deposits....
As expected, results from the summer field programs have begun to roll in from all over the state. Discoveries from base and precious metals properties were reported in September and several properties previously explored in the Carter administration were rediscovered and are turning out promising results. Metals prices remain robust with gold pushing the $475 per ounce mark. While Alaska's mining industry is still trying to catch its breath from this year, many companies...
The good news from Teryl, Kinross, Geoinformatics, Midas, Geocom and others is tempered by the loss of Alaska's gentleman scientist Ernie Wolff, who passed away on May 3; Liberty Star Gold appoints Phil St. George as VP of exploration s I write this summary of recent activities in Alaska's mining industry I am attending a once-every-five-year symposium in Reno put on by the Geological Society of Nevada. Some 1,500 attendees, mostly exploration geologists, are eagerly lapping up hours of new and previously unheard ideas on...
On the cusp of what promises to be one of the busiest mineral exploration and development seasons in the last 20 years, the mineral industry is madly preparing its personnel and equipment all across the state. Despite the late season snows and unusually cool temperatures being experienced as this summary is being written, many of Alaska's exploration programs are either under way or will be sometime in early May. Competition for funds within and between companies remains fierce as projects in the U.S., Canada, Europe,...
The Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys and the Department of Commerce and Economic Development have released their annual preliminary report on Alaska's mining industry for 2004. As expected, investment in all categories was up significantly over previous years. Exploration spending in 2004 was estimated at $63.7 million, up from $27.6 million in 2003. The 2004 expenditures were the highest in the state since 1981. Development expenditures jumped to $105.6 million vs. $39.2 million in 2003, thanks largely t...
December, January and February are normally a time when the mining industry can stop and catch its collective breath, look into its often cloudy but well-used crystal ball and prepare for the coming year. Not so the last December, January and February! While 2004 results continued to pour in from projects large and small, plans for 2005 are well advanced and in some cases, already in full swing. Metals prices remained strong and even the most pessimistic prognosticators...
NovaGold Resources appears to have hit another prospecting grand slam one year after optioning the Galore Creek project in a remote section of northwestern British Columbia. The Vancouver, British Columbia-based junior in August released "exceptional" drill results, the first from this summer's planned 20,000-meter (60,000-foot) program, and an economically positive scoping study for developing the large gold-silver-copper deposit as an open-pit mine. Four drill rigs were working on the property in late July, and a fifth was...
Heavy rains in late July and early August have dampened the number of wildlands fires that burned through Interior and the eastern part of Alaska, adversely affecting placer miners and metals prospectors attempting to complete field work this summer. Large fires in the eastern Interior, covering the Fortymile mining district, continue to smolder and creep, according to the Aug. 2 report from the Alaska Interagency Coordination Center, which is monitoring about 100 active fires in the state. So far, 520 fires in Alaska have...
As anyone can tell you who has tried recently to locate geologists, drill rigs and helicopters, Alaska is not the place to search for any of these commodities. Mineral exploration and development in Alaska is clipping along at a pace not seen in more than five years and in the process, these activities have sucked up just about all of the people, rigs and aircraft in the state. Exploration and development projects are spread from Nome to Ketchikan, the Brooks Range to...
Metals prices remain strong and funding for projects large and small is already in place or nearly so as Alaska prepares for the annual summer exploration dance. Exploration drilling on several winter drilling targets has been completed and summer drilling projects are beginning on several others. Mine permitting issues at Pogo have cast a shadow over the otherwise bright picture of Alaska's mining industry but resolution of this problem is expected sooner rather than later...
Although the traditional Alaska field season has not really arrived yet, three significant developments occurred in March: Teck Cominco and Sumitomo Metal Mining received final permits for the Pogo gold project from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency allowing construction to move ahead at flank speed, Anglo American acquired its first U.S. mineral property in years by signing a joint venture option on Nevada Star's MAN nickel-copper-platinum group element project and Nov...
Alaska's exploration season is well under way with drilling in progress at several locations and planning for the summer season proceeding at a frenetic pace not seen in more than five years. Anyone who has tried to line up a drill rig, a helicopter or a project manager will tell you the same thing: all are in short supply, even at this early point in the year. Projects under way and planned for the coming year include numerous gold projects, several base metal projects, a...
As in past years, Canada's Fraser Institute (www.fraserinstitute.ca) has released the results of its annual mining investment attractiveness survey for 2003-2004. The survey represents responses from 132 junior mining companies and 27 senior mining companies who rated policy potential issues (regulatory and infrastructure), mineral potential and overall investment attractiveness in 53 political jurisdictions around the globe. The companies participating in the survey accounted for exploration budgets totaling US$642.4...
Spring is in everyone's step in the Alaska mining industry even if spring is not quite yet in the air here in Alaska. Buoyant spirits are related to surprisingly buoyant metals prices and positive economic news from the U.S. economy. Plans for 2002 are in progress and fieldwork on some projects already is under way. Exploration activities for gold in 2002 appear to be on the rise compared to 2001 as is exploration for base metals. The professional begging (money raising) season is in full swing for junior and intermediate siz...
As is always the case this time of year, many of the season's exploration and development programs are completed or nearing completion and the results of those programs are trickling in. In addition, second quarter 2001 operating results are in for Alaska's major mines, all of which are doing well despite depressed prices for all of the metals they produce. The state's most active areas include the Seward Peninsula, Interior Alaska and southeast Alaska. Here is what's going on. Western Alaska Cominco American's Red Dog mine...
