The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
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In the early days of exploration at a property near the small town of Delta Junction in Interior Alaska, a bunch of geologists who'd had a few too many beers began jumping up and down. They may have been jumping for joy, imagining a rich gold vein beneath their feet, or more likely they were jumping to keep warm, as this region is one of the coldest on the planet in winter. Someone nicknamed the strange dance the Pogo dance, and the name stuck. Today in the same spot, Pogo mine is producing its first gold bars, a joint ventur...
Preparations for exploration and development activities ramped up again in the last month as budgets were approved and committed on projects extending from Southeast Alaska to the Seward Peninsula to Interior Alaska. Commodity and equity markets for the metals mining industry have remained strong in anticipation of continued high demand and restricted supplies. To put things into a global perspective, the Worldwatch Institute (www.worldwatch.org) recently published information about the growing demand for goods and services i...
A bill in the Alaska Legislature introducing a mining production tax would ensure that the people of the state derive the maximum benefit from the use of resources, as guaranteed in the constitution, according to the bill's sponsor. Rep. Paul Seaton, R-Homer, a commercial fisherman, believes that the mining industry is not contributing enough to the state compared with the fishing industry and the oil and gas industry. His bill would impose a tax of 0.6 percent of the gross value of the resource at the point of production in...
In the last month the Alaska mining industry has seen start-up of its first major gold mine in five years (Pogo) and approval of permits for the Nixon Fork copper-gold mine. We also saw announcement of substantial increases in copper, gold and molybdenum resources at two advanced exploration/development projects (Donlin Creek and Pebble). New development plans were offered for heap leaching at the Fort Knox gold mine and initial funding was approved for evaluation of a coal to liquids facility at the Beluga coal deposits.... Full story
A report on the economic impact of Alaska's mining industry published in February provides a comprehensive look at the varied benefits mining brings to the state. The Alaska Miners Association commissioned the McDowell Group to prepare the report and distributed it to state legislators. Presentations to the Legislature by the AMA and the Alaska Minerals Commission in the same week emphasized the positive aspects of Alaska's mining resurgence and the importance of a stable tax regime. Much of the information in the McDowell...
Northern Dynasty may only be a junior mining company, but it has marshaled an army of contractors to conduct baseline environmental studies for its Pebble project in southwest Alaska. Companies that competed against each other to win the contracts are now working as a team taking samples, monitoring conditions and analyzing data that will eventually be used in the permit applications for the proposed copper-gold mine. In 2005 the Pebble project employed 45 consulting firms, with a total Alaska workforce of 457, plus another... Full story
Fort Knox mine near Fairbanks is considering the construction of a heap leach pad to improve its recovery rate and take advantage of soaring gold prices. The project is still in the planning stages, but if mine owner Fairbanks Gold Mining - a subsidiary of Kinross - decides it is viable, the estimated capital cost would be $22 million. Operating costs would be approximately one-third of the current mill operating costs, and the heap leach would be used in addition to the mill processes. "Heap leaching is being evaluated to im...
As the mining industry booms and companies rush to develop new properties, there is often one major snag in remote northern regions: inadequate infrastructure. This is the case with the Red Chris property in British Columbia, which completed the province's environmental assessment process last August. Vancouver-based bcMetals is champing at the bit to obtain permits and start construction of its proposed copper-gold mine, but everything hinges on whether or not the British Columbia government will build a 37.5-megawatt power... Full story
Tom Irwin has joined Golden Valley Electric Association as vice president of governmental and public affairs, a newly created position, GVEA said in a statement Jan. 16. Irwin, 59, is a mining industry veteran with more than 30 years of management experience. He stepped down from his job as commissioner of the Alaska Department of Natural Resources in October after disagreeing with Gov. Frank H. Murkowski about the direction of the state's natural gas pipeline negotiations with the North Slope producers. At GVEA, Irwin will...
When I heard that Barrick Gold Corp. had made an unsolicited offer on Oct. 31, 2005, to purchase Placer Dome Inc. my first move was to purchase 100 Barrick shares. Although the acquisition was initially rejected, on Dec. 22 a follow-up offer was greeted more favorably. This appears to be a fortuitous marriage. In the 60 days I have held the stock it has gone from $25.05 per share to $29.48, an increase in value of 17.68 percent (106 percent annualized). I like that kind of...
Alaska's newest large mines, such as Pogo, will benefit from some of the most advanced equipment on the market, including drill rigs with computer consoles and rock bolts that expand to the right strength whether they are in an ore body or waste rock. Much of this equipment is being provided by a distributor with branches across the state, Construction Machinery International. Ken and Chad Gerondale of CMI gave details at a presentation to the Alaska Miners Association in Anchorage Dec. 14. CMI represents major manufacturers...
No one knows Alaska's Golden Zone better than Chuck Hawley. Since 1967, when he first saw the property near Denali Park while working for the U.S. Geological Survey, Hawley has devoted years of his life and a couple of million dollars to exploration at Golden Zone. He has worked with a string of companies, but now, at age 76, Hawley believes Vancouver, British Columbia-based Piper Capital might be the one to prove up the gold reserves that he is convinced are there. Hawley himself, a director emeritus of the Alaska Miners...
Hard rock mining's contribution to the Alaska economy is larger than it appears at first sight, when the "multiplier effect" is taken into account - the additional spending and services triggered by the mining activities. Anchorage-based consultancy Northern Economics has measured the wealth created by Alaska's three hard rock mines, Fort Knox, Greens Creek and Red Dog, and come up with some impressive figures. The consultancy compiled the data for 2004 using information provided by the companies, state agencies, and...
Over the course of the last several months, a series of new gold and base metal discoveries have been made. Several of these new discoveries were reported in the last month and highlights of these and other activities were presented at the annual Alaska Miners Association convention in Anchorage in early November. The convention was one of the most exciting and up-beat events in nearly a decade. The new discoveries are a trend that, while long in coming, are an inevitable...
Alaska's Department of Natural Resources may not have seen the last of Bob Loeffler. When he resigned as director of the Division of Mining, Land and Water in November, it was the third time he had quit the department that he first joined in 1978. He kept returning because he likes the work, Loeffler told Mining News. This loyalty is much like his loyalty to Alaska: He came to the state in 1977 with the U.S. Geological Survey for one year and never left. The position of director has now been filled by the former deputy direct... Full story
It's widely understood that Canada is Alaska's third-largest market with exports of $242 million in 2004. But our next-door neighbor is an even bigger source of goods and services imported to the state, $289 million last year. That's right. Canada accounted for 2,600 direct jobs in Alaska in 2004, while direct and indirect employment generated by Canadian enterprises totaled 7,500 positions in the state with a $330 million payroll. These are among findings of a new report, "Canada's Impact on Alaska," prepared for the...
Rock Creek will be one of Alaska's most straightforward mining projects, if all goes according to plan for Vancouver-based NovaGold Resources. The company is developing what will be its first producing mine eight miles outside Nome, and the local power utility will provide the required five to seven megawatts. The open pit mine is expected to produce 100,000 ounces of gold annually and capital costs are estimated at $55 million to $60 million. "Infrastructure is excellent, certainly by Alaska standards, the road goes right... Full story
Competition for mining employees is intensifying in Alaska, with mines from the Lower 48 advertising their signing bonuses in Fairbanks, while the Pogo project tries to counter their offers with even bigger ones. State legislators heard about this and other mining issues at the "Gold and Gas in the Interior" meeting at the Fairbanks North Star Borough Assembly Chambers Aug. 22. Two Nevada companies advertised $2,000 signing bonuses in the Fairbanks newspaper in July, and a mine in Montana is offering a $4,000 signing bonus,...
Monogold Resources Inc. posted results Sept. 15 of sampling results from its 2005 summer exploration program at the Nyac Gold Project in southwestern Alaska that reinforce its geologists' theory that the prospect contains a gold deposit similar to the Fort Knox gold mine near Fairbanks. (See story in June 19 issue of Mining News.) Tonogold said the latest results represent fill-in sampling done in previously identified prospect areas within a 57,600-acre parcel in the Nyac Mining District in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta. High...
KoryakGeoldobycha's reputation depends on making a success of Aginskoye mine. Bystrinsky Mining Co., headed by the ebullient Andrei Kozlov, is firing on all cylinders to achieve the first gold pour at the mine by the end of the year. KGD has built a 127-kilometer road northwest from the village of Milkovo to the mine. The contractors who are working at the mine live in the old Soviet exploration camp, but brand new, comfortable housing has been built on site and the old camp will be demolished. It was hoped that the mine...
There has recently been a great deal of talk about how the hard rock mining industry in Alaska "needs to pay its share." One proposal is that this industry should be singled out for the imposition of a severance tax. In discussing this matter with a friend who is not involved with the hard rock mining industry, I was somewhat amazed by her support for this type of taxation. When I suggested to her that major mines often take more than a decade to go from discovery to... Full story
Kinross Gold and Teryl Resources are advancing their Gil Joint Venture Project from exploration to the development stage in hopes of identifying a viable source of new high-grade gold ore for production. The joint venture plans to permit the deposit once sufficient baseline data has been collected. A $793,800 budget has been approved this year for permitting and engineering work. A full feasibility study is expected to be completed by the end of the year, and a production decision by Kinross, which holds an 80 percent interes... Full story
The good news from Teryl, Kinross, Geoinformatics, Midas, Geocom and others is tempered by the loss of Alaska's gentleman scientist Ernie Wolff, who passed away on May 3; Liberty Star Gold appoints Phil St. George as VP of exploration s I write this summary of recent activities in Alaska's mining industry I am attending a once-every-five-year symposium in Reno put on by the Geological Society of Nevada. Some 1,500 attendees, mostly exploration geologists, are eagerly lapping up hours of new and previously unheard ideas on... Full story
Alaska's minerals industry has taken the surprising step of working with a state legislator to propose a new property tax on large mines. It isn't a purely humanitarian gesture: most of all, mining companies are looking for stability in the tax system and this bill would provide them with a way to estimate their costs more accurately. Senate Bill 179, introduced by Sen. Gene Therriault, R-North Pole, April 18, after consultation with the Alaska Miners Association, would levy a property tax of 4 mills for 15 years on mines in...
Thanks to a gutsy move by the tiny Yukon River village of Galena, mine developers across the state could soon possess a new option for solving one of their biggest headaches - find a cheap source of power for their operations. Galena, like most remote Alaska communities, is virtually held captive by high energy costs. But nuclear power from a small 10-megawatt nuclear reactor could rescue the Bush village from economic bondage, according to a recent U.S. Department of Energy study of Galena's energy alternatives. Power costs... Full story
