The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
Sorted by date Results 301 - 325 of 395
Among the dozen or so companies that are advancing mineral-rich deposits in Nunavut this year, none has more going on inside and outside of the territory this summer than Glencore Xstrata plc. Xstrata plc, owner of the Hackett River silver-zinc project located in western Nunavut, merged with Glencore International plc in late May to become one of the world's largest mining and trading companies. The US$30 billion deal created a mega-entity that employs nearly 200,000 people in 50 countries around the globe to generate full...
The story of the Meadowbank Mine in central Nunavut continues to be a tale of challenges met and obstacles conquered. From the hour that its development was conceptualized in the middle of the past decade, the gold at Meadowbank has delivered a succession of hurdles for its developers - first Cumberland Resources and then Agnico-Eagle Mines Ltd. - to clear. Agnico-Eagle acquired Cumberland in April 2007 in an all-share acquisition valued at C$710 million. In 2010, the gold producer brought Meadowbank into commercial...
The Government of Yukon received comments from around the globe during recent public consultation in the prolonged land-use debate over the Peel Watershed, a 77,000 square kilometer mountainous and wild expanse in the northern part of the territory that also extends across the border into central Northwest Territories. The Yukon portion of the watershed, 68,000 square kilometers (26,255 square miles), an area roughly the size of West Virginia and Delaware combined, is undergoing land-use planning in a process laid out in...
The huge Selwyn lead-zinc project in eastern Yukon Territory is one of the latest on a growing list of resource developments attracting mega-investments from Chinese companies to Canada. Selwyn, perhaps the largest undeveloped zinc-lead deposit in the world, is located in the heart of the Yukon's mineral-rich Selwyn Basin. After an aggressive multi-year exploration program, junior miner Selwyn Resources Ltd. attracted a C$100 million investment in June 2010 from Yunnan Chihong Zinc & Germanium Co. Ltd., a fully integrated min...
VANCOUVER, B.C. - British Columbia, Alaska and Yukon Territory - the headliners of the Association for Mining Exploration British Columbia's 2013 Mineral Exploration Roundup - tallied more than C$1 billion of mineral exploration spending in 2012. This marks the second year running that these neighboring jurisdictions at the northwestern extent of the North American Cordillera topped the C$1 billion mark. But unlike the 2012 Roundup, a year in which explosive exploration...
The mining industry just passed through one of the quietest year-end transitions in over a decade. The last month has seen few new public announcements regarding Alaska mineral occurrences but that relative silence is about to change. Within a week of completing this summary, the 2013 Cordilleran Roundup mineral convention will begin in Vancouver, B.C. This annual event is well-attended by individuals and corporations that are active in Alaska's mineral industry or looking to...
In today's difficult financing climate, Homestake Resources Corp. is living the dream of most junior mining companies. Agnico-Eagle Mines Ltd., an aggressive intermediate gold producer, has signed on to pay the bills at the Homestake Ridge project located in northwestern British Columbia in a deal where the gold producer could spending up to C$25.3 million and earn up to a 70 percent interest in the exploration and development venture. Formerly Bravo Gold Corp., the junior changes its name to Homestake Resources in April....
FAIRBANKS - In contrast to the geology, geochemistry and geophysics that dominates discussions at most mining conventions, geopolitics grabbed the limelight at the 2012 Alaska Strategic and Critical Minerals Summit held in Fairbanks Nov. 30. "Countries that control a given element have a way to leverage businesses to come to those countries. They have a way of demanding there are technology transfers," American Elements President Michael Silver informed the more than 200...
A challenging economic climate in 2012 failed to impede growth in mining activity in Northwest Territories. As miners struggled to fund their work programs, numerous companies managed to plow ahead in the wake of regulatory improvements, advancing projects that could bring even more robust times to the territory's mineral resources sector. The Northwest Territories, one of Canada's three northern territories, is sandwiched between Yukon Territory to the west and Nunavut to the east. With a land mass of nearly 1,347,150...
Kinross Gold Corp.'s Fort Knox Mine is on pace to retake the position of the top gold producer in Alaska. The open-pit operation situated about 26 miles (42 kilometers) north of Fairbanks reigned as the state's most prolific gold operation for a decade before relinquishing the title to the Pogo Mine in 2008. During the third quarter of this year, however, Fort Knox churned out 106,698 ounces of gold, a 48 percent surge from 71,952 ounces produced in the second quarter and a...
B.C.'s mineral exploration and mining industry is booming, thanks in part to strong demand in Asia. Meeting demand is just one part of fostering a globally competitive sector. Equally important are our policies at home, where strong fiscal management, competitive tax rates, streamlined regulations and good local partnerships are helping to generate billions of dollars' worth of revenues each year. Worldwide demand for coal, metals and industrial minerals has increased dramatically and are expected to rise even more. B.C....
British Columbia in 2012 continued to exhibit its strength as the mining and exploration powerhouse of the North American Cordillera. The Canadian province's wealth of mineral potential is the result of geological phenomena that also created the mountain chains "that we have in our province and to the north," according to Bruce Madu, director of the Mineral Development Office of the B.C. Ministry of Energy and Mines. Madu told participants in the 2012 Mineral Exploration Roundup in January that expansion is the theme at most...
The Northwest Territories has been closely linked with the mining industry ever since B.A. Blakeney, a prospector on his way to the Klondike, staked the first gold mining claim here in 1898. And although the focus has shifted from gold to diamonds, the industry remains at the forefront of any discussion regarding the NWT's economic well-being: the territory produced over C$2 billion in total mineral shipments in 2011, a staggering total for a jurisdiction which has a population that barely exceeds 40,000 residents. Although...
An underlying motto for Nunavut this year is "Creating a Resourceful Future," a theme that can be interpreted as creating and building a future full of resources. Nunavut and its expansive geology are rich in many natural mineral resources such as gold, iron ore, base metals of lead and zinc, uranium and nickel to name a few. We have one operating mine, several properties that are potential mines under consideration, and several advanced exploration projects that are proceeding with development or feasibility work. These...
DEC: TSX President: Ed Kruchkowski, Director: Ron Nichols Director: Randy Kasum Decade Resources Ltd. and its 35-percent partner Mountain Boy Minerals Ltd. was focused in 2012 on exploring the Red Cliff project in northwestern British Columbia. Red Cliff is a gold-copper property consisting of eight Crown-granted mineral claims located 40 kilometers (25 miles) north of Stewart, B.C. High gold values are contained within stockwork zones that are composed of stringers of quartz-chalcopyrite-pyrite plus local coarse visible...
A work force development agreement struck between Alaska and Yukon Territory in October belies the international border that separates these Far North mining jurisdictions. The accord, signed by the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development and the Yukon Department of Education, aims to draw from the strengths of the mine training programs offered on both sides of the 750-mile (1,200 kilometers) border. "Alaska and Yukon have some very similar work force needs....
An employment forecast published by the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development in October pegged the state's mining sector job growth from 2010 to 2020 at 19 percent. That is second only to health care, at 31 percent, and outpacing the 12 percent average growth across all Alaska industries. Expansion of current operations coupled with prospects of building mines at the world-class Livengood and Donlin gold deposits were cited as drivers behind adding new miners t...
Don Ewigleben and Tom Irwin - two figures that played key roles in the development of Kinross Gold Corp.'s Fort Knox Mine - are once again united to develop a world-class gold deposit in Interior Alaska. Filling a void created by the sudden departure of James Komadina in May, International Tower Hill Mines Ltd. appointed Chairman Ewigleben president and CEO of the company looking to develop the 20-million-ounce Livengood gold project. Ewigleben, a lawyer who spent 35 years...
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...
For the past 18 months, Golden Predator Corp. has been working fast and furiously to get a handle on the gold resource it has steadily uncovered at its flagship Brewery Creek Project located about 55 kilometers (34 miles) east of Dawson City in central Yukon Territory. On Dec. 1, the aggressive junior reported that it was working toward a near-term production decision even as increasingly impressive 2011 drill results continued to surface. Six months later, Golden Predator Chairman and CEO William M. Sheriff, M.Sc., is busy...
Usibelli Coal Mine Inc.'s Healy operation, Alaska's longest lived mine, produced a record 2.2 million short tons of coal in 2011. This marks the fifth straight year of production growth for Usibelli, a trend the family-owned company foresees continuing in 2012. "We expect to mine a slightly higher tonnage in 2012, approximately 2.4 million short tons," Usibelli Vice President Customer Relations Bill Brophy told Mining News. Six Interior Alaska power plants consumed some 1...
Worries about the ongoing sovereign debt crisis in Europe, uncertainty about where the U.S. economy is headed and a slowing of growth in China is prompting miners to favor gold over industrial and luxury minerals such as nickel and diamonds. Some 62 percent of mining executives from 802 global mineral exploration and development companies said they expect gold prices to increase by at least 20 percent over the next two years when responding to questions about future...
Sharon McLeod heard that the mining industry was hiring and mining jobs typically paid good wages. "I had worked around heavy equipment and I was working with the local school district, but I couldn't make ends meet," recalled the single mother of two sons. "I thought that my previous experience in the mining industry and in the school district would help, so I applied to the mine. I never got a response." McLeod, 49, then heard about a group focused on helping Aboriginal people get jobs in the mining industry. As a member...
Results of a recent study of the projected labor force requirements of resource industries such as mining in northern British Columbia reinforces the need for organizations like British Columbia Aboriginal Mine Training Association to complete their mission. The study was commissioned by the Northern BC Resource Sector Human Resources Committee in the summer of 2011. R.A. Malatest & Associates Ltd. was contracted to forecast work force requirements for the northern region's resource industries, including mining, through...
British Columbia, Yukon Territory and Alaska - the headliners of the Association for Mining Exploration British Columbia's annual Mineral Exploration Roundup - tallied more than C$1 billion of mineral exploration spending and some C$12.7 billion in mine production in 2011. "We are going to talk in the next three sessions about the wrinkly parts of western North America - B.C., Yukon and Alaska. The geological phenomena that has created these mountain chains that we have in...
