The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
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Contango ORE Inc. Sep. 8 announced the discovery of West Peak Extension, a new zone of gold mineralization northwest of the Main Peak deposit, during the second phase of 2017 drilling at the Tetlin project near Tok, Alaska. Tetlin is being explored by Peak Gold, a joint venture between Contango ORE and Royal Gold Inc. In June, the Peak Gold partners published an updated global resource for Main and North Peak – measured, indicated and inferred – of 15.65 million metric ton...
Trilogy Metals Inc. Sep. 18 reported high-grade copper results from this summer's exploration drill program at the Bornite project, part of the company's Upper Kobuk Mineral Projects in the Ambler mining district of Northwest Alaska. This 10,000-meter program is focused on expanding upon the more than 6 billion pounds of copper Trilogy has outlined at Bornite. Roughly 2.7 billion lb of this copper is encompassed in an open-pit resource averaging roughly 1 percent copper. The r...
CopperBank Resources Corp. sees the need for copper rising sharply as the world shifts to renewable energy sources and believes its Pyramid porphyry copper-gold-molybdenum project on the Alaska Peninsula ideally suited to help fill that demand. CopperBank was founded by self-proclaimed "realistic environmentalist" Gianni Kovacevic, who drove a Tesla Model S sedan across North America last year to raise awareness about the symbiotic relationship between the mining and green...
Pebble Limited Partnership and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency are on the cusp of reaching a settlement of the longstanding legal dispute over the federal agency's attempt to use Section 404 (c) of the Clean Water Act to place pre-emptive restrictions on permits needed to develop a mine at the Pebble copper-gold-molybdenum project in Southwest Alaska. The federal court where the lawsuit was being heard granted a stay of proceedings until May 4 to provide Pebble and... Full story
Dominion Diamond Corp. Nov. 1 announced that it has closed the deal to sell all of its outstanding shares to The Washington Companies for US$14.25 per share, worth roughly US$1.2 billion. Founded by billionaire Dennis Washington, The Washington Companies is a group of privately held North American mining industrial and transportation businesses. "This is an exciting day for Dominion Diamond and The Washington Companies," said Washington President Lawrence Simkins. "We fully su... Full story
CopperBank Resources Corp. sees the current transition to renewable energy sources driving the demand for copper higher in the coming years and is focused on identifying world-class deposits of this "green metal" to fill the growing demand. The company was founded by self-proclaimed "realistic environmentalist" Gianni Kovacevic, who drove a Tesla Model S sedan across North America to raise awareness about the symbiotic relationship between the mining and green energy sectors....
Hecla Mining Company has a long-running practice of replacing reserves it mines each year at the Greens Creek Mine, a tradition it continued in 2016 despite producing a record 9.3 million ounces of silver at this high-grade underground operation in Southeast Alaska. Going into 2017, Greens Creek had 7.6 million tons of proven and probable reserves averaging 11.7 oz per ton (88.9 million oz) silver; 0.09 oz/t (673,000 oz) gold; 7.6 percent (576,130 tons) zinc; and 2.9 percent (...
Three world-class deposits in Alaska – Pebble, Donlin Gold and Livengood – are far enough advanced to be considered beyond the exploration stage but not quite ready to break ground on development. Together, these three colossal deposits host more than US$160 billion worth of gold – with Pebble adding nearly another US$200 billion worth of copper, molybdenum and silver at today's metals prices. The jobs and revenue generated from developing operations to mine these three global... Full story
South32 Ltd., a coal and base metals miner spun out of BHP Billiton in 2015, has cut a US$150 million deal with Trilogy Metals Inc. to earn up to a 50 percent interest in the Upper Kobuk Mineral Projects, UKMP, a large land package that blankets most of the Ambler Mining District in Northwest Alaska. South32, which up to this point was focused on the Southern Hemisphere, has eight mines in Australia, Africa and South America that produce aluminum, coal, manganese, nickel and...
With winter programs winding down and summer efforts rapidly ramping up, it is becoming clear that 2017 will be a much more vigorous year for the Alaska mining industry than the 2013 to 2016 period. For example, my internal estimates are already pushing $75 million for exploration activity alone and a significant number of projects that have announced exploration plans have not yet announced budgets for 2017, so that number is likely to rise. Compare this to estimates of less...
With roughly US$5 million of exploration being carried out on its projects in Alaska, British Columbia and Mexico this year, Millrock Resources Inc. is beginning to reap the benefits of the upswing in the mining sector. "During the industry downturn, Millrock moved boldly to grow its property portfolio," said Millrock President and CEO Greg Beischer. "Now that metal prices and investor sentiment have improved, we are ramping up exploration efforts significantly." This ramp up...
Contango Ore Inc. May 9 reported that 5,236 meters of drilling was completed in 47 holes during the initial phase of drilling at the Tetlin gold project near Tok, Alaska. Carried out by Peak Gold LLC, a joint venture between Contango Ore and an Alaska subsidiary of Royal Gold Inc., this program tested the boundaries of the North Peak deposit and an outlying prospect known as Blue Moon. "The phase 1 2017 drilling program finished up in early April 2017, consisting primarily of...
If there is anyone still on the fence wondering if the minerals industry has started a recovery from the doldrums of the past four years, this month’s mineral industry activity in Alaska should settle the question with authority. During the past month, we have seen two merger/acquisitions occur, one by Solitario Exploration & Royalty Corp., which acquired Zazu Metals Corp. and its interest in the Lik lead-zinc-silver deposit. Then we also had Coventry Resources acquire V...
Strikepoint Gold Inc. June 7 reported the start of its first exploration program at Mahtin, a Yukon gold project about 40 kilometers (25 miles) southwest of Victoria Gold's Eagle Gold mine project. Early in 2017, Strikepoint cut a deal to acquire 22 Yukon properties from IDM Mining that have been the target of roughly C$25 million of exploration by Ryan Gold Corp. Of these, Strikepoint has selected three - Mahtin, Pluto and Golden-Oly - as ready to be drilled. In preparation for the arrival of a drill to Mahtin, an...
Having outlined 1.26 million ounces of gold, 5.11 million oz of silver and 39.6 million pounds of copper in the measured and indicated resource category at the Peak deposits, Royal Gold and Contango Ore are now looking for new zones of similar high-grade gold mineralization at other prospect across theTetlin gold project near Tok, Alaska. “Having discovered and now defined a substantial body of ore, our drilling plans for the summer of 2017, which commenced in mid- May, are ta...
Triumph Gold Corp. (formerly Northern Freegold Resources) June 7 announced the start of a 13,000-meter drill program at its Freegold Mountain gold-copper project in the Yukon. This drilling is testing a number of new targets identified last year. The 2016 program, which was focused on identifying geological controls on mineralization at the Revenue and Nucleus porphyry deposits, identified an early stage of porphyry-style mineralization that was not targeted during past explor...
Australia-based Polaris Minerals Ltd. is set to debut as a new exploration company focused on advancing Caribou Dome and Stellar, high-grade copperand copper-gold projects in Alaska. This new exploration company will be the product of a merger between Coventry Resources, a Perth-based junior that has focused on exploring and expanding Caribou Dome for the past two years, and Vista Minerals Pty Ltd., a privately owned Down Under explorer that owns rights to the adjacent...
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... Full story
At a recent mining industry panel discussion at the Western States Land Commissioners Association meeting in Anchorage, I was asked if the recent upturn in activity in the Alaska mining industry was a function of commodities prices or a growing worldwide recognition of Alaska's enormous mineral potential. I answered that I thought neither factor was driving the Alaska mineral industry revival: commodities prices have been steady or rising slowly over the last year and... Full story
Seabridge Gold Oct. 3 reported more long intercepts of gold and copper at the Lower Iron Cap deposit at its KSM project in northwestern British Columbia. One hole testing the down-plunge projection of Iron Cap cut 491 meters averaging 0.98 grams per metric ton gold and 0.6 percent copper. Seabridge said long runs of higher grades continue to support revisions to the KSM's mine plan which could substantially improve project economics. "Iron Cap is permitted as a block cave and...
Alaska is rich in mineral potential but poor in the critical infrastructure needed to fully realize this potential, that was the message Alaska Division of Geological and Geological Surveys Director Steve Masterman delivered to lawmakers on Capitol Hill. During a March 30 hearing, Masterman informed member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources that Alaska could be the answer to the United States growing dependence on foreign suppliers for minerals....
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...
In early November, the Alaska Miners Association will hold its annual convention in Anchorage. Unlike the past four or five years, the excitement surrounding the convention this year is palpable due to the steady increase in exploration, development and production activities in Alaska in 2017. Clear signs of the industry's long-awaited revival include the fact that 11 new project acquisitions have taken place in 2017, half of which involve companies that are newcomers to the...
As the first snows of the coming winter began to fall at high elevations across Alaska, results of summer programs likewise began to trickle in from far-flung areas of the state. Meanwhile, second- and third-quarter production data began to show up and mining industry analysts released a series of reports covering a wide range of industry-wide trends. For example, SNL Metals and Mining Research released information on how long it takes to move a new discovery to production.... Full story
The Alaska mining industry continued its increased pace of activities in August, even as the first hint of autumn starts to be felt across the state. Metals prices were relatively stable with increasing demand for zinc and gold, the two metals that generate the most revenue from Alaska's operating mines. Wood Mackenzie is forecasting a 3 percent increase in global refined zinc demand in 2017 to 14.7 million metric tons. With refined zinc production limited to a 2 percent...
