The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
Sorted by date Results 851 - 875 of 1467
The owners of Alaska’s five large metal mines – Sumitomo Metal Mining Pogo, Hecla Mining Company, Kinross Gold Corp, Teck Resources Ltd. and Coeur Mining Inc. – accounted for nearly half the US$92 million of exploration spending in the state during 2014 and similar investments by these companies is providing solid footing for the Far North state’s mineral exploration sector this year. Avalon Development President Curt Freeman said he is seeing more mining majors shopping for d... Full story
Although news from the mining industry is generally limited this time of year, several items of import over the past month bear discussion. Alaska suffered a tragedy with the recent passing of mineral industry giant Chuck Hawley, one of Alaska's most talented and respected geologists. Although Chuck loved the mineral exploration game, he was far more than a geologist to many of us and to the state. His plus-50-year love affair with Alaska spanned some of the state's most...
What do green energy activism, the Pyramid copper project in Alaska, and taking a Tesla Model S sedan on a road trip across North America have in common? The short answer is Gianni Kovacevic. A self-proclaimed "realistic environmentalist" and chairman of CopperBank Resources Corp., Kovacevic has a foot in each the mining and green energy sectors – industries with a symbiotic relationship that has yet to be fully appreciated. To raise awareness about this symbiotic relationship...
Over the past month, three of Alaska's large mines reported strong quarterly results; two projects in advanced permitting and pre-feasibility reported recent progress; and three exploration properties changed hands. The latter is a trend putting 2015 on course to be one of the most active years for new acquisitions in the past decade. Placer gold production has all but ceased for the year; however, output from Alaska's placer mines is not likely to be known with any certainty...
Though lower metals prices weighed on the value of Alaska’s mining sector, the production of minerals, not including coal and oil, in the 49th State topped US$3 billion for the sixth year running. According to the United States Geological Survey’s annual report, “Mineral Commodity Summaries 2016,” Alaska mines produced roughly US$3.09 billion worth of non-fuel minerals during 2015. This reflects roughly a 12 percent decrease compared with the US$3.51 billion that USGS reporte... Full story
Fortune Minerals Ltd. April 18 announced the appointment of former Northwest Territories minister David Ramsay to its board of directors. Ramsay has more than 20 years of elected public office experience in the Northwest Territories, which included prominent cabinet positions in the Legislative Assembly. Prior to November, he served as Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment, accounting for about 50 percent of Northwest Territories' private sector gross domestic product....
Group Ten Metals Inc. Feb. 29 reported completion of an exploration and staking program on its Spy mineral property in southwestern Yukon Territory. Situated in the Kluane Ultramafic Belt, a sequence of igneous and sedimentary rocks extending from northern British Columbia through the Yukon into southern Alaska, the Spy property is prospective for copper and nickel sulfide mineralization as well as platinum group metals. Based on the results of the exploration program, the...
Alaska and the Yukon Territory continue to be perceived as among the best places in the world to seek and develop a mine, according to 449 mining executives who responded to the Fraser Institute's Survey of Mining Companies 2015. This group of miners, explorers and consultants ranked these northern neighbors as two of the richest mineral jurisdictions on Earth, but found certain mining policies in each a cause for concern. As a result, the mining leaders ranked Alaska sixth...
Although there is plenty of Alaska mining industry news this month, the big dog in the pen is the dramatic and unexpected run-up in the price of gold, which moved from a low of $1,078 per ounce to a high of $1,246/oz., most of which occurred after Feb. 1. Although profit-taking and other factors have caused the price to back off a bit, the move was both dramatic and unexpected. As you might guess, the ether is full of talking heads telling us why it went up, why it either won'... Full story
While many mining companies continue to scale back programs on their promising mineral exploration projects, Royal Gold and Contango Ore are expanding the extent of their work at Tetlin. This year, the partners have launched the first-ever winter drill program at this high-grade gold-copper project located near Tok, an eastern Alaska community at a junction of highways that lead to Fairbanks and Anchorage. Neither of these companies are your prototypical mineral explorer -... Full story
Capstone Mining Corp. Jan. 18 said it plans to temporarily halt operations at its Minto copper mine in Yukon Territory in 2017. The planned closure is part of an overall cost-cutting initiative by the company. "In light of the current commodity price environment our 2016 guidance and five-year outlook focuses on financial flexibility, while maximizing the cost efficiency of our existing operations," explained Capstone President and CEO Darren Pylot. For 2016, the Minto Mine... Full story
Skeena Resources Ltd. Jan. 14 released an updated resource estimate for the Donnelly and North Donnelly copper-gold deposits at its recently acquired GJ property in the Golden Triangle of northwestern British Columbia. The Donnelly and North Donnelly deposits now host 133.67 million metric tons of measured and indicated resource, using a 0.2 percent copper cut-off, grading 0.32 percent (940.23 million pounds) copper and 0.36 grams per metric ton (1.56 million ounces) gold. In...
After 17 months of investigation, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Office of Inspector General said it could find no evidence that the federal agency was unfair while conducting an assessment of the Bristol Bay Watershed. The conclusion, however, runs counter to those of others who have reviewed the case. The EPA's Bristol Bay Watershed Assessment is a study of the potential risks large-scale mining might pose to the abundant fish resources in the Bristol Bay region... Full story
Capstone Mining Corp. Jan. 13 said strong performance at its Minto Mine in Yukon Territory and Pinto Valley Mine in Arizona helped the company meet its guidance for 2015 copper production despite setbacks at the Cozamin Mine in Mexico. The three mines produced 26,000 metric tons of copper during the fourth quarter and 92,900 metric tons for the full year. At Minto, a pocket of high-grade underground ore in excess of three percent copper in close proximity to existing... Full story
Copper North Mining Corp. Jan. 11 said results from a second phase of 2015 drilling at Carmacks continues to demonstrate the potential to significantly expand known oxide mineral resources at this copper-gold-silver project in the Yukon Territory. The company said all 12 holes drilled during the second phase tapped near-surface oxide copper mineralization at the south end of Zone 13 and the north end of Zone 12. Highlights from the drilling include: 23.85 meters of 0.73... Full story
As the curtain rings down on 2015, the sound of clapping and cheering can already be heard from the mining industry as it anticipates the end of a largely depressing year which started out looking like the long-awaited industry recovery was going to happen but in the end, did not. The uncertainty brought on by this year's unsettling events was front and center in a recent round-table discussion hosted by Northern Miner, sponsored by PearTree Securities and entitled "New...
Earlier this month, the Alaska Miners Association held its annual convention in Anchorage amid plummeting metals prices and an over-all atmosphere of economic uncertainty now stretching into its fourth year. Individuals from around North America and beyond were present and conversations outside of the technical sessions seemed to gravitate toward how best to climb out of the doldrums that seem to grip the mining industry on a global scale. One individual was heard to say that...
A four-year rout in metals, coal and oil prices left Alaska's mining community digging deep for reasons to be optimistic during their annual gathering at the Alaska Miners Association convention in Anchorage. While depressed metals prices naturally cut into the bottom lines of those companies mining gold, silver, zinc, lead and coal in Alaska, the effects reverberate across the entire mining community. In order to adjust to lower metals prices, the producers have cut back on...
Unlawful, unfair and unwise - this is how the leadership of the Pebble Limited Partnership characterized the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's efforts to detrimentally limit the company's ability to apply for the permits needed to develop a mine at the world-class Pebble copper-gold-molybdenum project in Southwest Alaska during separate speeches delivered Nov. 5. "It is outrageous that one federal agency would bypass everything else, all the processes, come to a predeterm...
Seabridge Gold Inc. Nov. 3 reported results from the final two of five holes drilled this year at the Deep Kerr deposit of its KSM copper-gold project in northwestern British Columbia. These holes, which were wedged off K-15-49 and K-15-50 into new intercepts of the target zone, are shallower intersections of the high-grade west limb of Deep Kerr and confirm the continuity of that zone between the existing resource and deeper intersections in holes drilled earlier this year....
From an expanding ownership interest in one of the largest producing zinc mines on the planet to grassroots gold exploration, NANA Regional Corp. is delving into all phases of mining across the 24.3 million acres of extremely minerals-rich land in Northwest Alaska. During the past 26 years, this Alaska Native regional corporation and the more than 13,800 Iñupiat shareholders whose forebears settled the northwest corner of Alaska thousands of years ago have enjoyed some...
When NovaCopper Inc. needed additional funds to advance its copper-rich deposits in the Ambler Mining District of Northwest Alaska, the Vancouver B.C.-based junior bypassed typical financing vehicles for such ventures and seized the opportunity to buy Sunward Resources Ltd., a fellow exploration company with roughly US$20 million in the bank but a market cap hovering around US$13 million. "The market had basically discounted the cash they had in the bank, so that provided an...
Mineral and coal exploration spending in British Columbia has dropped nearly 30 percent a year since reaching a pinnacle of C$680 million in 2012, mirroring the downward trend seen during the same period in global exploration expenditures. Mineral-rich B. C., however, is preparing to take advantage of the next upswing in metals markets. In June, British Columbia Energy and Mines Minister Bill Bennett said the province will provide Geoscience BC with C$5 million in additional...
Skeena Resources Ltd. entered 2015 with a mission - outline at least 2.0 million ounces of high-grade gold at its Spectrum property located in the Golden Triangle region of northwestern British Columbia. Skeena Chairman Ron Netolitzky is no stranger to this metals-rich corner of B.C. In fact, he is a 2015 Canadian Mining Hall of Fame inductee, an honor that is largely due to his finding two world-class mines - Eskay Creek and Snip - in the Golden Triangle. The legendary prospe... Full story
Mineral exploration spending in Northwest Territories dipped sharply in 2015. While the final numbers are not in, Natural Resources Canada predicts exploration and deposit appraisal expenditures in the territory to be around C$43.6 million, or less than half the roughly C$95.8 million invested last year. Industry and government leaders in the territory, however, have come together "to develop a robust mineral industry in the NWT." In January, the government announced the... Full story
