The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
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As Alaska's mining industry nears the end of another hectic year during which metals prices and investor sentiments rose and fell as precipitously as the world's major stock exchanges, the industry is naturally looking into its crystal ball trying to anticipate what the new year will bring. EY Global Mining and Metals does this sort of forecasting by putting out an annual "risk radar" for mining and metals. The idea is to find out what the industry perceives as the top ten...
Endurance Gold Corp. Oct. 16 reported that a grab sample from the Trout target on the company's Elephant Mountain project in Interior Alaska contained 23 grams per metric ton gold. This sample was collected during the company's 2018 exploration program that included rock sampling, trenching, soil sampling and geological mapping primarily at Trout, a target drained by two placer gold bearing streams in the area. Prior sampling at Trout has defined a gold-in-soil anomaly over...
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...
Endurance Gold Corp. July 24 said induced polarization and ground magnetic surveys carried out at its Elephant gold property in Interior Alaska have identified four prioritized geophysical anomalies that warrant drilling. The largest of these is a linear east-west trending low that entirely bisects the area covered by 43 line-kilometers of IP and 39 line-kilometers of magnetic surveying completed during the program. This dominant anomaly is interpreted to represent the resistivity expression of the Elephant Mountain Fault...
Reuters recently reported that the 10 largest gold-producing companies worldwide have steadily increased their near-mine exploration budgets over the past few years to 56 percent in 2015 from 45 percent in 2013. They also reduced their higher-risk greenfields exploration budgets to 21 percent from 25 percent in the same time period. This retrenchment of exploration by the larger producers is occurring, while global gold output is declining with an expected reduction of 9...
Endurance Gold Corp. Oct. 31 reported gold intercepts in the first hole of the 2016 drill program at its Elephant Mountain gold property about 76 miles northwest of Fairbanks, Alaska. This hole, EL 16-14, was drilled on the eastern margin of the South zone soil anomaly at Elephant Mountain. Hole EL 16-14A cut 4.6 meters averaging 4.09 grams per metric ton gold from a depth of 18.3 meters. This hole was lost and re-drilled at slightly shallower angle as EL 16-14B, which cut...
Mineral exploration spending in Alaska hit an apex of US$365 million in 2011, but as venture capital for mining explorers dried these expenditures plummeted 78 percent to US$80 million in 2015. However, rising gold prices and a loosening of venture capital in 2016 seems to have marked an end to a painfully long bear market for mining explorers in Alaska. “After taking head shots for the past four years, the industry suddenly came to life over the past month, with new budgets,...
The owners of Alaska’s five large metal mines – Sumitomo Metal Mining Pogo, Hecla Mining Company, Kinross Gold Corp, Teck Resources Ltd. and Coeur Mining Inc. – accounted for nearly half the US$92 million of exploration spending in the state during 2014 and similar investments by these companies is providing solid footing for the Far North state’s mineral exploration sector this year. Avalon Development President Curt Freeman said he is seeing more mining majors shopping for d...
Earlier in November, the Alaska Miners Association held its annual convention and trade show in Anchorage and as always, the well-attended convention overlapped with election Tuesday. While the lead up to, and results of, the national and state elections were hot topics throughout the week, one comment I heard from a colleague on the morning after the elections distilled the feelings of a lot of people at the conference. When asked what he thought of the election results, he...
If you have ever played or followed sporting events, you are probably familiar with that bizarre and often game-changing event known as the "change of momentum". This is when the team that was on the ropes suddenly comes to life and often roars to victory, putting smiles on the faces of coaches, fans and bookies alike. Well, unless I am mistaken, the Alaska mining industry has been the beneficiary of just such a change of momentum over the past month. After taking head shots...
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...
The year just past was many things for the mining industry, but one of the bright spots came from the Mine Safety and Health Administration, an agency not known for awarding happy faces or gold stars. In 2016, the mining industry experienced only 25 deaths in U.S. mines, the lowest level ever recorded. This, despite the industry having more than 330,000 miners working in 13,000 mines across the country. The leading cause of death in both coal and metal/nonmetal mines was...
Endurance Gold Corp. June 5 reported the start of this year's exploration program at its Elephant gold property in Interior Alaska. This work will start with an induced polarization and magnetic ground geophysical survey. The geophysical crew is expected to mobilize to Elephant before the end of June. Endurance will also carry out additional prospecting, trenching, and soil and rock sampling at Elephant, Trout and Wolverine, the three properties that make up the Elephant project. Results from the ground geophysical program...
The summer solstice has come and gone, but the Alaska mining industry has paid little attention to the decreased amount of daylight because it is high summer in the high latitudes, time to be out completing work programs that have been in the planning since last fall. Exploration drilling programs have sprouted in the Brooks Range, Interior, Alaska Range, Southeast, Southwest and the Alaska Peninsula. In addition, the sounds of tire-kicking are being heard over a wide area of...
In early November, the Alaska Miners Association will hold its annual convention in Anchorage. Unlike the past four or five years, the excitement surrounding the convention this year is palpable due to the steady increase in exploration, development and production activities in Alaska in 2017. Clear signs of the industry's long-awaited revival include the fact that 11 new project acquisitions have taken place in 2017, half of which involve companies that are newcomers to the...
As the first snows of the coming winter began to fall at high elevations across Alaska, results of summer programs likewise began to trickle in from far-flung areas of the state. Meanwhile, second- and third-quarter production data began to show up and mining industry analysts released a series of reports covering a wide range of industry-wide trends. For example, SNL Metals and Mining Research released information on how long it takes to move a new discovery to production....
The Alaska mining industry continued its increased pace of activities in August, even as the first hint of autumn starts to be felt across the state. Metals prices were relatively stable with increasing demand for zinc and gold, the two metals that generate the most revenue from Alaska's operating mines. Wood Mackenzie is forecasting a 3 percent increase in global refined zinc demand in 2017 to 14.7 million metric tons. With refined zinc production limited to a 2 percent...
Endurance Gold Corp. April 3 said it has entered into an option to acquire the Trout and Wolverine properties immediately northeast of its Elephant Mountain gold project in Interior Alaska. Trout hosts two known gold targets - Trout and South Fork. The 1,000- by 300-meter Trout target is an intrusive-hosted soil anomaly that has returned soil values of up to 1,880 parts per billion gold. The highest grade rock sample collected at this target assayed at 9.64 grams per metric...
Endurance Gold Corp. Dec. 8 reported final results from a four-hole drill program completed this year at its Elephant Mountain gold property in Interior Alaska, about 76 miles northwest of Fairbanks. In late October, the company reported 4.6 meters of 4.09 grams per metric ton gold in EL 16-14A, a hole drilled at the South zone target at Elephant Mountain. EL 16-14, drilled about 1,400 meters to the north, encountered a broad zone of gold mineralization in the North zone....
Endurance Gold Corp. Sept. 6 said a drill has been mobilized to begin a five-hole drill program at its optioned Elephant Mountain gold property in the Rampart-Manley Hot Springs area of Interior Alaska. In keeping with exploration plans announced in June, three targets within a 1,800- by 600-meters intrusive-hosted gold target have been prioritized for drilling. South Zone, the highest priority drill target, has very few outcrop exposures but has yielded the highest gold...
Endurance Gold Corp. June 15 posted its 2016 exploration plans for the Elephant Mountain gold property located near Eureka in the Rampart-Manley Hot Springs area of Interior Alaska. Three targets are being prioritized for drilling within a 1,800- by 600-meters intrusive-hosted gold target. South Zone, the highest priority drill target, has very few outcrop exposures but has yielded the highest gold values in rock samples from the property. Surface grab rock samples from South...
Earlier this month, the Alaska Miners Association held its annual convention in Anchorage amid plummeting metals prices and an over-all atmosphere of economic uncertainty now stretching into its fourth year. Individuals from around North America and beyond were present and conversations outside of the technical sessions seemed to gravitate toward how best to climb out of the doldrums that seem to grip the mining industry on a global scale. One individual was heard to say that...
Endurance Gold Corp. Nov. provided results from the 2015 exploration program at its Elephant Mountain gold property about 76 miles west of Fairbanks, Alaska. To date, exploration has confirmed an intrusive-hosted target area of at least 1,800 meters by 600 meters that encompasses two soil and rock sample gold anomalies - North and South zones - and an untested induced polarization chargeability anomaly located between the two soil anomalies. In 2015, 207 power-assisted auger...
The world's mining industry has once again transmogrified itself in the face of changing global metals markets and investor expectations. In a recent Reuters report, several companies, including Newmont Mining Corp., Goldcorp Inc. and Yamana Gold Inc., were singled out as having taken steps to bring smaller, leaner, lower output projects into production to avoid the cost over-runs which have plagued the large multibillion-dollar projects in recent years. The same large mine...
