The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
Sorted by date Results 176 - 200 of 391
Skeena Resources Ltd. said it has begun a 9,000-meter underground drill program at its Snip gold project in the Golden Triangle of northwest British Columbia. The historic underground mine at Snip, which Barrick Gold operated from 1991 to 1999, produced 1.1 million ounces of gold from 1.25 million metric tons of ore averaging 27.5 grams per metric ton gold. Skeena optioned this project from Barrick last spring and completed roughly 7,180 meters of surface drilling in 2016....
Novagold Resources Inc. April 3 reported that it ended the first quarter on pace to achieve its 2017 goals at the Donlin Gold project in Southwest Alaska and the Galore Creek copper-gold-silver project in northwestern British Columbia. "With more than US$98 million in our treasury as of Feb. 28, 2017, we are able to concentrate on activities related to permitting Donlin Gold, maintaining strong ties with all of our stakeholders and delivering on our stated objectives," said... Full story
Over the last month the inevitable termination dust has begun to show up across Alaska, bringing with it completion of mineral exploration programs and transition of development and production projects to winter operational modes. Explorers, developers and miners will soon be gathering to compare notes at the annual Alaska Miners Association Convention in Anchorage, an event that always overlaps national and local election night. Alaska's mineral industry outlook brightened... Full story
Skeena Resources Ltd. Nov. 1 reported the final assay results from its 2016 drill program at Snip, which hosts the historic Snip high-grade gold mine in the Golden Triangle of northwestern British Columbia. Hole S-16-16, targeting an extension of the newly discovered Twin West structural corridor, cut 3.2 meters averaging 24.44 g/t gold. Additional holes targeting the Twin Zone confirmed the presence of the newly defined 200 Footwall zone, which is approximately 200 meters below the historical Twin zone mine workings....
Under the direction of legendary mining explorer Ron Netolitzky, Skeena Resources Ltd. is investigating the gold and copper potential of three highly prospective properties in the Golden Triangle region of British Columbia - Spectrum, Snip and GJ. In April, Skeena published a maiden resource for Spectrum, a gold-copper project about 37 kilometers (23 miles) west of Imperial Metals' Red Chris Mine. The Central zone at Spectrum hosts 8.95 million metric tons of indicated resource averaging 1.04 grams per metric ton (290,000 oun... Full story
When judging the health of global mineral exploration, British Columbia seems to be the perfect model. In 2015, roughly C$272 million was invested in discovering and delineating mineral deposits in B.C., down some C$66 million from 2014. This 19.5 percent drop is in lockstep with the decline in global mineral exploration budgets for the same period, according SNL Metals & Mining's World Exploration Trends report. Likewise, B.C. exploration decreased about 60 percent from the...
Mining's contribution to Alaska's economy starts with the hefty paychecks being issued to the some 4,350 miners that work in the state, according to recent study completed by the Alaska Miners Association and McDowell Group. The report, "The economic benefits of Alaska's mining industry," found that the average miner working in Alaska during 2016 received a whopping US$108,000 for the year, about double the average income across all sectors in the state. That is nearly US$470... Full story
Barrick Gold Corp. and Novagold Resources Inc., equal owners of Donlin Gold LLC, Nov. 14 announced the appointment of Andy Cole as general manager of the Donlin Gold project in Alaska. "Advancing through permitting and preparing for the development of a unique asset like Donlin Gold is a rare opportunity and I'm excited to take on this role," said Cole. "We believe Donlin Gold can be a model of responsible mine development with the potential to generate meaningful benefits for our Native corporation partners, Calista...
Earlier in November, the Alaska Miners Association held its annual convention and trade show in Anchorage and as always, the well-attended convention overlapped with election Tuesday. While the lead up to, and results of, the national and state elections were hot topics throughout the week, one comment I heard from a colleague on the morning after the elections distilled the feelings of a lot of people at the conference. When asked what he thought of the election results, he...
Novagold Resources Inc. is focused on the permitting and development of its 50 percent-owned Donlin Gold project in Southwest Alaska. This year, Novagold and Barrick Gold Corp., which owns the other half of Donlin, budgeted US$8 million for a drill program aimed at collecting geologic and geotechnical data to support ongoing optimization efforts for the 40-million-ounce gold project. This is the first significant field program since Donlin Gold LLC - equally owned by...
Novagold Resources Inc. Nov. 25 said it is anticipating the environmental impact statement for the Donlin Gold project to be finalized around this time next year. The Donlin Gold Mine being considered in the EIS includes a 53,500-metric-ton-per-day mill that is expected to produce an average of 1.1 million ounces of gold annually for 27 years. During its first five years of operation, this annual average will be closer to 1.5 million oz. Donlin Gold LLC - equally owned by subsidiaries of Novagold Resources Inc. and Barrick...
Alaska fell from favor with the 350 mining executives who responded to the Fraser Institute’s Survey of Mining Companies 2016, published on Feb. 28. This group of miners, explorers and consultants ranked the Far North State as the 14th best jurisdiction on Earth to seek and develop a mine. To gather information for its report, the Fraser Institute asks mining executives to rank the mineral potential and mining policies of mining jurisdictions around the globe. The C...
Skeena Resources Ltd. March 6 said it is planning to complete 15,000 meters of surface and underground drilling during the 2017 field season at the historic Snip gold mine in northwestern British Columbia. The underground mine at Snip, which Barrick Gold operated from 1991 to 1999, produced 1.1 million ounces of gold from 1.25 million metric tons of ore averaging 27.5 g/t gold. Skeena optioned this project from Barrick last spring and went on to complete roughly 7,180 meters of drilling in 2016. In total, Skeena spent more...
Atac Resources Ltd. April 10 announced that Barrick Gold Corp. has signed an agreement to earn up to a 70 percent stake in the Orion project, which blankets the central section of Atac's Rackla Gold property in the Yukon Territory. This deal consists of a potential total investment by Barrick of roughly C$63.3 million, including a C$8.3 million private placement and a two-staged C$55 million exploration earn-in option on Orion. Previously, Atac subdivided its roughly 185-kilometer- (115 miles) long Rackla property into two pr...
With winter programs winding down and summer efforts rapidly ramping up, it is becoming clear that 2017 will be a much more vigorous year for the Alaska mining industry than the 2013 to 2016 period. For example, my internal estimates are already pushing $75 million for exploration activity alone and a significant number of projects that have announced exploration plans have not yet announced budgets for 2017, so that number is likely to rise. Compare this to estimates of less...
Sparked by the discovery of the White Gold district and fueled by investors' appetite for mining stocks, the Yukon experienced a modern era gold rush in 2007 that included nearly C$1 billion of exploration spending during over six years. This frenzied exploration turned up dozens of gold projects across the northern territory and now some of the world's biggest gold miners are cutting deals on the best of the discoveries made. Kinross Gold Corp. was the first of the major...
ATAC Resources Ltd. June 5 reported the start of a C$10-million exploration program at its Rackla Gold project in the Yukon. The company currently has two drills targeting Carlin-type gold targets at the Conrad zone at the eastern end of the 1,742-square-kilometer (673 square miles) Rackla property. Following the completion of an earn-in agreement with Barrick Gold Corp. in April, Atac divided the roughly 185-kilometer- (115 miles) long Rackla property into three projects - Ra...
If this year's US$8 million drill program is any indication, Barrick Gold Corp. and Novagold Resources Inc. are getting serious about building "the largest pure gold mine in the world" at their Donlin Gold project in Southwest Alaska. "Donlin Gold's size, grade, production profile, exploration potential, mine life, community support and jurisdictional safety render it a unique asset in the gold industry," said Novagold President and CEO Greg Lang. "Both partners envision...
The summer solstice has come and gone, but the Alaska mining industry has paid little attention to the decreased amount of daylight because it is high summer in the high latitudes, time to be out completing work programs that have been in the planning since last fall. Exploration drilling programs have sprouted in the Brooks Range, Interior, Alaska Range, Southeast, Southwest and the Alaska Peninsula. In addition, the sounds of tire-kicking are being heard over a wide area of... Full story
ATAC Resources Ltd. Aug. 17 reported long sections of significant gold from the first 2017 holes drilled at Conrad, one of the zones of Carlin-type mineralization identified at its Osiris project at the Rackla Gold property, Yukon. The company said these first four holes target new areas of mineralization and crosscutting faults believed to be associated with high-grade gold mineralization in the vicinity of the 350 Faults on the western side of the Conrad zone. All holes...
As the Alaska mining industry prepares for and kicks off exploration, development and production activities for 2017, the question on everyone’s lips at the recent Cordilleran Roundup mining convention in Vancouver, B. C., was the same: “Have we seen the bottom of this down cycle?” While signs of life were seen for short periods during the 2008 to 2015 period, the reality was an overall downward spiral of commodities prices and global demand. However, in a recent editi...
Alaska is rich in mineral potential but poor in the critical infrastructure needed to fully realize this potential, that was the message Alaska Division of Geological and Geological Surveys Director Steve Masterman delivered to lawmakers on Capitol Hill. During a March 30 hearing, Masterman informed member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources that Alaska could be the answer to the United States growing dependence on foreign suppliers for minerals....
Healthy price gains for zinc and copper this year, and gold rocketing through the US$1,300-per-ounce threshold on Aug. 28, is good news for Alaska's mining sector. Together, zinc and gold account for more than 80 percent of the value of metals mined in Alaska - silver and lead account for most of the balance. Copper, on the other hand, is set up to play an important role for the future of mining in the state. Gold rockets above $1,300 Entering 2017 at US$1,151/oz, gold made...
Skeena Resources Ltd. Sep. 14 reported that it is now carrying out an underground exploration program at the Snip gold project in the Golden Triangle region of northwest British Columbia. In July, the company exercised its option to acquire full ownership of the historic Snip Mine property from Barrick Gold Corp. Since that time, crews have re-opened two historic portals in preparation for underground drilling. “A tremendous amount of work has gone into re-opening the Snip mine,” said Skeena CEO Walter Coles. “Safety is ou...
Skeena Resources Ltd. Oct. 3 posted assay results from six holes drilled at the past-producing Snip high-grade gold project in the Golden Triangle of northwestern British Columbia. Highlights include 4.7 meters of 16.01 grams per metric ton gold, including 1.65 meters of 37.7 g/t gold in hole S-16-11. This hole, along with S-16-12, targeted an area below the Twin West underground workings, where limited historic production totaled about 10,000 metric tons at an average grade...
