The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
Sorted by date Results 76 - 100 of 315
N'tsi Tatay, more widely known as the Windy Craggy Project, is one of North America's largest resources of cobalt with excellent copper, zinc, gold, and silver grades hosted in an Upper Triassic Besshi-style volcanogenic massive sulphide. It is located in the northwestern corner of British Columbia within a regional scale volcano-sedimentary basin, termed Alta Basin, which is a mineralized belt that has the potential for future discoveries. Other known sulphide prospects...
More than a century-old silver discovery turned settlement may see a revitalization with recent exploration efforts at the Keno Hill District. Lying within the traditional land of the First Nation of Na-Cho Nyäk Dun, the Keno Hill Mining District comprises almost 90 square miles (235 square kilometers) characterized by numerous mineral occurrences in more than 35 mines with a history of production. According to the Yukon government records, between 1913 and 1989 the district...
The incredibly interesting history of Juneau is a tale of gold, the persistence of a Tlingit chief and a series of chance events that allowed Alaska's future capital to grow and leave its mark on history, a story that continues to be written today. Juneau is home to some of the earliest large-scale gold mining sites in Alaska. But, if you were to ask the pioneers who founded the future capital that their settlement would become the seat of government in a future state of...
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...
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...
NorZinc Ltd. Nov. 14 announced that two of the permits needed to begin construction on the all-season road to its Prairie Creek zinc-lead-silver mine project in Northwest Territories has been issued. The Prairie Creek Mine is surrounded by Canada's Nahanni National Park Reserve, which encompassed the property when the park was expanded in 2009. At the time of the park expansion, however, the federal government provided NorZinc (then Canadian Zinc Corp.) with assurance that it...
As the worldwide deficit in zinc production grows, several zinc-lead mining projects across northern Canada await construction of access arteries needed to deliver their ore to market. The projects are among the world's most attractive and represent a base metals treasure trove coveted by would-be developers and end users alike. Recent funding from the Canadian government and other public and private sources could unlock the floodgates to critical infrastructure development...
Kutcho Copper Corp. Sept. 17 announced the start of permitting for its Kutcho copper-zinc project in northern British Columbia. The three deposits that make up the Kutcho project – Main, Esso and Sumac – host 17.26 million metric tons of measured and indicated resources averaging 1.85 percent (703.9 million pounds) copper, 2.72 percent (1.03 billion lb) zinc, 0.49 grams per metric ton (272,000 ounces) gold and 33.9 g/t (18.8 million oz) silver. These measured and ind...
The Canadian government has dedicated C$2.2 billion to clean up contaminated mine sites in the Yukon and Northwest Territories. The eight projects to be addressed with this investment are the historical Faro, United Keno Hill, Mount Nansen, Ketza River and Clinton Creek mines in the Yukon; and Giant, Cantung and Great Bear Lake mines in the Northwest Territories. This new remediation effort, Northern Abandoned Mine Reclamation Program, was introduced by the Honorable Carolyn...
With the completion of Ross River Dena Council's independent environmental assessment review of Kudz Ze Kayah (KZK), BMC Minerals Ltd. crosses a major milestone along its path to developing a zinc-silver mine at this project in southeastern Yukon. BMC Minerals, a Canadian subsidiary of England-based mine developer BMC Ltd., acquired KZK from Teck Resources Ltd. in 2015. The ABM deposit at KZK is a zinc-dominant volcanogenic massive sulfide (VMS) deposit with significant...
Triumph Gold Corp. is making significant, new strides toward unlocking the geological secrets of Freegold Mountain, a district-scale property that could produce one of the richest copper-gold resources yet discovered in the Yukon. The Canadian and Yukon governments, meanwhile, are moving forward with a joint effort to spur mine development in the Dawson Range where the Freegold Mountain project is located along with many others, including the Casino copper-gold and Coffee...
Decade Resources Ltd. May 2 announced results from sampling completed at its recently acquired Crest gold property near the town of Hyder in Southeast Alaska. Lying just across the border from British Columbia's Golden Triangle region, the Crest property is adjacent to Ascot Resources' Premier gold-silver mine property on the Canadian side of the border. Due to the lack of snow at lower elevations in the Stewart-Hyder area in December, Decade was able to carry out preliminary...
Northern British Columbia is known for its remote and rugged towns and few places can match that description as well as Stewart, a community at the southern tip of the province's famed Golden Triangle with deep mining roots. Located just across the border from the Southeast Alaska panhandle and at the head of what is called the Portland Canal, this town was built on the backs of pioneers and has retained much of its frontier history. Originally the land around Stewart was the...
When it comes to attracting mining investment, Alaska, British Columbia and all three Canadian territories rank among the top 20 jurisdictions in the world on the Fraser Institute Survey of Mining Companies 2018. This report asks industry professionals from around the globe to score mining jurisdictions based on their mineral endowment and various policy topics important to mining. "The mining survey-now in its 21st year-is the most comprehensive report card on government...
In a move many considered the stuff of science fiction or fantasy just 20 years ago, junior miner Auryn Resources Inc. has used artificial intelligence to help identify gold deposits at the Committee Bay Gold Project in Nunavut. Vancouver, B. C.-based Auryn gained control of the remote arctic exploration project in 2015 through its acquisition of North Country Gold Corp. At the time, Committee Bay was known to host significant gold mineralization, including its Three Bluffs...
Coeur Mining Inc. rolls into 2019 with more silver reserves at higher grades, thanks to a maiden reserve calculation for its Silvertip Mine in the far north reaches of British Columbia. Coeur acquired Silvertip from JDS Silver Inc. in October of 2017 for US$250 million – US$200 million at the time of the purchase plus US$50 million to be paid when certain production and permitting milestones are met. For this price, the Chicago-based miner acquired a newly built mine with 2.35...
While mining activity remained strong in the Northwest Territories in 2019, industry and government officials alike worried that the robust sector, driven largely by production at three diamond mines, has entered a prolonged downward slide. The near-term economic outlook for the territory, which covers 1.3 million square kilometers in Canada's central Arctic region, continues to be bleak as its diamond mines that have now passed peak production and replacement projects are in...
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...
Though mineral exploration in Yukon Territory this year lagged the pace seen in 2018, mine development projects advanced at a steady clip in 2019, while several past-producing mines moved toward resuming output. Yukon ranked fourth in Canada for projected spending on mineral exploration and deposit evaluation for 2018, according to statistics distributed by Natural Resources Canada. Spending for mineral exploration and deposit evaluations totaled C$249.4 million, made up of C$...
The two mega-mergers that hit the gold mining sector early in 2019 – Barrick Gold Corp. combining with Randgold Resources Ltd. and Newmont Mining Corp. acquiring Goldcorp Inc. – is forever changing the gold mining landscape around the world. While the two largest gold mining companies Newmont Goldcorp (No. 1) and Barrick (No. 2) are still in the process of shedding assets following the mega-mergers, it seems that Newmont Goldcorp will emerge with a much stronger foothold in...
With a vision to become a leading base metals mining company, Osisko Metals Inc. is rapidly adding to the stores of zinc at its Pine Point project about 42 kilometers (26 miles) east of Hay River, Northwest Territories. Cominco (now Teck Resources) produced an estimated 14 billion pounds of zinc and 4 billion lb of lead from around 64 million metric tons of ore averaging about 10 percent zinc-lead from a mine operated at Pine Point from 1964 to 1988. The near-surface ore was...
When Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd. established a foothold in Nunavut roughly a decade ago, the gold mining company saw the northern Canadian Territory as a politically attractive and stable jurisdiction with enormous geological potential. With two new gold mines established in Nunavut this year, this vision is being realized. "We see tremendous potential there and this is an inflection point and a turning point in the future of Agnico as we are opening up a brand-new area where we...
With more than 100 known tin occurrences, Alaska is considered the best place in America to establish a domestic source of this critical alloy metal that has defined human progress since the dawn of the Bronze Age. "Today, Alaskan tin deposits are known to be widespread, occurring from the central Alaska Range north to the Brooks Range and across Interior Alaska ... Southwest Alaska and the Seward Peninsula," according to the 1997 publication, Mineral Deposits of Alaska. And...
Extremely hard and with the highest melting point of all the elements on the periodic table, tungsten is vital to a broad spectrum of commercial and military applications, yet there are no mines in the United States producing this durable metal. Nearly 60 percent of the tungsten consumed in the U.S. during 2018 was used to make the cemented tungsten-carbide, a compound of roughly equal parts tungsten and carbon. Roughly twice as strong as steel, tungsten carbide is often...
