The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
Sorted by date Results 1401 - 1425 of 1467
This summer, Vancouver, British Columbia-based Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd. will spend $20 million on an expanded-scale continuation of its drilling program at the newest discovery in the east zone of its Pebble mine project near Iliamna on the Alaska Peninsula. The drilling budget is twice what the company spent on the project last year. The new find just to the east of the initial discovery made Pebble meaningfully bigger and richer, and the company expects this year's drilling program to tell just how much the east zone...
Northern Dynasty may only be a junior mining company, but it has marshaled an army of contractors to conduct baseline environmental studies for its Pebble project in southwest Alaska. Companies that competed against each other to win the contracts are now working as a team taking samples, monitoring conditions and analyzing data that will eventually be used in the permit applications for the proposed copper-gold mine. In 2005 the Pebble project employed 45 consulting firms, with a total Alaska workforce of 457, plus another...
As the mining industry booms and companies rush to develop new properties, there is often one major snag in remote northern regions: inadequate infrastructure. This is the case with the Red Chris property in British Columbia, which completed the province's environmental assessment process last August. Vancouver-based bcMetals is champing at the bit to obtain permits and start construction of its proposed copper-gold mine, but everything hinges on whether or not the British Columbia government will build a 37.5-megawatt power...
Some of Alaska's mines are taking full advantage of Gov. Frank Murkowski's Roads to Resources program. But for others, building a private road may be more economical than letting the state take care of the infrastructure. With public roads, mines not only have to deal with the issue of public access, they must also pay additional taxes and comply with numerous regulations that restrict the size and weight of vehicles. Northern Dynasty is weighing up the options for its Pebble project in southwest Alaska. The Vancouver-based c...
Although results from 2005 activities have finally slowed to a trickle, don't equate this lack of news with lack of activity. Behind the holiday season façade there is a mad scramble going on with companies already jockeying for personnel, drill rigs, helicopters, geochemical services, field camps and all manner of field supplies. While wishing each other season's greetings over a cup of grog, competitors are quietly trying to steal the jump on each other to get the best...
It isn't every day that a junior mining company takes a project all the way to development. In fact, it "rarely" happens, according to Dr. Harlan Meade, president and CEO of Yukon Zinc Corp., the successor company to Expatriate Resources Ltd. But the Yukon Zinc-Silver Project in southeastern Yukon Territory is well on its way to becoming such a rarity. Vancouver, B.C.-based Yukon Zinc filed its environmental assessment report for the Wolverine deposit Nov. 3, setting in motion a permitting and public review process expected...
Over the course of the last several months, a series of new gold and base metal discoveries have been made. Several of these new discoveries were reported in the last month and highlights of these and other activities were presented at the annual Alaska Miners Association convention in Anchorage in early November. The convention was one of the most exciting and up-beat events in nearly a decade. The new discoveries are a trend that, while long in coming, are an inevitable...
Toronto-based Metallica Resources Inc. has identified targets for its 2006 exploratory drilling program on the Alaska Peninsula, according to Mark Petersen, Metallica geologist and exploration manager. Petersen said Metallica is moving forward under a joint venture agreement with Full Metal Minerals Ltd. regarding Aleutian Islands and Alaska Peninsula properties covering a 150 mile section of the Alaskan Peninsula, which are held by Full Metal under an exclusive option agreement with Bristol Bay Native Corp. and Aleut Corp....
As expected, results from the summer field programs have begun to roll in from all over the state. Discoveries from base and precious metals properties were reported in September and several properties previously explored in the Carter administration were rediscovered and are turning out promising results. Metals prices remain robust with gold pushing the $475 per ounce mark. While Alaska's mining industry is still trying to catch its breath from this year, many companies...
Higher prices for precious and base metals, gemstones, coal and other minerals are luring explorers back to the Yukon Territory, and this resurgence in mining activity has government officials grappling with ways to encourage the miners to stay. The number and variety of mining exploration projects under way this year bodes wells for the territory's future and for government's chances of re-awakening what many call a sleeping giant - Yukon's mining industry. "Yukon is coming back," says Ivan Jacobsen, a stockbroker at Canacco...
Canada's mining industry could face a labor shortfall of more than 27,000 workers over the next 10 years - and that is the best case scenario, with no industry growth over the period, according to a report by the Mining Industry Training and Adjustment Council. "Prospecting the Future: Meeting Human Resources Challenges in the Canadian Minerals and Metals Industry" is an analysis of the situation that was published Aug. 24. In the worst case, with high growth in Canadian mining, the workforce shortage could reach almost...
As expected, news has begun to trickle in from projects being worked on across the state. Some of the news is good, some not so good and some makes one scratch the head and wonder what it all means. Two new corporations entered the Alaska exploration industry in August, a trend started late last year as metal prices began their climb to current levels. August also saw the start of several new programs on a wide range of projects spread from the Seward Peninsula to southern Southeastern Alaska. The tally of the good, the bad...
I have had numerous people ask me the same question over and over again for the last month - "What's going on in Alaska; everyone is so quiet?" My response has been and remains the same - everyone is too busy breaking rocks, drilling holes or crushing ore to be bothered with new releases and grandiose public announcements. After all, it is high summer in the high north, a time of seasonal frenetic activity that makes the lot of us look and feel like a mouse in a habitat wheel! Despite the fact that a dozen or so companies...
One of British Columbia's largest advanced exploration projects has taken a leap forward this summer, with the camp at Galore Creek expanding from 75 people to 175 people. Vancouver-based NovaGold Resources, well-known in Alaska with its Donlin Creek and Rock Creek projects, now has seven core drillings rigs and two geotechnical rigs in operation at Galore Creek. The 74,000-acre property is located within the historic Sitkine Gold Belt of northwest British Columbia, about 90 miles east of Wrangell, Alaska. "The program has...
Full Metal Minerals Ltd. has launched an eight-hole drilling program covering 1,200 meters at the Lucky Shot Gold Project, about 40 miles north of Anchorage. The program - the initial phase of exploration at Lucky Shot by the Vancouver, British Columbia-based company - will target an extension to the Coleman Vein at the Lucky Shot Mine. The mine is in the second largest historic lode-gold producing region in Alaska. From 1908 to 1951 Lucky Shot operated as one of the richest in Alaska, producing 252,000 ounces of gold at an...
An ambitious plan by Canadian junior Cash Minerals could bring 1.2 million tonnes of coal per year to Southeast Alaska's Skagway Ore Terminal for export to Pacific Rim markets. Cash has begun talks with the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority, the contractual owner of the ore terminal, about the logistics that would be involved in using the facility. The coal would be mined over a 20-year period at Cash's Division Mountain deposit in Yukon. The Skagway Ore Terminal was constructed in the 1960s by the White...
In case you have not heard, Alaska's mineral industry is cooking! Over the last month two new companies have acquired mineral properties in Alaska and most of the existing projects kicked off their summer programs in earnest. One of Alaska's major mining projects received its final permits to allow mine construction to begin and several others are conducting preliminary and final feasibility studies. Drilling rigs are scarce as hen's teeth and the helicopters to lift them and the people who run them are booked from now until...
Thanks to a gutsy move by the tiny Yukon River village of Galena, mine developers across the state could soon possess a new option for solving one of their biggest headaches - find a cheap source of power for their operations. Galena, like most remote Alaska communities, is virtually held captive by high energy costs. But nuclear power from a small 10-megawatt nuclear reactor could rescue the Bush village from economic bondage, according to a recent U.S. Department of Energy study of Galena's energy alternatives. Power costs...
Since the Pebble project began hitting the headlines, Bob Loeffler has been asked some strange questions. People accost the mild-mannered director of the Alaska Department of Natural Resources' Division of Mining, Land and Water and demand to know why he issued permits for the Pebble project and when it is going to break ground. Loeffler is puzzled, because he hasn't issued any permits for the Pebble project. The developer, Northern Dynasty, won't even submit its permit applications until next year. Loeffler spoke to the Newh...
Residents of Southwest Alaska - including a former state governor - expressed passionate opinions about the proposed Pebble open-pit mine at a conference in the village of Newhalen April 7-9, demonstrating that there will be a host of social issues to deal with even if mine developer Northern Dynasty can overcome the project's daunting environmental and economic hurdles. Local Natives are worried about the threat to their subsistence lifestyle, lodge owners and guides fear tourism could change and anti-mining NGOs are making...
On the cusp of what promises to be one of the busiest mineral exploration and development seasons in the last 20 years, the mineral industry is madly preparing its personnel and equipment all across the state. Despite the late season snows and unusually cool temperatures being experienced as this summary is being written, many of Alaska's exploration programs are either under way or will be sometime in early May. Competition for funds within and between companies remains fierce as projects in the U.S., Canada, Europe,...
Current market conditions favor the three metals uncovered in the Pebble project operated by Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd. in southwestern Alaska. Not only are gold and copper fetching good prices, but a recent run-up in molybdenum prices could deliver a nice bonus for the project. Little known metal makes big contributions Molybdenum, pronounced "meh-LIB-deh-nem," is mainly a byproduct of copper mining but some standalone molybdenum mines do exist. The element was discovered by Carl Welhelm Scheele, a Swedish chemist, in...
Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd., owner and operator of the Pebble project in southwestern Alaska, is gearing up for a new season with a larger ownership stake in the gold-copper-molybdenum deposit and a C$36 million work program for 2005. The company announced results March 4 of a recent independent analysis that indicated the world-class mineral system at Pebble is significantly larger than previously envisioned. Northern Dynasty also said March 14 it agreed to acquire the remaining 20 percent ownership interest in Pebble in...
The Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys and the Department of Commerce and Economic Development have released their annual preliminary report on Alaska's mining industry for 2004. As expected, investment in all categories was up significantly over previous years. Exploration spending in 2004 was estimated at $63.7 million, up from $27.6 million in 2003. The 2004 expenditures were the highest in the state since 1981. Development expenditures jumped to $105.6 million vs. $39.2 million in 2003, thanks largely t...
December, January and February are normally a time when the mining industry can stop and catch its collective breath, look into its often cloudy but well-used crystal ball and prepare for the coming year. Not so the last December, January and February! While 2004 results continued to pour in from projects large and small, plans for 2005 are well advanced and in some cases, already in full swing. Metals prices remained strong and even the most pessimistic prognosticators...
