The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
Sorted by date Results 51 - 75 of 120
Constantine Metal Resources Ltd. has substantially increased the resources at Palmer, including the first indicated resource and inaugural estimate of the barite that makes up a large percentage of this zinc- and copper-rich volcanogenic massive sulfide deposit in Southeast Alaska. According to the new calculation released on Sept. 27, the South Wall-RW deposit at Palmer now hosts 4.68 million metric tons of indicated resource averaging 5.23 percent (539 million pounds) zinc,...
Following a couple of quiet months where Alaska's mining industry focused on its work, the last month has seen an explosion of new info come out regarding that effort, some of it profound in its potential immediate, near-term and long-term implications. For example, one of Alaska's largest mines was sold to a new owner at a surprisingly low cost per ounce. The results of a robust new preliminary economic analysis were tabled by an advanced gold-silver exploration project...
Underscoring the interconnected nature of the global mining market, not 48 hours after the John S. McCain National Defense Authorization Act was signed into law, the mining industry began wondering out loud how they were going to produce rare earth element, tungsten, tantalum and molybdenum in the near future. Why these metals and why the worry now? Because one of the many impacts the Defense Authorization Act will have on the U.S. economy is its ban on the U.S. Department of...
While not the flashiest of the 35 minerals on the United States Geological Survey's critical list, barite plays an essential role in America's energy sector. Barite got its name from the Ancient Greek word for heavy, barús, and it is the high specific gravity that earned this mineral its name that makes it a critical mineral. Added to drill mud, a solution that serves multiple purposes in bore drilling, barite's weight helps maintain the integrity of the drill hole and...
Constantine Metal Resources Ltd. Aug. 21 reported results from four holes from this year's 10,000-meter drill program that continue to expand the South Wall and AG zones at the Palmer project in Southeast Alaska. South Wall-RW, the primary volcanogenic massive sulfide deposit outlined so far at Palmer, contains 8.1 million metric tons of inferred resources averaging 5.25 percent (940.4 million pounds) zinc, 1.41 percent (252.6 million lb) copper, 0.32 g/t (83,600 ounces) gold...
Constantine Metal Resources Ltd. Aug. 13 reported that results from metallurgical testing demonstrate a premium-quality barite concentrate can be produced as a co-product to the copper, zinc, gold and silver found in the volcanogenic massive sulfide deposit at the Palmer project in Southeast Alaska. According to a resource calculated in 2015, the South Wall-RW deposit at Palmer hosts 8.1 million metric tons of inferred resource averaging 5.25 percent (940.4 million pounds)...
Although the Alaska mineral industry is in better health in the middle of 2018 than it has been in the last five years, the spirited recovery that was in progress in the first quarter of the year is now looking more like a dead-cat bounce – a minor recovery after a long down trend. This is particularly true of the exploration sector. Reviewing the Alaska minerals industry, you will note that several exploration projects are only now commencing their 2018 exploration p...
Constantine Metal Resources Ltd. said the first two holes of a 10,000-meter drill program at its Palmer joint venture project encountered wide intervals of silver-gold-zinc-lead-barite volcanogenic massive sulfide mineralization 150 meters southeast of the AG Zone, increasing the strike length of this 2017 discovery to 350 meters. Being carried out by a joint venture between Constantine Metal Resources (51 percent) and Dowa Metals & Mining Co. Ltd. (49 percent), this year's...
The summer field season is in full bloom across Alaska with programs stretching from the Brooks Range to southeastern Alaska, and from the Yukon border to southwestern Alaska. Exploration targets range from grassroots to mine-site, focused on commodities including gold, silver, lead, zinc, copper, cobalt and graphite. For Alaska's exploration industry, planned, announced and estimated expenditures are well over the $100 million mark for 2018. This expenditure level is well...
Constantine Metal Resources Ltd. June 6 reported the start of a 10,000-meter drill program to expand the resource and test new targets at the Palmer volcanogenic massive sulfide project in Southeast Alaska. Being carried out by a joint venture between Constantine (51 percent) and Dowa Metals & Mining Co. Ltd. (49 percent), this year's drilling will target the definition and expansion of the copper-zinc-silver-gold resource at the South Wall-RW deposit; expansion of the AG...
One of the most common complaints I hear from companies and individuals working in the mineral industry in Alaska is our deplorable lack of modern, usable-scale digital geophysical and geologic maps. How bad is it? Consider this: the U.S. Geological Survey has estimated that less than 2 percent of Alaska has acceptable geophysical data coverage, and less than 20 percent has been geologically mapped at a scale useful to evaluate the state's mineral resources. Nobody will deny...
11 is shaping up to be a pivotal year for the Palmer copper-zinc-silver-gold project in Southeast Alaska. A roughly US$9 million exploration program outlined by Constantine Metal Resources Ltd. on May 10 proposes not only the annual tradition of resource expansion and new discoveries but also plans to provide the first peek into the economics of mining the copper- and zinc-rich volcanogenic massive sulfide deposits found there so far. Being carried out by a joint venture...
Constantine Metal Resources Ltd. May 1 said it intends to raise C$10 million through a non-brokered private placement that will include a major strategic investment from Electrum Strategic Opportunities Fund II L.P., an investment fund managed by The Electrum Group LLC. Altius Minerals Corp. and John Tognetti, a major shareholder and Constantine Metal insider, are also slated to participate in the financing. "We welcome the Electrum 'family' as a major shareholder, who we...
Constantine Metal Resources Ltd. Jan. 6 named Ian Cunningham-Dunlop as the company's vice president of advanced projects, an appointment that signals the transition to advanced stage exploration and evaluation work at the Palmer project in Southeast Alaska. South Wall-RW zone, the most advanced of the high-grade volcanogenic massive sulfide deposits and prospects identified at Palmer, hosts 8.1 million metric tons of inferred resource grading 1.41 percent copper, 5.25 percent...
Thanks largely to increased investments from Aussie mining explorers, mineral exploration spending across Alaska topped US$100 million in 2018. This is well above the roughly US$95 million invested last year and nearly double the US$58 million spent at the bottom of the market in 2015. "Canadian and Australian companies continue to be the source for the bulk of funds spent in Alaska in 2018, together comprising well over 80 percent of the exploration expenditures earmarked...
From wide zones of high-grade copper and zinc in resource expansion drilling to a discovery hole with grades worthy of being compared to Greens Creek, Constantine Metals Resource and Dowa Metals & Mining's 2017 drill program at the Palmer volcanogenic massive sulfide project in Southeast Alaska is off to a great start. After investing US$22 million into Palmer over the previous four years, Dowa Metals & Mining Alaska Ltd. earned a 49 percent joint venture interest in the...
Constantine Metal Resources Ltd. April 12 announced plans for 7,000 meters of drilling this year at the Palmer project, Alaska in Southeast Alaska. This will mark the first program under the newly formed joint venture between Constantine (51 percent) and Dowa Metals & Mining Alaska Ltd (49 percent). The partners have developed a new multi-year plan for Palmer that includes exploration for new resources across the district-scale property, as well as expanding and upgrading the current inferred copper-zinc polymetallic...
Constantine Metal Resources Ltd. Aug. 17 reported additional long, high-grade intercepts from exploration drilling at the Nunatak AG zone, a volcanogenic massive sulfide discovery located about 3,000 meters south of the South Wall-RW deposit at the Palmer project in Southeast Alaska. The discovery hole at Nunatak AG, reported in July, cut 9.2 meters of massive barite-sulfide averaging 312 grams per metric ton silver and 0.9 g/t gold. CMR17-92, drilled about 140 meters south of the discovery hole, cut 17.8 meters grading 11.7...
Mining's contribution to Alaska's economy starts with the hefty paychecks being issued to the some 4,350 miners that work in the state, according to recent study completed by the Alaska Miners Association and McDowell Group. The report, "The economic benefits of Alaska's mining industry," found that the average miner working in Alaska during 2016 received a whopping US$108,000 for the year, about double the average income across all sectors in the state. That is nearly US$470...
Constantine Metal Resources Ltd. Jan. 5 reported that Dowa Metals & Mining Alaska Ltd. opted to exercise its option to become a 49 percent joint venture partner in Palmer, a copper- and zinc-rich volcanogenic massive sulfide project near Haines in Southeast Alaska. Early in 2013, Dowa and Constantine inked a deal that provides the Tokyo-based smelting and mining company with the opportunity to earn a 49 percent stake in the Palmer project by investing US$22 million over a four-year span. Dowa invested roughly US$20 million...
Constantine Metal Resources Ltd. is a metals exploration company focused primarily on its Palmer volcanogenic massive sulfide project in Southeast Alaska. Dowa Metals & Mining Co. Ltd., which joined Constantine in advancing exploration and potential development of Palmer in 2013, had invested US$20 million in advancing the VMS project through the end of 2016. This, along with US$2 million deposited into a joint venture account, earned the Tokyo-based smelting and mining company a 49 percent stake in the Palmer. Constantine...
Alaska's minerals exploration sector is on an upswing, thanks to Australian mining explorers looking north and mining majors upping their activities in the state. South32 Ltd., a Perth, Australia-based miner spun out of BHP Billiton Plc, is the largest mining company from Down Under to express an interest in Alaska's mineral potential this year. South32, which has eight operating mines in the Southern Hemisphere, secured an option to acquire a 50 percent interest in Trilogy...
With winter programs winding down and summer efforts rapidly ramping up, it is becoming clear that 2017 will be a much more vigorous year for the Alaska mining industry than the 2013 to 2016 period. For example, my internal estimates are already pushing $75 million for exploration activity alone and a significant number of projects that have announced exploration plans have not yet announced budgets for 2017, so that number is likely to rise. Compare this to estimates of less...
Constantine Metal Resources Ltd. June 13 announced the start of a 7,000-meter drill program with two drills at the Palmer volcanogenic massive sulfide project near Haines, in Southeast Alaska. This is the first program under the newly formed Palmer joint venture between Constantine (51 percent) and Dowa Metals & Mining Alaska Ltd (49 percent). The majority of this year's drilling is dedicated to discovery of new mineral deposits. Palmer is host to numerous high-quality prospects with large hydrothermal alteration zones and...
As the Alaska mining industry prepares for and kicks off exploration, development and production activities for 2017, the question on everyone’s lips at the recent Cordilleran Roundup mining convention in Vancouver, B. C., was the same: “Have we seen the bottom of this down cycle?” While signs of life were seen for short periods during the 2008 to 2015 period, the reality was an overall downward spiral of commodities prices and global demand. However, in a recent editi...
