The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
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The territories of northern Canada, so far, appear to have escaped the novel coronavirus pandemic that is currently sweeping the globe. This is due, in part, to the remoteness of the region. But it's also likely the result of extraordinary steps some mining companies are taking to keep COVID-19 out of the region. Sabina Gold & Silver Corp., a Canadian junior aggressively seeking gold in Nunavut, for example, reported March 17 to delay the start of its 2020 exploration program...
Restructured and under new leadership, Heatherdale Resources Ltd. is gearing up for a drill program to expand some of the high-grade targets at its Niblack copper-gold-silver-zinc project on Prince of Wales Island in Southeast Alaska. Heatherdale, which had advanced Niblack to the brink of considering the feasibility of mining the high-grade volcanogenic massive sulfide mineralization found there, became hampered by debt during the economic hardships endured by the junior...
The fourth quarter in any given year, actually the period between Columbus Day and Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, is always an interesting period. Every eighth year (more frequently with one-term Presidencies), the interest level is enhanced by office-holder shifts. I have long thought that the reference to the Roman calendar is a little odd because it bears no resemblance to the parade of contemporaneous events. For instance, the federal fiscal year begins on October 1....
In the few months since taking the helm at Contango ORE Inc., Rick Van Nieuwenhuyse has steered this unconventional mineral exploration company toward being the 30% owner of Alaska's next million-ounce gold producing mine. This coming mine at Contango ORE's Peak Gold deposit quickly surpassed Donlin Gold, Livengood, and other top contenders for Alaska's next large gold operation when Kinross Gold Corp. acquired a 70% interest in the high-grade gold project and unveiled a...
Blue Star Gold Corp. Sept. 30 announced encouraging gold results from the company's 2020 drill program at the Ulu and Hood River properties in Nunavut. The Ulu property hosts an advanced gold project that between 1989 and 2012 saw significant exploration and development by BHP Minerals, Echo Bay Mines, and others. The past work includes roughly 1,700 meters of underground development and roughly 97,820 meters of drilling at Ulu and Hood River. According to a 2015 calculation,...
A look at Kinross Gold Corp.'s newly optimized strategy for Fort Knox indicates that the iconic mine about 20 miles north of Fairbanks, Alaska will be producing upwards of 400,000 ounces of gold per year for most of the coming decade. The global gold producer introduced its new plans for Fort Knox during an Oct. 20 presentation that provided a more in-depth look into its plan to increase companywide gold output by 500,000 oz/year by 2023. This production growth strategy,...
Northern Dynasty Minerals first set its sights on Alaska's Pebble deposit in the 1990s. After acquiring the property in 2001, the company spent more than a decade and close to $1 billion proving it up as one of the greatest mineral resources ever discovered – certainly on American soil. Consider the following: • contained copper at Pebble is equivalent to ~1.3% of all the copper metal ever discovered or produced in the past 10,000 years; • contained gold at Pebble is equiv...
Much like Mark Twain, who quipped, "The report of my death was an exaggeration," when informed of his obituary in an American newspaper, Politico's report of the untimely demise of the Pebble Mine project in Southwest Alaska was grossly overstated. On Aug. 22 Politico reported, "The Trump administration is planning to block the proposed Pebble Mine in Alaska early next week ... marking a surprise reversal that could be the death knell for the massive copper and gold project."...
The U.S. Department of Interior issued two decisions that mark a major milestone along the path of permitting a road to the incredibly rich and strategically important Ambler Mining District in Northwest Alaska. On July 23, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the National Park Service (NPS) with the U.S. Federal Highway Administration, issued a record of decision that authorizes a right-of-way for the proposed 211-mile-long road...
As the largest shareholder and chairman of Novagold Resources Inc., a company that owns 50% of the 39-million-ounce Donlin Gold project in Alaska, it is natural for New York billionaire Thomas Kaplan to elucidate potential investors on his predictions of coming rises in the price for an ounce of gold. The truth, however, is the renowned entrepreneur and natural resources investor is not bullish on gold because he has skin in the game. Instead, he is a major owner of the...
Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd. said its Pebble project could provide another source of jobs and revenue to an Alaska economy challenged by an interrelated combination of COVID-19 and low oil prices. Though fewer than 400 cases of COVID-19 have been diagnosed in Alaska, placing it among the lowest states in the country on an absolute and per capita basis, the economic impact of the global pandemic on the largest of the United States is both severe and ongoing. As a result of...
One of the most prospective, if not the potentially richest, recent gold discoveries in Yukon Territory is changing owners. Seabridge Gold has agreed to purchase the 3 Aces Project in southeastern Yukon from Golden Predator Mining Corp. for 300,000 Seabridge common shares, contingent future cash payments totaling C$2.25 million and a 0.5% net smelter return royalty on the entire 3 Aces project, the companies reported March 30. The deal also includes an immediate cash payment...
4 is shaping up to be the best year for Alaska's mineral exploration sector in a decade – that was the message delivered by North of 60 Mining News in January. Now, just four months and one COVID-19 pandemic later, the aspirations of a banner year for the companies unlocking the Last Frontier's vast mineral potential are distant and likely unachievable. While some mineral exploration companies will be able to carry out their 2020 programs as anticipated, restrictions to "...
Canada's provinces and territories have fallen from grace in the eyes of the global mining community, according to the latest rendition of Fraser Institute's Annual Survey of Mining Companies. For the first time in a decade, no Canadian jurisdiction ranks in the top 10 for "investment attractiveness" in the annual survey conducted by the Canadian public policy think-tank. This report asks industry professionals from around the globe to score mining jurisdictions based on their...
Following the pouring of the 4 millionth ounce of gold at the Pogo Mine, Northern Star Resources Ltd. Executive Chairman Bill Beament sat down with Mining News to talk about what this milestone means for the Interior Alaska gold mine; the Australia-based mining company's progress since acquiring Pogo; keys to Northern Star's success; and the vast mineral potential at Pogo and across Alaska. Q. Over the past decade, Northern Star Resources Ltd. has grown from a single-asset...
Goodpaster Mining District, Alaska – At noon on Friday, Feb. 21, 2020 a roughly 815-ounce gold bar containing the 4 millionth ounce of gold recovered from rich deposits at the Pogo Mine was cooling. While this was a momentous occasion for an Interior Alaska gold mine that began commercial production in 2007, it also seemed to mark a changing of the guard for this operation that is transitioning to a renewed life under the ownership of Northern Star Resources Ltd. "It is a...
The Government of Yukon and Golden Predator Mining Corp. Jan. 4 announced the establishment of a project coordination committee that will allow for more efficient communications and permitting of the Brewery Creek gold mine project about 55 kilometers (34 miles) east of Dawson City. "The Government of Yukon supports and encourages responsible development," said Yukon Minister of Energy, Mines and Resources Ranj Pillai. "Establishing this committee is aimed at ensuring an...
Contango ORE Inc. Jan. 6 announced that Rick Van Nieuwenhuyse has taken over as President and CEO of the Texas-based mineral exploration company advancing the Peak Gold project in eastern Alaska. Former President and CEO Brad Juneau has transitioned to executive chairman of Contango ORE, a company he co-founded and lead for the past decade. "I have known Rick for several years and followed his success with admiration," said Juneau. "We are extremely pleased that he has agreed...
With two Australian companies making major investments and several exploration companies from Down Under chomping at the bit to get into the field, 2020 is shaping up to be the best year for Alaska's mining sector in a decade. When you add up the investments South32 Ltd. plans to make in the Ambler Mining District and other exploration projects; Northern Star Resources Ltd.'s spending at the Pogo gold mine; and the exploration dollars at least five other Aussie companies are...
Seabridge Gold Corp. Dec. 17 said deep penetrating geophysics has identified four additional porphyry targets at its already world-class gold-copper project in British Columbia's Golden Triangle. The four deposits already identified at KSM – Kerr, Sulphurets, Mitchell and Iron Cap – host 2.98 billion metric tons of measured and indicated resources averaging 0.52 grams per metric ton (49.7 million ounces) gold, 0.21 percent (13.9 billion pounds) copper, 2.8 g/t (265 mil...
Nova Minerals Ltd. Dec. 9 announced that it has defined targets for a roughly 25,000-meter resource expansion and exploration drill program at its Estelle gold project in Alaska. Located about 100 miles northwest of Anchorage, Alaska's largest city, Estelle hosts 181.3 million metric tons of Australian Joint Ore Reserves Committee- (JORC) compliant inferred resource averaging 0.43 grams per metric ton (2.5 million ounces) gold. This resource, which the Australia-based...
Victoria Gold Corp. Dec. 4 announced a 22 percent increase in gold reserves at Eagle, which is expected to translate into increased annual production at the company's newly developed mine in the Yukon. The Eagle Mine went into production earlier this year with 2.66 million ounces of gold in 123 million metric tons of reserves averaging 0.67 grams per metric ton gold, enough ore for Yukon's newest large mine to produce roughly 200,000 oz of gold annually over an initial...
Stretching along roughly 400 miles of Alaska's southern coast – from the north end of the Southeast Alaska Panhandle near Icy Bay to the tip of the Kenai Peninsula near Homer – the Chugach Alaska Corp. region epitomizes Alaska beauty. This 10 million-acre region along Gulf of Alaska coastline is carved with majestic fjords and bays teeming with fish, birds and marine mammals, and vistas of mountains and glaciers rising above and cutting through dense forests of hemlock and...
It is the very nature of the legislative process for the participants to endure conflict and controversy. Generally, the confrontations endemic to law-making begin when a citizen files for public office and starts a campaign. Unless unopposed, this brave soul must raise funds and interface with voters incessantly until election day. The candidate’s calendar is full, from registration on, and then only one of the contenders for a given seat prevails. For all of the u...
Golden Predator Mining Corp. Nov. 4 reported significant gold mineralization in nine of the first 10 holes from the fall drill program at its Brewery Creek Mine project about a 45-minute drive from Dawson City, Yukon. From 1996 through 2002, Viceroy Resource Corp. produced 280,000 ounces of gold from seven open-pit mines at Brewery Creek. Since acquiring this past producing gold property about a decade ago, Golden Predator has outlined 14.15 million metric tons of indicated...
