The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
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While Advanced Explorations Inc. is focusing mainly on its two massive iron ore projects in Nunavut this summer, the aggressive exploration company is also continuing to explore promising West Melville Peninsula nickel and copper showings and to study an iron sands project it recently optioned in Alaska. The Toronto-based junior plans to produce iron products initially from the C Zone, one of four zones on the 3,730-hectare (9,213 acres) Roche Bay property, which is located in one of the world's largest developing iron ore... Full story
Ocean Park Ventures Corp. - which emerged on the mineral exploration scene in 2010 with a US$6.2 million exploration program at the Chisna gold-copper project in eastern Alaska - has returned to the north with another aggressive exploration program in 2011. While the Vancouver B.C.-based junior investigates an exciting new gold trend at Chisna with a C$2.4 million program, the explorer's primary focus is on Trapper, a previously disregarded gold property located in northern...
Despite the abundance of good news from the Alaska mining industry this month, there is an unusual black cloud hanging over the industry that threatens to rain on our parade of projects. Domestic and international markets got a severe case of the jitters during the recent United States debt crisis. The resulting economic uncertainty contributed to significant metal price volatility. For example, the London gold price jumped 20 percent, from about US$1,480 to US$1,770 during the month prior to the debt deferral and has since d...
YUKON TERRITORY - "There's gold, and it's haunting and haunting; It's luring me on as of old; Yet it isn't the gold that I'm wanting; So much as just finding the gold." This passage from the "Spell of the Yukon" is as applicable to the contemporary stampede of explorers seeking mineral riches in the home of the Klondike as it was to the prospectors of which Robert Service wrote more than a century ago. It is estimated that the modern rush of prospectors to Yukon Territory...
Though still a ways from completely sorting it out, the Government of British Columbia and the province's mining industry have taken long strides recently toward mastering the intricacies of social responsibility, especially in meeting requirements of law and conscience in aboriginal relations. During the past 12 months, the provincial government inked the first-ever mine revenue-sharing agreements with First Nations and BC Hydro successfully negotiated impact agreements with at least five First Nations as part of continuing...
Five months after the devastating blow dealt to uranium markets by the earthquake and tsunami that damaged Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s Fukushima Dai-Ichi power station in March, global markets are showing signs of life as miners in Nunavut report encouraging drill results and exploration activity. Uranium spot prices remain depressed by Japan's ongoing nuclear crisis - down 24 percent since the week before the March 11 event - and leading uranium producers are predicting significant declines in world consumption of the...
Alaska boasts some of the largest metals deposits on earth as well as vast quantities of coal, oil and natural gas. Ironically, companies such as Donlin Gold LLC (formerly Donlin Creek LLC) and Pebble Limited Partnership are looking overseas to find a reliable source of natural gas as they study the economics of building global-scale mines at their projects. "My guess is, our base case will be imported LNG. Which seems sort of weird to import natural gas into the State of...
While most fortune-seeking juniors and investors joining the recent stampeded to Yukon Territory are scrambling to acquire properties in the highly prospective White Gold area located in the central Dawson Range and the eastern Selwyn Basin districts, a few canny explorers are quietly staking claims far from the heavy traffic in the southwestern corner of the territory. Solomon Resources Ltd. is one such explorer who has reported making a recent play in the region in a big way. Solomon July 18 reported the acquisition of a...
Zinc, the fourth most consumed metal in the world, is an essential building block of modern society and the dominant metal mined in Alaska over the past two decades. In 2010, 538,000 metric tons of zinc was mined at Teck Resources Ltd.'s Red Dog Mine and an additional 67,580 metric tons of zinc was recovered as a byproduct at Hecla Mining Co.'s Greens Creek silver mine, accounting for US$1.3 billion, or about 42 percent, of Alaska's US$3.1 billion of mineral production for...
Alaska Department of Natural Resources Commissioner Dan Sullivan June 3 informed U.S. lawmakers of Alaska's strategic mineral endowment and the role the Far North state can play in assisting the nation in overcoming its critical mineral challenges. Sullivan's testimony was delivered to the U.S. House Energy and Mineral Resources Subcommittee hearing on H.R. 2011, the "National Strategic and Critical Minerals Policy Act," sponsored by Rep. Doug Lamborn, R-Colorado; and H.R.... Full story
The last month has seen a massive transition in Alaska from planning to execution, from getting ready to go to the field to boots on the outcrop and drills in the ground. Each year the hustle and bustle of the Alaska summer exploration season subsumes virtually everything else (except the Stanley Cup) as field programs launch around the state. This year has been no different with base metal programs in the Brooks Range, gold programs in Interior Alaska and the Seward... Full story
The mineral project generator model is paying dividends for Millrock Resources Inc. The junior anticipates exploration on its Alaska gold properties to top US$10 million in 2011, with more than US$9 million to be funded by project partners. Millrock has attracted senior miners Teck Resources Ltd. and Kinross Gold Corp. to some of the Alaska gold projects it has generated. Additionally, junior explorers Crescent Resources Corp., Brixton Metals Corp. and Ryan Gold Corp. also...
Another busy summer field season is getting underway in Yukon Territory, and government officials are projecting record numbers of mining companies flocking to the Northwest Canada jurisdiction and spending unprecedented sums on mineral exploration programs scattered across the southern two-thirds of the territory. Based on the industry's spending intentions in February, Natural Resources Canada projected C$39.3 million would be spent in 2011 by the majors on exploration and deposit appraisal activities in Yukon Territory,...
Rio Tinto Exploration Canada Inc., 60 percent owner and operator of the Diavik Diamond Mine in Northwest Territories is quietly looking for more diamond deposits in Canada's high Arctic. Though the company declined to confirm a start date for its 2011 exploration program or discuss its plans, officials of Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, Parks Canada, Environment Canada and other affected federal regulators signed off this spring on a new land use permit for proposed work to be carried out between March and October 2011... Full story
As the United States scrambles to fill the rare earth elements supply shortage caused by China's export restrictions on these technologically important metals, Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Rep. Doug Lamborn, R-Colorado, each have introduced legislation on Capitol Hill that seeks to revitalize domestic production of the minerals most critical to maintaining military security and a robust economy. "It is critical that we have a national policy, and we are behind the...
The Money Knob deposit at International Tower Hill Mines Ltd.'s Livengood Project ranks among the top 2 percent of gold discoveries made globally during the past 20 years - a far cry from the prospect a newly-formed junior inherited from AngloGold Ashanti Exploration Inc. in late 2006. "The Livengood Project from 'Day One' really felt to me like we were on top of a very large gold system, so I was very committed to the project," Tower Hill CEO Jeff Pontius told Mining News... Full story
Some months ago I was talking to a senior exploration manager regarding the lack of new discoveries worldwide in the last few years. The subject came up of just how rare a +1-million-ounce gold deposit really was. Then last week one of our project geologists lays a publication in front of me entitled "How Rare are One Million Ounce Gold Deposits?" by Natural Resources Holdings, Ltd. Although this publication comes at the question from the standpoint of which new deposits are...
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency released additional information in early May about its plan to conduct a scientific assessment of the Bristol Bay watershed in hopes of better understanding how future large-scale development projects may affect water quality and Bristol Bay's world-class salmon fishery. The EPA announced the study in February, saying it was undertaken in response to concerns from Alaska Native groups, including the Bristol Bay Native Corp., and others...
Although the mining news for the last month was rather on the thin side in terms of volume, a number of significant milestones were reached by the Alaska mineral industry. Over the past 30 days or so, we have had new mineral resources published on three gold deposits and one polymetallic deposit. We've had the first preliminary economic analysis released on a deposit from the Ambler Mining District and the schedule for a second preliminary economic analysis announced for...
Nearly a half century ago, John S. Brock ventured into Yukon Territory to explore for hardrock minerals. The young geologist soon found himself involved in Anvil Mining and Dynasty Exploration's discoveries that led to the development of Faro, which became the world's largest open-pit lead-zinc mine. "I was just a kid then, and I thought, 'This business is really easy,' " Brock recalled. Today, the longtime explorationist knows better. During the past 48 years, Brock has participated in numerous mineral discoveries in Canada,...
Kiska Metals Corp. is navigating exploration of the Whistler gold-copper project toward expanding targets identified during its 2009 and 2010 programs - which were driven largely by Kennecott Exploration Co.'s desire to look at the overall potential of the 203-square-mile, or 557-square-kilometer, property in order to evaluate its back-in rights. After spending the winter months transporting in supplies over a 110-mile, or 175-kilometer, ice road and relocating its camp next...
NANA Regional Corp. is on the hunt for mineral deposits that will continue to sustain the economic well being of its 12,500 shareholders beyond the life of the Red Dog Mine. "We know that one day we will be done mining at Red Dog, and it is our hope that we will keep finding deposits around the area," NANA Regional Corp. President and CEO Marie Greene told Mining News during an April 11 interview. Aqqaluk, a zinc-rich deposit that NANA and partner Teck Resources Ltd. began...
Can mining and Alaska co-exist? This query was the crux of Anglo American plc CEO Cynthia Carroll's message to Alaskans attending a March 3 gathering in Anchorage sponsored by the Resource Development Council. Carroll, whose company owns a 50 percent stake in the Pebble Project, said economic benefits from developing the enormous copper-gold-molybdenum project would emanate from Southwest Alaska and extend around the world, a message that resonated with the pro-development...
The Fraser Institute recently released its "Survey of Mining Companies, 2010/2011," an annual survey of exploration and mining companies that gauges the pros and cons of working in various countries around the world. This year the survey results came from 494 mining companies working in 79 jurisdictions and representing cumulative exploration expenditures of more than US$2.4 billion in 2010. There was a bit of honey and a bit of vinegar for Alaska in this report. Let's do...
All bets are off, but prospects for the project most likely to succeed in becoming the next producing mine in Northwest Territories got a boost recently when its developer commissioned a new feasibility study. Canadian Zinc Corp. in February reported engaging SNC-Lavalin Inc. to complete the feasibility study in 2011 for the underground Prairie Creek Project, a longstanding mining venture where it hopes to capitalize on several decades of development work to produce lead and zinc concentrates and a silver-bearing copper...
