The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
Sorted by date Results 126 - 150 of 315
Caught between an updraft caused by dwindling supply and the gravity of slowing growth in global demand, zinc prices seem to have reached a cruising altitude above US$1 per pound. Recent closures of two large zinc mines - Century in Australia and Lisheen in Ireland - wiped out more than 600,000 metric tons of the world's annual supply of the galvanizing metal. Analysts expected these looming supply deficits to send zinc prices soaring well above US$1/lb. in 2015. While the...
Three years of work to optimize its Prairie Creek zinc-lead silver mine project in Northwest Territories is paying off for Canadian Zinc Corp. In March, this optimization work resulted in an updated and improved pre-feasibility study. A resource calculated late in 2015 outlined 8.7 million metric tons of measured and indicated resources averaging 8.9 percent zinc, 9.5 percent lead and 136 grams-per-metric-ton silver; a 32 percent increase compared to the last resource calculation in 2012. Based on the increased resource, the...
While most mining jurisdictions have seen sharp drops in mineral exploration spending, such investments in Northwest Territories has largely held steady at about C$100 million annually during the past five years. As a result, this diamond-rich territory accounted for roughly 7 percent of mineral exploration spending in Canada in 2016, compared with only about 2 percent in 2011. The ultimate measure of mineral exploration success is not the amount of exploration dollars spent...
As the summer’s midnight sun gives way to aurora-filled winter night skies, seasons are once again changing in Canada’s Northwest Territories. And, much like the seasons, our resource industries are also in a time of transition. The NWT celebrates 25 years of diamonds this year with the opening of De Beers and Mountain Province’s Gahcho Kué, the world’s largest new diamond mine, which is expected to pour more than C$6 billion into our economy over its lifetime. Projects...
Nunavut seems to be ahead of the curve when it comes to recovering from the global downturn in mineral exploration spending. An estimated C$202.5 million was invested in unlocking this Canadian territory's mineral potential in 2015. This 28 percent increase over the C$158 million invested in 2014 came at a time when most jurisdictions around the world were continuing a four-year trend of sharp drops in mineral exploration. While early estimates have Nunavut giving up some...
Like a gong proclaiming the end of the long and arduous bear market for North of 60 mining explorers, the May 12 news that Goldcorp Inc. would buy Kaminak Gold Corp. for roughly C$500 million reverberated from Yukon Territory throughout the North. While the rich lure of developing a mine at Kaminak's robust Coffee gold project lured Goldcorp to the Yukon, it was the exploration potential and the ability to permit and build a mine that convinced the producer to expand into the...
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...
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...
Strong metals prices and a pro-jobs businessman who vows to inject “new American metal into the spine of this country” preparing to set up his office in the White House bodes well for Alaska’s mining sector going into 2017. While a renaissance of Alaska’s mining sector may not be at the top of President-elect Donald Trump’s to-do list, pouring coal on the fire of America’s economic engine – both literally and figuratively – is. The figurative coal important to Alaskan miners...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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;...
Canadian Zinc Corp. Feb. 14 reported that it has entered into a memorandum of understanding with Northwest Territories Power Corp. to explore the potential of supplying power for the development and operation of the Prairie Creek Mine in the Northwest Territories. Under the agreement, the companies will assess how Northwest Territories Power could supply both the primary electricity and infrastructure needed to generate and deliver the power. Additionally, the companies will...
Canadian Zinc Corp. July 7 reported the closing of a C$10.2 million public offering through a syndicate of underwriters co-led by Paradigm Capital Inc. and Canaccord Genuity Corp. and including Dundee Securities Ltd. As a result of the financing, Canadian Zinc issued 34,135,000 common shares at C25 cents per share and 6,665,000 flow-through shares at C25 cents per share. The net proceeds will be used to fund feasibility and development programs for the Prairie Creek zinc...
Canadian Zinc Corp. March 31 provided summary results of its 2016 preliminary feasibility study on it Prairie Creek zinc-lead silver mine in Northwest Territories. This updated PFS is based on optimization work completed over the past three years, including a 2015 exploration program that increased total measured and indicated resource tonnages by 32 percent. The 2016 PFS outlines a mine that would produce an average of 60,000 metric tons of zinc concentrate and 55,000 metric...
Canadian Zinc Corp. March 3 said it has entered into a memorandum of understanding with Korea Zinc for the sale of roughly 20,000 to 30,000 wet metric tons of zinc sulfide concentrates; 15,000 to 20,000 wet metric tons of lead sulfide concentrates; and 5,000 metric tons of lead oxide concentrates per year, for a minimum period of five years from the date of startup of its Prairie Creek Mine in Northwest Territories. Canadian Zinc also has entered into a memorandum of...
Teck Resources Ltd. Oct. 22 reported a third-quarter loss attributable to shareholders of C$2.1 billion (C$3.73 per share) due to non-cash after-tax impairment charges of C$2.2 billion. The impairment charges are non-cash revaluations of assets to reflect lower market expectations of commodity prices. The prices of all of Teck's major commodities - steelmaking coal, copper and zinc - continued to fall during the third quarter. To meet the challenge of low prices, the company...
Mineral exploration spending in Northwest Territories dipped sharply in 2015. While the final numbers are not in, Natural Resources Canada predicts exploration and deposit appraisal expenditures in the territory to be around C$43.6 million, or less than half the roughly C$95.8 million invested last year. Industry and government leaders in the territory, however, have come together "to develop a robust mineral industry in the NWT." In January, the government announced the...
czn:TSX chairman, President and CEO: John Kearney vp, exploration & coo: Alan Taylor VP, Permitting and Environmental Affairs: David Harpley Canadian Zinc Corp. is focused on optimizing the economics of its Prairie Creek Mine in Northwest Territories with the aim of putting the zinc-lead-silver project into production as soon as possible. In March, the company incorporated drilling completed from 2012 through 2014 into an updated mineral resource estimate that also considered new engineering parameters for the pending...
Thanks largely to its burgeoning mining sector, Nunavut is leading the Canadian territories in economic growth. With the start-up of the Mary River iron mine late in 2014, Nunavut now has two operating mines and a number of advanced stage gold, uranium, diamond and base metals projects poised to join the ranks in the coming years. "All in all, real gross domestic product (in Nunavut) is expected to grow by 3.8 percent in 2015, the highest rate of growth among the provinces...
Chief Executive Officer: Richard (Shilin) Li VP, Exploration: John O'Donnell Selwyn Chihong Mining Ltd., a Canadian subsidiary of Yunnan Chihong Zinc & Germanium Co. Ltd., is targeting 2021 for the start of production at the Selwyn zinc-lead project in far eastern Yukon Territory. Yunnan Chihong Zinc & Germanium, which formed a joint venture with Selwyn Resources Ltd. on the project in 2009, subsequently invested C$100 million to earn a 50 percent interest in Selwyn and then paid C$50 million for the remaining half of the...
Canadian Zinc Corp. Sept. 17 reported a significant increase in mineral resource tonnages at its Prairie Creek lead-zinc-silver project in the Northwest Territories. Incorporating the results from 5,484 meters of drilling completed in 21 holes this year, the company said the tonnage of the measured and indicated resources at the mine project increased 32 percent compared with a resource calculation completed in March. Prairie Creek now hosts 8.7 million metric tons of...
While tough market conditions are forcing mining companies to tighten their belts, Teck Resources Ltd. does not see maintaining responsible and environmentally sound operations as an area in which it can afford to trim its budget. That commitment has propelled the diversified miner onto the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index for six years running, ranking it among the top 10 percent of the 2,500 largest companies in the S&P Global Broad Market Index. "We know that the...
