The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
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U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, is again urging fellow lawmakers in Washington, D.C. to enact legislation that would restore America’s mineral security. “After years of inaction, it is time for Congress to recognize that our mineral policies need to be modernized as soon as possible,” said Murkowski, who is chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee CBS newsmagazine, 60 Minutes, provided a timely segue to Murkowski’s critical minerals bill by airing...
Roughly 74 percent of U.S. Bureau of Land Management-administered lands in Alaska's Eastern Interior region will be off limits to mining, according to the preferred resource management plan published July 30 by the federal land manager. BLM is responsible for the management of 6.5 million acres in the federal government's Eastern Interior planning area, a roughly 30-million-acre, triangle-shaped expanse of eastern Alaska that stretches from the Yukon Territory border to a...
What does Molycorp Inc.'s bankruptcy have to do with the price of rare earths in China? Some analysts say everything, while other experts in the field point to other weaknesses as the root cause of the American REE Goliath's undoing. When China put a chokehold on its exports of rare earth elements in 2010, Molycorp was already well on its way to seizing the opportunity to reopen the Mountain Pass Mine in California, an operation hailed for its ability to re-establishing an...
Ucore Rare Metals Inc. May 24 reported that a SuperLig®-One rare earth elements separation pilot plant at its Bokan Mountain - Dotson Ridge project in Southeast Alaska has separated nearly pure scandium from other minerals found in the deposit. Scandium is a highly valued REE used in making advanced aluminum alloys. Scandium imparts added strength, increased corrosion resistance, greater heat tolerance, and improved weldability to aluminum alloys. Its electrical and heat-stabilizing qualities also make it desirable for use in...
The State of Alaska and its mining industry continue to benefit from a world-class natural resource base while being buffeted by significant challenges, mostly related to downward market trends for minerals and energy. The wide array of complex resource development issues and decisions facing Alaska resource managers, policy makers and the private sector is unabated - in fact it has grown - and the Alaska Department of Natural Resources is determined to address them as best we can despite adverse fiscal conditions. Some good...
If you have ever played or followed sporting events, you are probably familiar with that bizarre and often game-changing event known as the "change of momentum". This is when the team that was on the ropes suddenly comes to life and often roars to victory, putting smiles on the faces of coaches, fans and bookies alike. Well, unless I am mistaken, the Alaska mining industry has been the beneficiary of just such a change of momentum over the past month. After taking head shots...
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...
During an era of partisan gridlock on Capitol Hill, U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, has managed to garner broad support for an energy bill aimed at modernizing the way power is produced in the United States, including numerous provisions important to Alaska. The legislation, which was passed out of the U.S. Senate with an 85-12 vote, also contains provisions to improve access to the U.S. mineral resources supply by streamlining the minerals mine permitting process. "My...
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....
Will the rare earth elements separation technology that Ucore Rare Metals Inc. has been endeavoring to develop during the past two years revolutionize the recovery of these minerals crucial to modern technology? With the completion of the SuperLig®-One rare earth separation pilot plant, the answer to that question draws nigh. The pilot plant, designed and constructed by Utah-based IBC Advanced Technologies Inc., utilizes a highly-selective process known as molecular...
The Alaska Division of Geological & Geophysical Surveys July 16 published preliminary results of geologic mapping conducted in the Talkeetna Mountains during 2014. The resultant map presents new, detailed information about bedrock geology, surficial deposits, and faults for a 450-square-mile area about 50 miles east of the town of Talkeetna. DGGS says the results have implications for platinum, gold, and copper exploration in the region, and for the proposed Susitna-Watana...
Permitting delays are becoming the bane of companies endeavoring to develop mines in the United States, a country that is otherwise considered a stable and richly endowed mining jurisdiction. SNL Metals & Mining has published a report that shows a notoriously lengthy process is resulting in U. S. mines losing up to half their value before receiving final approvals for development. "The longer the wait, the more the value of the investment is reduced, even to the extent that...
As chairman of the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, provides the 49th State a strong voice when mining issues are discussed on Capitol Hill. Her chairmanship of a lesser known appropriations subcommittee that holds the checkbook for the Environmental Protection Agency and Interior Department, however, also is proving to be a powerful weapon in reigning in what many consider as overreach by these regulatory bodies. "The...
With a significant deposit of heavy rare earths in the Southeast, the largest domestic graphite deposit in the Northwest, and vast potential in the 1,300-mile expanse between the two, Alaska is a viable alternative to importing many of the strategic and critical minerals vital to national security, green energy and modern technology. "The State of Alaska is blessed with vast mineral potential on its lands," Alaska Department of Natural Resources Deputy Commissioner Ed Fogels t...
Graphite One Resources Inc. May 19 noted that its Graphite Creek project near Nome, Alaska was one of two Alaska strategic mineral projects cited during a May 12 hearing before the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. Alaska Department of Natural Resources Deputy Commissioner Ed Fogels cited the graphite project during his testimony in support of "The American Mineral Security Act of 2015," legislation aimed at fostering domestic production of strategic and crit...
The United States is richly endowed with a broad range of metals and minerals critical to national security, green energy and modern technology but is often overly-reliant on foreign sources for these same commodities. This was the resounding message from miners, manufacturers, regulators and analysts who testified on U.S. Senate Bill 883, "The American Mineral Security Act of 2015." Introduced by Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, S.883 aims to reduce the United States' heavy...
Rep. Mark Amodei, R-Nevada, April 22 introduced the "National Strategic and Critical Minerals Production Act of 2015," which is intended to address American dependence on foreign minerals and to enable the United States to more efficiently develop its own mineral supplies. "It's not hyperbole to say our national defense and way of life depend on mineral production," said Amodei. "From military technology, such as aircraft and missiles used by service men and women to defend...
The U.S. Bureau of Land Management is planning to designate nearly one-third of the historic Fortymile mining district in eastern Alaska as off limits to mining in a blow to miners of the region who already feel unduly targeted by federal regulators. The proposal to set aside large swaths of the district along the Alaska-Yukon border for environmental conservation, which comes as a late addition to the federal land manager's Eastern Interior Draft Resource Management Plan, als...
Primarily associated with cans, cups and roofs, tin is not the flashiest metal on the market. Despite its lowly ranking, even among base metals, this lackluster commodity fetches around US$8.00 per pound - substantially more than copper, zinc, lead, or even nickel - and Alaska has plenty of it. Strongbow Exploration Inc., a company primarily focused on exploring for nickel in Northwest Territories, is working on a deal that would allow it to acquire two Alaska tin properties...
The U.S. Geological Survey Feb. 23 released new maps highlighting areas with potential for placer gold and five critical mineral deposit types in the U.S. Bureau of Land Management's Central Yukon Planning Area of central and northern Alaska. The maps were created using a geographic information system-based method for identifying areas with mineral resource potential across large regions. A new mapping method, developed in cooperation with the Alaska Division of Geological and...
It's official! The Alaska Geologic Materials Center (GMC) is set to make the long-awaited move to its new, larger Anchorage quarters on April 6, weather permitting. The center, a unit of the Alaska Division of Geological & Geophysical Surveys within the state Department of Natural Resources, is the repository for geologic materials collected from across Alaska, and then catalogued, stored and studied. Visitors to the center, primarily representative of companies, state and federal agencies, and academia, examine hardrock...
In the race to deliver heavy rare earth metals to western markets, Ucore Rare Metals Inc.'s Bokan Dotson-Ridge property in Southeast Alaska may sprint to the front of the pack with the help of an award-winning industrial process. Ucore recently completed a successful test in which it produced a heavy rare earth concentrate from material found in the deposit, using Molecular Recognition Technology, a proprietary process developed by IBC. The concentrate, which is 99 percent rare earth elements, was extracted from a...
Valued at US$4 billion per year, Alaska's mining industry is as healthy as it has ever been. Much of this success is owed to the Alaska Miners Association, which celebrated its 75th anniversary during its annual convention and trade show held in Anchorage Nov. 3-9. The anniversary event also highlighted many of the challenges the association and its constituents face going forward. Under the stewardship of AMA, Alaska boasts six large-scale operating mines churning out gold,...
UCU: TSX.V President and CEO: Jim McKenzie Chief Operating Officer: Ken Collison Vice President, Business Development: Mark MacDonald Ucore Rare Metals Inc. carried out 2014 exploration programs at both its Bokan-Dotson Ridge rare earth elements project in Southeast Alaska and Ray Mountain REE-tin project in the Interior region of the state. A C$7.8-million private placement completed in April, along with C$2.8 million of working capital Ucore had on the books at the end of March, is anticipated to provide ample funds to meet...
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has offered the proposal of allowing the Pebble Limited Partnership to apply for permits to develop a less than average-size porphyry mine at the world's largest undeveloped copper-gold-molybdenum deposit. Falling short of an outright ban of building a mine at Pebble, the EPA is proposing Clean Water Act Section 404(c) permit restrictions aimed at limiting the footprint of any mine allowed to be developed at the enormous porphyry...
