The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
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Explorers seeking new mineral discoveries in the Northwest Territories are expected to spend less in 2018 than the C$90 million they shelled out collectively last year. Natural Resources Canada projects spending this year for mineral exploration and deposit appraisals in the northern territory will total C$81.3 million. But some observers expect to see an uptick in hardrock mining exploration in 2018, especially in the highly prospective Slave Province where the Northwest...
New gold mines are expected to drive strong economic growth in Nunavut and Yukon over the next several years, according to the latest Territorial Outlook published by The Conference Board of Canada. The non-profit think tank focused primarily on researching and analyzing economic trends, however, forecasts a shrinking economy for Northwest Territories as the diamond sector there matures. Despite a tepid recovery for the mining sector as a whole, the new mines being developed...
As Alaska's mining industry nears the end of another hectic year during which metals prices and investor sentiments rose and fell as precipitously as the world's major stock exchanges, the industry is naturally looking into its crystal ball trying to anticipate what the new year will bring. EY Global Mining and Metals does this sort of forecasting by putting out an annual "risk radar" for mining and metals. The idea is to find out what the industry perceives as the top ten...
Less than a year after its acquisition of Silvertip, Coeur Mining Inc. has reached commercial production at the high-grade silver-zinc-lead mine in northern British Columbia. During August, the mill at Silvertip processed an average of roughly 450 metric tons of ore per day, up from around 350 metric tons per day during July and approximately 250 mtpd during June. Processing rates regularly ranged between 500 and 650 mtpd during August and exceeded 800 mtpd late in the month....
Underscoring the interconnected nature of the global mining market, not 48 hours after the John S. McCain National Defense Authorization Act was signed into law, the mining industry began wondering out loud how they were going to produce rare earth element, tungsten, tantalum and molybdenum in the near future. Why these metals and why the worry now? Because one of the many impacts the Defense Authorization Act will have on the U.S. economy is its ban on the U.S. Department of...
Northwest Territories may fall behind Canada's two other territories in mining activity in the near-future, but projects underway in the northern jurisdiction hold substantial promise for mid- to long-term gains, especially if many current roadblocks come down. "Optimism is warranted for the territory's mining sector and the broader economy it drives," said Wally Schumann, minister of industry, tourism and investment for the Government of Northwest Territories. But...
Extremely hard and with the highest melting point of all the elements on the periodic table, tungsten is a vital ingredient to a wide-range of industrial and military applications, yet none of this durable metal is currently mined in the United States. According to the United States Geological Survey, more than half of the tungsten consumed in the U.S. last year was used to make the cemented tungsten-carbide, a compound typically made with equal parts tungsten and carbon....
Kutcho Copper Corp. July 4 named Sue Craig as vice president of community and environment, replacing Allison Armstrong who will be moving into an advisory role for the company. As a highly-respected professional geoscientist, Craig has worked in British Columbia and Yukon for more than 25 years on projects from the exploration and development stage to construction, production and mine closure. She successfully led the environmental assessment process for Novagold Resources'...
The summer field season is in full bloom across Alaska with programs stretching from the Brooks Range to southeastern Alaska, and from the Yukon border to southwestern Alaska. Exploration targets range from grassroots to mine-site, focused on commodities including gold, silver, lead, zinc, copper, cobalt and graphite. For Alaska's exploration industry, planned, announced and estimated expenditures are well over the $100 million mark for 2018. This expenditure level is well...
One of the most common complaints I hear from companies and individuals working in the mineral industry in Alaska is our deplorable lack of modern, usable-scale digital geophysical and geologic maps. How bad is it? Consider this: the U.S. Geological Survey has estimated that less than 2 percent of Alaska has acceptable geophysical data coverage, and less than 20 percent has been geologically mapped at a scale useful to evaluate the state's mineral resources. Nobody will deny...
Primarily associated with cans, cups and roofs, tin may not be the flashiest metal on the market, but it has been a strategic metal that has defined human progress since the onset of the Bronze Age around 5,500 years ago and is on the list of minerals critical to the security of the United States even today, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. "In a congressionally mandated U.S. Department of Defense study of strategic minerals published in 2013, tin was shown to have...
With the price for an ounce of gold pushing back above US$1,300 to ring in the new year – along with zinc and copper selling at multi-year highs and trending higher – 2018 is shaping up to be a good year 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. While there is currently no significant copper production in Alaska, the Far North state hosts signi...
Canada is the world's top destination for mining exploration spending, attracting more than 14 percent of global budgeted expenditures from explorers seeking to tap the country's vast mineral wealth. Yet in 2017, the three huge mineral-rich territories to the north, Nunavut, Northwest Territories and Yukon Territory, lured only about C$360 million, or less than one-fifth of the roughly $2.1 billion that junior and senior mining companies invested in mineral exploration and dep...
Thanks to its own rich mineral endowment, Australia is a juggernaut in the world of mining, especially across the Southern Hemisphere. Over the past couple of years, however, a growing number of Aussie mining companies are looking north to Alaska, another minerals-rich land way north of the Equator. At least four Aussie juniors – White Rock Minerals Ltd., PolarX Ltd., Nova Minerals Ltd. and Riversgold Ltd. – and three Australia-based metals producers – South32 Ltd., North...
Thanks largely to increased investments from Aussie mining explorers, mineral exploration spending across Alaska topped US$100 million in 2018. This is well above the roughly US$95 million invested last year and nearly double the US$58 million spent at the bottom of the market in 2015. "Canadian and Australian companies continue to be the source for the bulk of funds spent in Alaska in 2018, together comprising well over 80 percent of the exploration expenditures earmarked...
Alaska’s mining sector is in a global competition for mining investment, making it critical for the state to tout its strengths and address its weakness if it wants to attract the capital needed to expand the industry. During a presentation at the Alaska Miners Association fall convention, Doug Silver, a portfolio manager for Orion Mine Finance, provided an international financier’s perspective of Alaska mining sector’s strengths and where it could be doing better. “I have th...
Roads to some of Yukon's richest mining districts are getting more than C$360 million in upgrades. Canada Prime Minister Justin Trudeau rolled out the plans to invest in modern transportation infrastructure during a visit to the territory on Sep. 2. "Modern infrastructure is key to developing and properly managing the incredible natural resources we have at our fingertips," Trudeau said. The prime minister pledged C$247.8 million to the Yukon Resource Gateway project, a...
Dolly Varden Silver Corp. continued to expand deposits of high-grade silver at its Dolly Varden project during 2017. The deposits identified on this property exhibit both Eskay-like volcanogenic massive sulfide and Brucejack-like epithermal mineralization styles. In 2015, Dolly Varden published a maiden indicated resource of 3.07 million metric tons averaging 321.6 grams per metric ton (31.8 million ounces) silver in four zones - Dolly Varden, North Star, Torbrit and Wolf....
With world-class mineral deposits, paved roads and commercial power, northern British Columbia is considered by many as a great place to achieve a mining explorer's ultimate goal – find a mine. "The geology has been great up there for 100 million years, but it has only been the last five that we have had run-of-river (hydro-electric) projects, dams – literally billions of dollars of new infrastructure," said Colorado Resources Ltd. President and CEO Adam Travis. The start of...
With the opening of Gahcho Kué, Northwest Territories is reaping the rewards of past exploration spending across the vast diamond-rich expanse of northern Canada. In fact, the new diamond mine is expected to contribute some C$5.7 billion to Northwest Territories economy by 2028, the end of its currently projected life, according to a report commissioned by De Beers Group of Companies. Northwest Territories Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment Wally Schumann...
As some of the world's biggest gold miners nab exciting plays that turned up across Yukon Territory during the past decade, Yukon's mining explorers continue to seek the next generation of mine projects in the northwestern-most Canadian territory. Many of the up and coming mines in Yukon also are getting a boost from C$360 million in upgrades to roads into some of Yukon's richest mining districts. Known as the Yukon Resource Gateway project, the endeavor to modernize...
Canadian Zinc Corp. Sep. 28 said a recently completed feasibility study on Prairie Creek confirms the mine project in Northwest Territories can support a significant increase in the mining rate, which will result in higher quantities of zinc, lead and silver at a lower operating cost as compared to the mine plan presented in a pre-feasibility study completed last year. "As part of the 2017 feasibility study, a number of optimization programs recommended in earlier preliminary feasibility studies were completed which had a...
Coeur Mining Inc. is now officially the owner of Silvertip, a high-grade silver mine about 10 miles south of the Yukon border in northern British Columbia. In a deal that closed on Oct. 17, the Chicago-based miner paid US$200 million to acquire Silvertip and has agreed to pay up to another US$50 million more if certain permitting and resource expansion milestones are met. For this investment, Coeur owns a newly built mine with 2.35 million metric tons of indicated resource ave...
Coeur Mining Inc. has cut a deal to buy the high-grade Silvertip Mine in northern British Columbia, an acquisition that will add the first Canadian operation to the Chicago-based miner's portfolio of gold and silver mines. Located about 10 miles south of the Yukon border and roughly 150 miles east of Coeur's Kensington gold mine in Southeast Alaska, Silvertip hosts 2.35 million metric tons of indicated resource averaging 352 g/t silver, 9.4 percent zinc and 6.7 percent lead;...
For the first time in five long years, the mood at the recently held Alaska Miners Association Convention in Anchorage was buoyant, the result of a slow but steady turnaround on mineral investments in the state. Additional new corporate interest in the state emerged during the past 30 days, and sources of exploration funds coming to Alaska continue to shift, with estimates for 2017 suggesting that 62 percent of this financing comes from Canadian concerns, 18 percent from...
