The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
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Contango ORE Inc. May 6 announced that management of the Peak Gold joint venture – Contango ORE (60%) and Royal Gold Inc. (40%) – has decided to postpone exploration on the Tetlin gold project in eastern Alaska in order to protect the health of workers and stakeholder during the COVID-19 outbreak. "These are certainly difficult times for everyone, and our primary concern is to ensure that our employees, contractors and community members remain safe and healthy," said Con... Full story
North of 60 Mining News is proud to introduce 20 questions for 2020. Over the course of this series, Mining News will interview mining and political leaders from Alaska, British Columbia, Northwest Territories, Nunavut and Yukon. Each interview will include 20 questions on mining, markets and doing business across Alaska and Canada's North. For the inaugural 20 questions for 2020, Mining News talks with Contango ORE Inc. CEO Rick Van Nieuwenhuyse, a longtime mining executive... Full story
Contango ORE Inc. Jan. 6 announced that Rick Van Nieuwenhuyse has taken over as President and CEO of the Texas-based mineral exploration company advancing the Peak Gold project in eastern Alaska. Former President and CEO Brad Juneau has transitioned to executive chairman of Contango ORE, a company he co-founded and lead for the past decade. "I have known Rick for several years and followed his success with admiration," said Juneau. "We are extremely pleased that he has agreed... Full story
As the year winds down, mineral industry evaluations for 2019 are being published at a rapid rate. One of the most interesting such global reviews is EY Global Mining and Metals' annual "risk radar" for mining and metals, outlining what mining companies perceive as the top ten risks facing them in the near future. This publication stated that, for the second straight year, "social license to operate" remains the number one risk facing mining companies in 2020. This was... Full story
Contango ORE Inc. Nov. 19 reported gold, silver and copper mineralization in its first two holes at Hona, a prospect on state of Alaska mining claims about 15 miles west of the Peak Gold deposits, which are located on a 675,000-acre land package leased from Tetlin Village, an Alaska Native corporation in eastern Alaska. Peak Gold LLC, a joint venture between Contango ORE (60 percent) and Royal Gold Inc. (40 percent), staked 183,422 acres of state mining claims covering Hona...
If you have watched the metals markets over the last month, you know why Alaska's mineral industry has surged, stalled, swerved, swooped, slowed, shelved and stuttered, sometimes all at the same time! Gold has gone above US$1,500 per ounce; copper pundits are predicting an increasingly dour future; zinc markets are looking to dive below $1.00 per pound; tin markets have marched strongly upward due to supply disruptions; and silver bulls are calling for annual worldwide... Full story
Earlier this month S&P Global put out a summary indicating that during the first quarter of 2019 metals like copper, zinc and nickel were up quarter over quarter by 11 percent, 22 percent and 25 percent, respectively. More recently gold has skyrocketed beyond the $1,400-per-ounce mark for the first time in many months. Correspondingly, the mining industry's aggregate market cap also rebounded strongly in the period after four bearish quarters, rising 12 percent to $1.43... Full story
Contango ORE Inc. June 11 announced that the sales process for the Peak Gold joint venture has concluded without identifying a buyer for the partnership that owns the high-grade Peak Gold project in Interior Alaska. Two adjacent skarn deposits at Peak Gold – Main Peak and North Peak – host 9.2 million metric tons of measured and indicated resources averaging 4.08 grams per metric ton (1.21 million ounces) gold and 14.19 g/t (4.2 million oz) silver. A preliminary economic ass...
In the famous words of Sherlock Holmes, the game is afoot! After seasonally slower news from Alaska's mining industry in March and April, the dam has broken with over two dozen Alaska mining project news releases issued in the last month. Including those projects moving forward that have not released their 2019 plans, Alaska has become a very busy place under the sun. All of our major metal mines reported strong performances in the first quarter, several of Alaska's most... Full story
Contango ORE Inc. May 13 said the Peak Gold joint venture will carry out a US$6.9 million exploration program at the Peak Gold property near Tok, Alaska. At the same time, the project partners – Contango ORE (60 percent) and Royal Gold Inc. (40 percent) – are continuing negotiations for the sale of Peak to a mining company that will advance development of the high-grade gold deposits found there. Two adjacent skarn deposits at Peak Gold – Main Peak and North Peak – host 9....
Those of you that attended the recent Cordilleran Roundup Convention in Vancouver can attest to the exuberant, upbeat atmosphere that pervaded the conference and was very much in evidence at the standing-room only festivities at our annual self-hosted Alaska Night meet and greet. But digging down under this veneer of optimism, many of the junior explorers and most of the producers admitted to their expectations of challenging times in 2019. Putting words to this apparent... Full story
Royal Gold Inc. Feb. 6 said it has two criteria for any mining company interested in buying the Peak Gold project in Alaska – a willingness to make building a mine at the high-grade gold project a priority and a commitment to use the highest standards to do so. "Royal Gold will remain committed to the project over the long term through our existing royalty interests, and our considerations for any potential transfer of ownership will include a commitment to advance the project...
Contango ORE Inc. Jan. 23 announced that the Peak Gold mine project near the crossroads town of Tok in Eastern Interior Alaska is officially up for sale. The Peak Gold project is owned by a joint venture between Contango ORE (60 percent) and a subsidiary of Royal Gold Inc. (40 percent). Royal Gold, which manages the work under the joint venture, has retained Scotia Capital Inc. to conduct a joint process for the sale of the Peak Gold properties in Alaska. Given the high gold...
Excited about the robust economics outlined in a preliminary economic assessment finalized in October, Peak Gold partners – Contango ORE Inc. (60 percent) and Royal Gold Inc. (40 percent) are now looking at the potential of bringing on a partner to advance their high-grade gold deposit in eastern Alaska toward development. "We are at a point I think where it would be healthy to have somebody else come in and move the project forward with their skill set," Royal Gold P...
Following a couple of quiet months where Alaska's mining industry focused on its work, the last month has seen an explosion of new info come out regarding that effort, some of it profound in its potential immediate, near-term and long-term implications. For example, one of Alaska's largest mines was sold to a new owner at a surprisingly low cost per ounce. The results of a robust new preliminary economic analysis were tabled by an advanced gold-silver exploration project... Full story
The verdict is in – the economics of developing an open-pit mine at Peak Gold look tantalizing and Royal Gold Inc. is committed to being involved with this Eastern Interior Alaska gold-silver project for the long haul. Discovered by Contango ORE Inc. in 2009, the Peak Gold project hosts two skarn deposits – Main Peak and North Peak – on an underexplored property that covers roughly 850,000 acres west and south of Tok, a crossroads town on the Alaska Highway. A preli...
Contango ORE Inc. Aug. 30 said a preliminary economic assessment (PEA) for the Peak Gold (formerly Tetlin) project in eastern Alaska is slated for completion by the end of September. Being advanced by a joint venture between Contango ORE (60 percent) and Royal Gold Inc. (40 percent), the Peak Gold project hosts two parallel gold-rich skarn deposits – Main Peak and North Peak – and 850,000 acres of underexplored and highly prospective land. The two Peak skarn deposits host a g...
An early spring coupled with low snow fall in many parts of Alaska have combined to enable companies large and small to start their summer field programs early this year. As expected, competition is stiff for people, drills, helicopters, heavy equipment and related services, awarding those who committed budgets early and penalizing those who did not or could not commit early. For the first time in half a decade, projects with money at hand may not be able to get the services t... Full story
There has never been anything ordinary about the Peak Gold (formerly Tetlin) project, or the companies that are exploring the high-grade gold skarn deposits found there. In a move that continues this tradition of extraordinary, Royal Gold Inc. has acquired a 13.6 percent stake in Contango ORE Inc. Neither of these companies are your prototypical mineral explorer and their involvement in the Peak Gold project continues to defy the norms for the industry and their own operating...
Contango ORE Inc. April 4 announced that Peak Gold LLC, a joint venture between Contango and Royal Gold Inc., has budgeted US$9.1 million for an initial phase of exploration at the Peak Gold (formerly Tetlin) project near the town of Tok in eastern Alaska. Contango ORE discovered the metals potential of Peak Gold while surveying the area for natural gas in 2008 and by 2014 had outlined a high-grade skarn deposit at the Peak zone with more than 1 million gold-equivalent...
Seven days of near-continuous rain did nothing to dampen the mood at the recently concluded Cordilleran Roundup Convention in Vancouver. The event was buoyed by a realistic optimism we have not seen in over five years. This change from half-empty to half-full glasses is due to a number of things including strong commodities prices, increasing global demand for metals and current or looming supply shortfalls in many of the metals produced by this industry. The event was... Full story
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... Full story
Building upon the strong economics of developing a mine at the high-grade Peak Gold project, joint venture partners Contango ORE Inc. (60 percent) and Royal Gold Inc. (40 percent) are investing US$6.9 million on exploring some of the intriguing outlying targets across this highway-accessible property in eastern Alaska. Discovered by Contango ORE in 2009, Peak Gold (sometimes referred to as Tetlin) hosts two skarn deposits – Main Peak and North Peak – on an underexplored proper... Full story
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... Full story
Peak Gold, a joint venture between Contango ORE Inc. (60 percent) and Royal Gold Inc. (40 percent), is beginning to investigate the economics of mining the gold-rich Peak and North Peak skarn deposits that it has outlined at Peak Gold (formerly Tetlin), an extensive land package near the crossroads town of Tok in Alaska's Eastern Interior. The 2018 program also includes exploring for new skarn deposits near the Peak deposits, as well as evaluating the potential for porphyry... Full story