The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
Sorted by date Results 676 - 700 of 922
Having poured 2 million ounces of gold July 31, the Pogo Mine appears to be living up to its new mantra, "mining done right." Pogo General Manager Chris Kennedy is quick to attribute the continuing success at Alaska's most prolific gold mine to the efforts of the more than 330 employees and 150 contractors that work there. "Milestones like this are only achieved when safety and environmental performance remain at the forefront of everyone's minds. No ounce of gold is worth... Full story
In a long overdue step to bring Alaska into the 21st Century, state and federal agencies met in late June to discuss collaborative funding strategies for Alaska's Statewide Digital Mapping Initiative, an enterprise designed to create Alaska's first high-quality digital topographic map. The roundtable was convened by Alaska Lt. Gov. Mead Treadwell and the Assistant Secretary for Water and Science, U.S. Department of Interior. Alaska remains the only state in the United States... Full story
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...
Driven Capital Corp. recently launched a maiden 1,500-meter drill program to investigate the extent of high-grade gold-copper-silver rocks that pepper the surface of the White River property tucked in the southwestern corner of the Yukon Territory. Situated about 30 kilometers (19 miles) east of the Alaska border and a mere 10 kilometers (six miles) north of the Alaska Highway, White River is a grassroots discovery made by Tarsis Resources Ltd. in 2010. "You just get a tingle...
Following a five-year hiatus, TNR Gold Corp. has returned to confirm a 1 million-ounce gold resource at its Shotgun project in the Kuskokwim Gold Belt of Southwest Alaska. Located about 110 miles (175 kilometers) south of Donlin Gold and about the same distance northeast of Pebble, the property lies at the intersection of two trends known to host big deposits. "So, it's in a very, very prolific gold area. We think it has a potential not just for 1 or 2 million ounces we... Full story
While most juniors are cinching their belts and scaling back programs, Millrock Resources Inc. has C$7.5 million of exploration slated for its array of gold and copper-gold properties in Alaska in 2012, not to mention a healthy C$4.5 million budget for its copper-gold prospects in Arizona. Millrock President and CEO Greg Beischer said the scarcity of venture capital available to the junior exploration sector was palpable at the Cambridge House World Resource Investment... Full story
One year after donning the mantle of chief executive officer at International Tower Hill Mines Ltd., James Komadina abruptly vacated the position recently. The unexpected departure comes less than a week after Tower Hill filed its first-quarter 2012 financial results, revealing a budget overrun of C$46.9 million on Komadina's watch. The vacuum created in the upper echelon of Tower Hill management has pulled in company founder Jeff Pontius to help steer the company through... Full story
The stock symbol "NCQ" lit up the boards on the Toronto and New York stock exchanges May 2, marking the official launch of NovaCopper Inc. as an independent mineral exploration company under the leadership of NovaGold Resources Inc. founder Rick Van Nieuwenhuyse. "Now that we are a public company independent of NovaGold, we are looking forward to unlocking great value from the exceptional assets we have in the Ambler mining district," said NovaCopper President and CEO Van Nieu...
When geologists talk about the exciting gold deposits recently discovered in Canada's Yukon Territory, they use terms like "structurally controlled, intrusion-related" and "Carlin-style." Attentive laymen soon catch on, recognizing that "structural" often characterizes the non-glaciated hydrothermal deposits found in the White Gold district of west-central Yukon and "intrusive" commonly refers to impressive finds in mountainous central Yukon, while some discoveries to the east have been labeled "Carlin-style" because of...
With its sights set on gold, Contango ORE Inc. is conducting an aggressive exploration campaign on its Tetlin property in Interior Alaska during the 2012 field season. The Houston, Texas-based explorer, known as CORE, raised US$8.8 million in March to fund an estimated US$6.75 million exploration program this year - the bulk of which will be spent on a second-year drill program at the Tetlin gold-copper project about 12 miles (19 kilometers) southeast of the crossroads town of...
There are some new statistics just out from the Alaska Miners Association that I thought you might like to see. For 2011, the Alaska mining industry accounted for 4,500 direct jobs and 9,000 indirect jobs. The industry paid US$620 million in payroll with the average salary totaling US$100,000 per year, which is double the statewide average for all sectors. The industry paid US$148 million in rents, royalties, taxes and other fees to the State of Alaska (up 170 percent over...
The best place to find a new mine is in the shadow of a headframe" is an adage that has served geologists well in their search for new deposits of metals that the world needs and desires. This proverb has once again proven its worth at Alaska's largest producing gold mine. Though Sumitomo Metal Mining Co. Pogo Mine does not boast an iconic headframe towering over its underground operations, new gold-rich zones discovered in the shade of the modern mill and mine facilities may...
After an extremely busy, productive year, the final weeks of 2011 and the first few weeks of the New Year were remarkably quiet for Alaska's mining industry. But not to worry, it appears to be just a pause, while everyone catches their breath before heading into what promises to be another eventful year. While reading the plentiful (and sometimes bizarre) end of year reviews and forecasts, I came upon one that surprised me. In a Dec. 30 news release, Reuters noted that gold... Full story
Ocean Park Venture Corp.'s 2011 exploration at the Chisna project in eastern Alaska has revealed Golden Range, a district-scale iron-carbonate zone rich in gold, copper and silver. Grab samples from this iron-carbonate zone that has now been traced for more than 12 kilometers (7.5 miles) have returned assays as high as 126.5 grams per metric ton gold and 17.7 percent copper; and one drill intercept averaging 681 g/t silver over 2.7 meters. Optioning the Chisna property from...
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...
I was tempted to make a few 2012 predictions now that 2011 is nearly gone, but I decided not to when I came across the following lines and was struck by how closely they mimic our current mining climate: "On a more local level, several old Alaska properties have been rejuvenated by new players to the Alaska mineral scene. Reserve announcements have touched off renewed land acquisitions and property negotiations. Contracts for technical personnel, drill rigs, helicopters and... Full story
NovaGold Resource Inc. has made tectonic shifts in its leadership and corporate structure. Shedding all of its assets except for the Donlin Gold project in Southwest Alaska, the restructured company is singularly focused on bringing this 40-million-ounce gold deposit into production by the end of the decade. Rick Van Nieuwenhuyse - who founded NovaGold and guided the exploration company through 15 years of trials and triumphs - is relinquishing NovaGold's top executive office...
Rick Van Nieuwenhuyse, who is stepping down as the president and CEO of NovaGold Resources Ltd., is jumping into the driver's seat of NovaCopper Inc., a vehicle designed for the continued exploration of NovaGold's Ambler project and other prospects in the Upper Kobuk region of Northwest Alaska. "My passion is exploration and just like we found two other world-class, high-quality targets in Donlin and Galore (projects), we are looking to do the same thing in the Ambler...
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...
Stretching some 1,600 kilometers (1,000 miles) off Southwest Alaska into the Pacific Ocean, the Alaska Peninsula and trailing Aleutian Islands host among the oldest gold discoveries ever made in Alaska, yet it is the only island arc environment in the Pacific Ring of Fire without a major producing mine. Though no mines are currently operating in this region rich with epithermal gold, and porphyry copper-gold mineralizing systems, the arc has a prominent entry in the annals of...
As a busy year in the Alaska and global mining industry starts to slide closer to its end, I figured now was a good time to gaze into my crystal ball (rutilated quartz, of course) to see what next year might bring. While strong metals prices promise another busy year for Alaska, a dose of global reality was provided by the financial giant Ernst & Young, who recently published a list of the top 10 business risks for the mining and metals industry for the coming year. Resource n... Full story
As cold weather wraps up the 2011 field season, mining in Yukon Territory appears to be getting hotter, with exploration and development activities throughout the year living up to all of the pre-season hype and then some. Early in the year, explorers laid the groundwork for grassroots exploration seemingly in every corner of the territory. No sooner than the meeting rooms emptied at Roundup in Vancouver in late January, than a frenzy of claim staking erupted in the Yukon. Golden Predator Corp. snatched up all of the...
Droves of exploration companies have rushed to Yukon Territory in recent years to hunt for sizable deposits of gold, silver, copper, rare earth elements and base metals. Employing the most advanced geophysical and geochemical techniques available, along with their best hunches, these explorers, like others around the globe, are pulling out all the stops to find commercial quantities of the minerals currently riding the winds of strong demand and high prices. But noticeably absent from the list of lucrative commodities being...
Is the "Yukon Gold Rush" about to spill into Alaska? Since the 1896 discovery of gold on the aptly named Bonanza Creek sparked a stampede of fortune seekers to the rivers and streams of the Klondike, these world-class mining jurisdictions that share a common geological and mineralization history have been engaged in a cross-border rivalry of drawing prospectors and miners to their mineral-rich deposits. While 19th Century miners seeking their fortunes in Alaska's Fortymile...
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...
