The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
Sorted by date Results 326 - 350 of 570
The unseasonably, interminably, unspeakably cold spring that is delaying mineral exploration and development work in Alaska this year is being mimicked by a financial chill that is affecting Alaska exploration efforts just like it is the rest of the world. Not to put too fine a point on it, but from a mineral exploration standpoint, Alaska is shaping up to be as dead as a doornail this summer (ever wonder where that saying came from ... but I digress.). How dead? Try this statistic on for size: Of the 49 exploration projects...
Spurred by a record-setting pace at Kinross Gold Corp.'s Fort Knox Mine, Alaska gold production topped 1 million ounces during 2013, a golden milestone not achieved by Last Frontier gold miners since 1906. Though more than a century lies between these monumental milestones, they are linked by a discovery made by Felice Pedroni, an Italian immigrant better known to Alaskans as Felix Pedro. It was Pedro's gold find in an Interior Alaska stream in 1902 that sparked the Fairbanks...
International Tower Hill Mines Ltd. rang in 2014 with a new chief executive leading a streamlined Alaska-centric company focused on optimizing and safeguarding Livengood until a partner steps up to continue the advancement of the 20-million-ounce gold deposit. Tom Irwin, who ascended to the role of president and CEO of International Tower Hill Mines on Jan. 1, will lead the company's efforts to develop a mine at the world-class Livengood gold project that would contribute to...
For those of you that could not attend, the annual Alaska Miners Association Convention and Trade Show was well-attended, with most people pleasantly surprised by the strong turnout. Compared to a year ago, more companies are planning to get back in the field with exploration and development programs in 2014, a sentiment making up one of the few bright spots in a recent IntierraRMG resource sector exploration summary. This report and a similar snapshot of the exploration...
The ongoing scarcity of venture capital available to junior companies coupled with a retreat in metals prices has landed a one-two blow that sent mineral exploration spending in Alaska plunging for the second straight year. A handful of big-budget projects scattered across Alaska, though, is softening the hit to exploration spending across the Far North State during 2013. Mineral exploration expenditures in Alaska, which were a meager US$23.8 million in 2001, topped US$365...
FVL: TSX President and CEO: Kristina Walcott Vice President, Exploration and Development: Alvin Jackson Freegold Ventures Ltd. focused its 2013 exploration efforts on expanding the 6-million-ounce bulk-tonnage gold deposit at its Golden Summit property located about 20 miles (32 kilometers) northeast of Fairbanks and roughly five miles (nine kilometers) from Kinross Gold Corp.'s Fort Knox Mine. The close proximity to infrastructure and services allows Freegold to conduct both winter and summer drill programs at Golden...
With nearly five exploration seasons under its belt, Kaminak Gold Corp.'s Coffee Gold Project appears to be on the road to delivering on its potential as an emerging district-scale mining opportunity. Located in the White Gold district of west-central Yukon Territory, Coffee was optioned by Kaminak in 2009 from Yukon prospector Shawn Ryan. The company has explored the property every year since, and reported discovery of at least 11 gold zones. Kaminak CEO Eira Thomas said the fine-grained gold mineralization found at Coffee,...
From Kotzebue to Ketchikan, Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority is using its financial muscle and its ability to build and operate large infrastructure projects to help mining companies overcome the challenges of developing the often remote mineral riches that the Last Frontier has to offer. "We are working with local communities and mine developers on infrastructure projects throughout Alaska, including port facilities and energy supply," said AIDEA external...
This month's mining news is a smorgasbord to delight the appetites of explorers, developers and miners alike. We had quarterly reports out from Teck, Kinross, Hecla and Coeur d'Alene discussing their respective results from operating mines around the state. We had one preliminary economic analysis by NovaCopper on its Arctic massive sulfide project and one feasibility study announced by International Tower Hill Mines Ltd. on its Livengood gold project. We had Freegold and...
Building and operating a mine at the 20-million-ounce Livengood gold project would lose money at today's US$1,300-per-ounce gold price, according to the results of a feasibility study published July 23 by International Tower Hill Mines Ltd. In fact, the 100,000-ton-per-day mine outlined in the study does not break even until the gold price approaches US$1,500/oz. International Tower Hill management, though, remains optimistic that developing the multimillion-ounce gold...
Many concerned Alaskans may have read former State Senator Clem Tillion's op-ed piece in the July 2, 2013, issue of the Alaska Dispatch concerning the royalty that might be paid to the people of Alaska should the Pebble Project one day become a mine. Sen. Tillion argues that at current rates, the royalties to the state would be insufficient to justify allowing the Pebble Project to go forward. His message seems to be that developing Alaska's resources, when properly...
Following a rising chorus of junior companies touting impressive exploration programs on mineral prospects across Alaska that reached its crescendo in 2011, a deafening silence is resonating across the Far North expanse in 2013. And in the junior mining sector, no news is bad news. Mineral exploration expenditures in Alaska, which were a meager US$23.8 million in 2001, climbed to US$347 million by 2008. The "Great Recession of 2008" tightened the equity markets, resulting in...
The 28th Alaska Legislature has forwarded a slew of bills to the desk of Gov. Sean Parnell that are aimed at recognizing the Last Frontier's rich mining history and ensuring the industry is a key component of the state's economic future. Senate Bill 1, which designates May 10 of every year as Alaska Mining Day, was the first of these to garner Parnell's endorsement. May 10 was chosen to coincide with the day the General Mining Act of the United States was adopted in 1872....
In a year that has started off with more than its share of mining industry gloom and doom, this year's Fraser Institute "Survey of Mining Companies, 2012/2013" provided a bit of sunshine for Alaska. The annual survey of exploration and mining companies gauges the pros and cons of working in various political jurisdictions around the world. This year's results came from 742 mineral industry companies working in 96 jurisdictions worldwide and represented cumulative 2012 explorat...
The annual Cordilleran Roundup Mining Convention is held in Vancouver at the end of January each year, and this year's convention was unlike any of the nearly 20 such conventions I have attended. The norm for this convention is a sort of anticipatory excitement that permeates every facet of the event. Mineral exploration is the focus of this gathering, and explorationists are by and large optimistic people. While there was no lack of optimism at the 2013 convention, if you...
When it comes to multimillion-ounce bulk-tonnage gold deposits in Alaska, one would be hard pressed to find one more ideally located than Freegold Ventures Ltd.'s Golden Summit Project. Situated alongside the paved Steese Highway some 20 miles (32 kilometers) northeast of Fairbanks, a city of 87,000 that embraces its gold mining heritage, the project has direct access to an able work force, grid power and the full range of services needed to operate a low-cost drill program....
Alaska miners are on the cusp of topping 1 million ounces of gold produced, an annual milestone that has not been achieved since Gold Rush pioneers recovered copious amounts of alluvial aurum at the turn of the 20th Century. "When you think about what a million ounces of production means, it is all the more amazing that it was first accomplished by placer miners and a few lode miners, a few shovelfuls at a time, more than a century ago!" Curt Freeman, a well-known Alaska...
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...
A recent letter distributed to the minerals industry by the Alaska Department of Natural Resources' Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys and the Department of Commerce, Community and Economic Development's Division of Economic Development is seeking faster and more efficient ways to gather, collate and publish Alaska's Annual Minerals Industry Report. The agencies are looking for feedback regarding what items the industry thinks is important to retain in the report, what items are not in the report that should be...
Ending a streak of robust growth, mineral exploration spending in Alaska during 2012 took a downward turn from the record US$300 million spent a year earlier. "More advanced-stage projects that added ounces or pounds to their resource base had a better go of it than early-stage exploration projects which have taken a hard right cross to the jaw!" Curt Freeman, a well-known Alaska geologist and president of Fairbanks-based Avalon Development, observed in September. This blow de...
With the mercury frozen at 40 degrees below zero, Freegold Ventures Ltd. lit a fire at Golden Summit, launching an aggressive 15,000-meter drill campaign at the Interior Alaska gold project in January. Despite being located some 40 kilometers (25 miles) north of Fairbanks, a place that vies for the coldest spot in the United States, Golden Summit has the distinct advantage of being connected to a paved highway, grid power and cell phone service. "Winter drilling is possible...
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...
Over a year ago, Natural Resource Holdings published a report entitled "How Rare are One Million Ounce Gold Deposits?" At that time, the publisher ranked 296 gold deposits that have more than 1 million ounces of gold in all resources categories. The same firm recently published a follow-up report titled, "Global Gold Mines & Deposits 2012 Ranking." The report ranks gold deposits above 1 million ounces, whose numbers have increased to 439 deposits with total resources of...
FARO - Legendary mineral explorer W. Douglas "Doug" Eaton hurried forward to greet the group of visitors clambering out of the MD900 helicopter as its whirring blades whipped miniature cyclones of dust in the air. Eaton - unlike many of the geologists, engineers and mining executives the group would meet during a weeklong tour of mine sites, exploration camps and conferences around Yukon Territory - grinned from ear to ear. The early part of the territory-wide mining tour also would include visits to the Einarson Project...
