The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
Sorted by date Results 451 - 475 of 570
Vancouver, B.C.-based Freegold Ventures Ltd. April 24 posted results from drilling in Fence 6 North at its Golden Summit Project about 20 miles north of Fairbanks. The work is a continuation of a 40,000-foot phase 2 drill program with close-spaced shallow holes. Freegold said Fence 6 North, the westernmost fence drilled on the property, intersected gold mineralization similar to that encountered in fences drilled to the east. The assay results showed three-foot intervals of...
Tonogold Resources Inc., in hopes of drawing attention to its search for an Alaska partner, released a geology, geochemistry and drilling report April 17 that covers exploration from 2005 to 2007 of its Nyac Porphyry Gold Project in southwestern Alaska. The Nyac property consists of 57,600 acres and is located at the western end of the Alaska-Yukon Tintina Gold Belt on lands owned by Calista Corp, the Alaska Native regional corporation for the Yukon-Kuskokwim region. Tonogold leases the Nyac property from Calista. During 2007... Full story
Freegold Ventures Ltd. is returning to explore the gold-rich hills of the Goodpaster Mining District this summer and follow up on its quest for mineral riches near Fort Knox. The busy miner outlined its 2008 exploration program March 31 for the Rob gold property in Interior Alaska about 110 miles southeast of Fairbanks as well as plans for its Golden Summit property north of Fairbanks. The 2008 program will include ground geophysics, geologic mapping and additional core drilli...
Let me extend my apologies to all those looking for a quick summary of the Alaska mining industry this month. There is nothing "quick" about the tome you are about to read, but don't blame the messenger. I just report what I read, and this month it's a sack full! No need for more words, just read on! Western Alaska NovaGold Resources announced results of a newly released report on the Rock Creek project, nearing commercial production outside of Nome. The revised feasibility... Full story
An essential element of the Communist Manifesto was a free education to all qualified young men and women, followed by a rich and rewarding career that would produce endless benefits for the state and, by extension, all people. We, of the People's Republic of Alaska, are fortunate to have realized this basic Marxist objective, at least in the area of mining and geological engineering. I am told, in fact, that despite the presence of a vital mining industry, there is a...
Thanks to higher production and higher prices, Kinross Gold Corp. Feb. 21 posted 2007 earnings of $334 million, or 60 cents per share, up substantially from $165.8 million, or $0.47 per share, in 2006. The Toronto-based owner of the Fort Knox gold mine also reported fourth-quarter 2007 earnings of $173.1 million, 29 cents per share, up more than 322 percent from $41 million, or 11 cents per share, for the same period in 2006. The fourth-quarter earnings included a gain relating to an asset swap transaction with Goldcorp.... Full story
Spokane, Wash.-based Gold Crest Mines Inc. has signed agreements with a subsidiary of gold mining giant Newmont Mining Corp. in which the companies propose to enter into two separate joint ventures to explore Gold Crest's AKO and Luna gold properties in the Kuskokwim region of southwest Alaska about 90 miles east of Bethel. Denver-based Newmont will be the operator of the proposed venture and can earn 51 percent in each of the properties by spending a minimum of $3 million by...
Taking into consideration that the planet's second largest porphyry copper-gold-molybdenum resource is located on a plot of land equal to 0.00076 percent of Alaska's total land mass, is being developed under one of the world's most stringent permitting systems, and could help meet the growing demand for copper worldwide; is it irresponsible and unfair to Alaska and its citizens not to develop the Pebble Project? The real question begging for an answer is, "Why not Pebble?"... Full story
Attendees of the Alaska Miners Association Fairbanks Biennial Mining Conference had the honor of hearing the views of three heavyweights on many issues facing Alaska's mining industry. Tom Albanese, CEO of Rio Tinto plc, says he is worried about the current political environment in Alaska. Albanese, a featured speaker at the Mining Conference March 19, cited a recent mining industry survey by Canada's Fraser Institute lowered Alaska's rank to 34 in 2007 from 13 in 2005 among... Full story
With metals prices riding high, Yukon Territory government officials are excited about prospects for increased exploration and development activity by mining companies in the coming season. "We are optimistic about industry's continued interest in Yukon," said Energy, Mines and Resources Minister Archie Lang, who joined a government delegation attending the 25th annual Mineral Exploration Roundup in Vancouver the week of Jan. 27. More than 6,000 delegates, including geologists, prospectors, junior and senior mining and...
Freegold Ventures Ltd. Jan. 28 said it has completed the purchase of a strategic parcel of land adjoining its Golden Summit property outside Fairbanks and less than 5 miles from the Fort Knox gold mine. The acquisition of the 301.5-acre tract of private ground, plus three additional state claims, is essential to any long-term development at Golden Summit, the company said. Given the hilly topography of much of the Golden Summit property, the flat-lying tract had been...
Sean Magee, spokesman for The Pebble Limited Partnership, told members of the Anchorage Chamber of Commerce Dec. 3 that the Pebble Mine Project could be developed in an environmentally and socially responsible manner. "There are lots of precedents in our part of the world where mining does coexist with fisheries," Magee told the Anchorage audience. He gave examples of several modern large-scale mines in Alaska and British Columbia that are not only coexisting with the fish...
Between phase 7 of its exploration program, a new heap leach facility and an extended mine life, Fairbanks Gold Mining Inc. is ramping up activity to boost production more than 6,000 ounces annually at the Fort Knox gold mine in Interior Alaska. The "exciting" growth will mean new hires and major equipment purchases, Fairbanks Gold executive Dan Snodgrass told the Alaska Miners Convention in early November. Snodgrass said Fairbanks Gold, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Canadian mining giant Kinross Gold Corp., plans to hire... Full story
For those of you who could not attend the Alaska Miners Association convention in Anchorage in early November, you missed what I understand was a record attendance and presentations on some of the most exciting mining developments in the last decade. In addition, I noticed a lot more business being conducted around the conference hotel than is normally the case. Geologists and engineers from companies large and small could be seen hunkered down over reports and maps with... Full story
Gold Crest Mines Inc., a Spokane, Wash.-based junior gold exploration company, reported promising results Oct. 8 from its 2007 exploration drilling campaign at the Kisa Project in the Kuskokwim Mineral Belt of southwest Alaska. Organized a little over a year ago by a group of mining industry veterans, Gold Crest has a wholly owned Alaska subsidiary, Kisa Gold Mining Inc. It is KGMI that began exploring about 93,500 acres in three different and distinct areas of Alaska in late 2006. KGMI has established 14 claim groups in two...
Coeur D'Alene Mines Corp., owner and operator of the Kensington Gold Project near Juneau, has agreed to work with Southeast Alaska environmental groups on a new plan to dispose of the proposed mine's tailings. Coeur D'Alene CEO Dennis Wheeler told the Juneau Chamber of Commerce Aug. 30 that the company will accept an invitation from the Southeast Alaska Conservation Council, Sierra Club Alaska Chapter, and Lynn Canal Conservation to work together to allow Kensington to begin production by developing temporary and permanent... Full story
Production and sales at the Fort Knox Gold Mine dipped slightly in the first two quarters of 2007. The mine northeast of Fairbanks produced 176,644 ounces of gold over the first six months of the year for a decline of about 1.5 percent from the same period last year, according to preliminary figures released Aug. 2 by the Toronto-based Kinross Gold Corp., the parent company of Fairbanks Gold Mining Inc., which operates Fort Knox. The mine earned $63.7 million in revenue in the second quarter of 2007, down 8 percent from the...
As the late, great Phil Rizutto used to say when something amazing happened on the baseball field: "Holy Cow!" The last month has seen an explosion of activity across Alaska with companies working in virtually every region on a diverse package of metals including gold, platinum group elements, silver, molybdenum, lead, zinc, copper and nickel. Several new companies have entered the exploration field in Alaska and several new partners have joined forces with previously active... Full story
Alaska's Department of Natural Resources issued permits July 3 for Fort Knox gold mine's heap leach project, which will have a total capacity for leaching 161 million tons of ore. The heap leach facility will be in the Walter Creek drainage on about 310 acres of land, and the haul road to the pad will cover another 40 acres. DNR and the Department of Environmental Conservation responded to numerous public comments about the project that offered suggestions and expressed concerns. "The project is based on sound engineering...
It is high summer in Alaska and the wheeling and dealing are nearly as frenetic as the exploration, development and production going on all around the state. New deals continue to be cut on old and new projects while more established projects are being subjected to the "truth machine," otherwise known as the drill. This time-tested application has proven many a cock-sure geologist or engineer dead wrong but that doesn't stop anyone in the industry from picking himself up,...
Alaska's summer exploration season is in full swing with strong budgets on a number of projects around the state. Alaska's mines also weighed in with strong quarterly results as metal prices remain strong. The hot spots in the state this month include Southeast Alaska, Interior Alaska and the Alaska Range but don't think that silence means there is nothing going on! We are entering the period where everyone has his nose to the ground and has little time for news releases or...
Buoyed by the purchase of Bema Gold, Toronto-based Kinross is also happy with the performance of the Fort Knox mine near Fairbanks. Even a seep from the tailings dam that could potentially have damaged that mine's near-pristine environmental record can be viewed as a successful example of protective measures being put into action. In the first quarter of 2007, Kinross reported net earnings of $68.5 million, compared to net earnings of $8.9 million in the same period last year. Gold production was up 7 percent compared with th...
The exploration season has started but not before a bevy of new corporate competitors have entered the Alaska mineral scene and not before a number of past producing mines have been dragged into the 21st century. During the last month, three new companies have acquired properties in Alaska and two old Alaska producers have been brought out of mothballs to have new exploration done on them. This month's commodities of interest include gold, copper, lead, zinc, silver, uranium,...
The trials and tribulations of Alaska's mining industry continued in the last month with one challenged mine given the green light to proceed, the other halted in midstride by the same legal system. In the background, exploration programs quietly began at several locations across the state as the busy 2007 mining season started in earnest. Alaska's global rank dropped from 13th to 24th position in the most recent Fraser Institute survey of mining jurisdictions worldwide. At...
For a change, Alaska's large mines received praise from an environmentalist during public testimony in the legislature about House Bill 156, the mining tax bill, March 21. Kate Troll, executive director of the Alaska Conservation Alliance, which is a coalition of 40 groups, said that both Greens Creek and Fort Knox are in compliance with all the environmental regulations. Her comments were made in an effort to demonstrate that it is possible to support a tax increase without wishing to kill the mining industry. "Greens Creek...
