The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
Sorted by date Results 451 - 475 of 495
What's the rush?" This is the question the Pebble Partnership and a growing number of lawmakers, resource development advocates and state officials are asking the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in regard to the regulator's assessment of the Bristol Bay Watershed. Companies hoping to develop promising mineral deposits in the United States typically spend several years and millions of dollars to gather environmental baseline information needed to initiate a long and...
Putting Alaska on the map as a domestic source of rare earth elements and other strategic and critical minerals is a priority of Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell. During the 2012 budget cycle, Alaska lawmakers approved US$498,000 proposed by the administration to begin a statewide REE evaluation. This year's budget includes US$2.7 million for a three-year project to continue this initiative. "Alaska can become America's source for rare earth elements," Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell...
As the scope and tenor of a long-predicted shortfall in zinc supply begins to take shape, proponents of advanced mine projects in northern Canada with substantial deposits of zinc, along with lead, copper and/or other metals, are busy refining development strategies aimed at achieving production by the end of the decade. Near the front of the line are Tamerlane Ventures Inc., which is advancing the Pine Point Project in Northwest Territories, and Selwyn-Chihong Mining Ltd., which is working to develop the giant Selwyn...
David Mate, chief geologist for the Canada Nunavut Geoscience Office, is part of a team of scientists venturing this field season into relatively unknown territory. Mate refers to the Hall Peninsula where he will be working this summer as "white space" on modern geological maps. "This is very exciting for a geologist. It's also interesting because it's in my backyard," Mate told Mining News April 22. Nunavut is Canada's northernmost and least-explored territory. About 1 ½ times the size of Alaska it is generally regarded as...
Graphite traditionally has been regarded as a mundane industrial mineral used in steelmaking, lubricants and pencil lead. Emerging applications such as lithium-ion batteries, fuel cells, and nuclear power generation are placing increased supply demands on this carbon polymer - a market shift not lost on Cedar Mountain Exploration Inc. "The graphite market is only beginning to open up as green technology takes more precedence in the world today," according to the Edmonton, Albe...
It is still early days in the exploration play for gold in eastern Yukon Territory, but a score of companies got a jump on competitors in 2011 by targeting promising occurrences of gold and pathfinder elements in a frenzy of unprecedented claim staking and reconnaissance. The early explorers rushed to the region following a report by Atac Resources Ltd. in September 2010 that it discovered unusual mineralization in the rocky eastern ridges of its 1,600-square-kilometer (618 square miles) Rackla Project. Atac posted high-grade...
Much of Alaska's resource wealth is locked up in more than 350,000 square miles (906,000 square kilometers) west of the state's contiguous road system. Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell has included some US$50 million in his fiscal 2013 state budget proposal to support measures aimed at gaining access to much of the state's abundant oil, gas and minerals resources including three roads that would trek westward. "Better transportation corridors will open up petroleum and mining...
By consolidating ownership of the Niblack copper-gold-silver-zinc-silver project on Prince of Wales Island in Southeast Alaska, Heatherdale Resources Ltd. is taking long strides in advancing the volcanogenic massive sulfide project toward development. "After three years of successfully operating the Niblack project as a joint venture, the boards of directors of Heatherdale and Niblack (Niblack Mineral Development Inc.) have agreed that the best way to efficiently advance...
A thriving minerals industry is essential for Alaska's economic growth. If Alaska were a country, we would be among the top 10 countries in the world for coal, zinc, copper, lead, zinc, and silver resources. By responsibly developing these resources, we have the potential to support the economies of entire regions of the state and help secure a stable domestic supply of minerals. The Parnell Administration is focusing on ways to advance mining opportunities in Alaska in an environmentally responsible way. A major step in...
Whether it is multimillion-ounce gold discoveries, copper deposits that measure in the billions of pounds or massive ore-bodies of 20 percent zinc, Alaska is renowned for its mammoth deposits. The prospect of finding another Donlin, Pebble or Red Dog continues to draw explorers to this vast and underexplored corner of the United States. In the Survey of Mining Companies: 2010/2011, conducted by the Fraser Institute, top executives from 494 mining and mineral exploration...
Frontrunners in the Yukon mineral exploration rush in 2011 spent more than C$12 million each, with at least one company pouring C$25 million into its program. These companies include Atac Resources Ltd., Kaminak Gold Corp., Capstone Mining Corp., Alexco Resource Corp., Golden Predator Corp., Ryan Gold Corp. and Silver Range Resources Ltd. At least another 14 companies shelled out more than C$5 million each to search for precious and base metals, using virtually every modern exploration technique from sampling to drilling....
TSX-V: UCU President and CEO: James McKenzie Vice President, Project Development: Harmen Keyser Consulting Geologist: James Barker With the winds of soaring rare earth element prices in its sails, Ucore Rare Metals Inc. is maneuvering its Bokan Mountain Project in Southeast Alaska toward becoming a domestic source of dysprosium, terbium and other heavy rare earth metals. In March, Ucore reported the first NI 43-101-compliant resource estimate for the HREE-rich deposit situated at the southern end of Prince of Wales Island. At...
Alaska officials are seeking to turn the national challenge of securing domestic supplies of critical minerals into an opportunity. "Alaska has accepted the challenge," Gov. Sean Parnell told participants in the Strategic and Critical Minerals Summit held Sept. 30 in Fairbanks. "Where China has said, 'We're going to curtail exports,' Alaska is accepting the challenge of saying, 'We've got them here, and we want to provide them to our nation and to the world beyond." The Department of Natural Resources organized the...
Leveraging its global dominance in the realm of rare earth elements, China has set in motion a strategy to gain supremacy in manufacturing the vast array of technologically advanced products that depend on these metals. "China can exploit rare earths that they control all the way out to electric cars, wind turbines, whatever it is - and that is the grand strategy," American Elements Chairman and CEO Michael Silver told some 200 participants in the Alaska Strategic and...
A March ruling by U.S. District Judge John W. Sedwick, which reinstated the so-called "Roadless Rule" in the Tongass National Forest, promised an early end to Ucore Rare Metal Inc.'s 2011 exploration at its Bokan Mountain rare earth elements project on Prince of Wales Island and left several other Southeast Alaska mineral projects needing special permission to carry out planned drilling. "The implementation of the 'roadless rule' in the Tongass National Forest by Judge...
Thanks to rising revenue, exports, production and prices, the mining industry in British Columbia is racing toward a potential record year for exploration, development and production activity. The province's mining boom is being fueled by the global recovery in manufacturing, and in particular the strong demand for raw materials in Asia, according to B.C. officials. In 2010, the price of metallurgical coal rose by 70 percent, while prices for copper climbed 45 percent, silver by 37 percent and gold by 25 percent from 2009....
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....
With a mining boom in full swing in Yukon Territory, government officials can be proud of having created an attractive business climate, one that is bringing hordes of excited miners and investors to the territory, with seemingly no end in sight. But a group of industry leaders recently submitted a report to the Government of Yukon, warning that storm clouds are gathering that could extinguish mining's bright forecast in the territory. In order for the industry to continue to make significant contributions to the economic...
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...
Alaska is considered one of the most mineralized provinces on Earth, but a vast amount of this wealth is locked up in a more than 350,000-square-mile, or 906,000-square-kilometer, area west of Alaska's contiguous road system. Surface transportation is considered key to unlocking the immense mineral potential of this area, which is roughly twice the land mass of California. In the Survey of Mining Companies: 2010/2011, conducted by the Fraser Institute, top executives from 494...
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...
U.S. Sens. Mark Begich, D-Alaska, and Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Rep. Mike Coffman, R-Colo., are up in arms over the U.S. Department of Defense's apparent laidback approach to ensuring it has an ample supply of the rare earth elements critical to many of the weapons systems in the U.S. military's arsenal. "Clearly, rare earth supply limitations present a serious vulnerability to our national security. Yet early indications are the DoD (Department of Defense) has dismissed...
Unlocking Alaska's vast mineral resource has been at the top of Gov. Sean Parnell's agenda since being elected to his first full term as the state's governor in November, a position he reiterated during his Jan. 19 State of the State address. "Without liberty, we cannot have a strong economy. So let's take stock of our economy and what we must do to keep it sound. Of course, there are many topics we could discuss: gasline, the university, fish. All are important, but tonight...
The swift development of Ucore Rare Metals Inc.'s Bokan-Dotson Ridge deposit in Southeast Alaska is vital to providing the United States with a domestic supply of critical rare earth elements. This is the message world-renown REE expert Jack Lifton delivered to attendees of the Alaska Miners Association 2010 annual convention in Anchorage. Beyond just mining the heavy rare earth element-rich ore at Bokan, the technological metal consultant advised the State of Alaska to...
