The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
Sorted by date Results 526 - 550 of 570
Since the Pebble project began hitting the headlines, Bob Loeffler has been asked some strange questions. People accost the mild-mannered director of the Alaska Department of Natural Resources' Division of Mining, Land and Water and demand to know why he issued permits for the Pebble project and when it is going to break ground. Loeffler is puzzled, because he hasn't issued any permits for the Pebble project. The developer, Northern Dynasty, won't even submit its permit applications until next year. Loeffler spoke to the Newh...
Residents of Southwest Alaska - including a former state governor - expressed passionate opinions about the proposed Pebble open-pit mine at a conference in the village of Newhalen April 7-9, demonstrating that there will be a host of social issues to deal with even if mine developer Northern Dynasty can overcome the project's daunting environmental and economic hurdles. Local Natives are worried about the threat to their subsistence lifestyle, lodge owners and guides fear tourism could change and anti-mining NGOs are making...
Many Alaska state legislators have a personal connection with mining, and perhaps none more so than Richard Foster, Nome's Democratic representative. Foster, 58, grew up on his father's mine, 100 miles north of Nome. Today he is glad to see Vancouver-based NovaGold developing its Rock Creek project in his district, but he also regrets the disappearance of "mom and pop" mining operations like the one where he worked as a child. "NovaGold has been very aggressive in trying to develop their gold and also their boundless...
Linux Gold Corp. and Teryl Resources Corp. said March 22 that they had agreed to extend the term of their original Fish Creek claims agreement until March 5, 2007, giving Teryl a 50 percent interest in 30 Fish Creek claims, which are within six miles of Kinross Gold Corp.'s Fort Knox mill. The Fish Creek claims are also adjacent to the Teryl/Kinross joint venture Gil claims. Other than this extension, all other terms of the original agreement remain the same, the companies said in a joint release from their Vancouver offices....
Robert Buchan, the president and CEO of Toronto-based Kinross Gold, has announced that he will step down following the company's AGM on April 27 and assume the role of non-executive chairman. Buchan, 57, who is from Scotland, founded Kinross in 1993. After he oversaw a merger with TVX Gold and Echo Bay Mines a decade later the company became the world's seventh-largest gold producer. In Alaska Kinross owns and operates the Fort Knox and True North mines near Fairbanks. "Starting Kinross in 1993 with 25,000 ounces of annual...
What a difference a year makes ... along with a few things like rebounding metals prices, China's voracious appetite for minerals and investors' enduring love affair worldwide with gold. That's the assessment of Alaska officials after reviewing the state's annual report on mining industry activity in 2003, released in late October. The cumulative value of Alaska's mining industry in 2003 dipped slightly to $1.067 billion, down about $6 million from the $1.073 billion reported in 2002, according to the report, the 23rd in an...
A new copper discovery in Mongolia's South Gobi region could rival Alaska's Pebble deposit as one of the most valuable in the world. Drilling on the Hugo North deposit at the Oyu Tolgoi copper-gold project has produced impressive results, according to a Nov. 18 release from Ivanhoe Mines. Ivanhoe's controversial chairman, Robert Friedland, denies media accusations that he has been over-hyping the company's Mongolia finds. "Based on my 30 years of experience in the exploration business, I believe the Hugo North deposit is the... Full story
After seeing his daughter Lisa elected to the U.S. Senate, the first place Alaska Gov. Frank Murkowski headed to on Nov. 3 was the Alaska Miners Association convention in Anchorage. Perhaps because of his good mood, Gov. Murkowski promised to request a $700,000 addition to next year's budget for enhanced airborne geophysical surveys. In a speech to the convention two days later, Alaska Department of Natural Resources Commissioner Tom Irwin confirmed the state's enthusiasm for the mining industry. "Men and women of the Alaska...
Neither the heat and smoke from wildfires, nor excruciatingly low winter temperatures could deter miners from expanding their operations in Alaska this past season. Representatives of several companies described their achievements in the "Development and Mine Operations" session at the Alaska Miners Association convention on Nov. 5. NovaGold Resources' Rock Creek John Odden from NovaGold Resources began with a presentation on Rock Creek, which is located on the Seward Peninsula, seven miles north of Nome. Part of it is on...
The month of November started off with a bang with favorable results for the mining industry from both the state and federal elections standpoint. As it closes the price of gold is flirting with $450 per ounce, the highest price for this metal since mid-1988. The Alaska Miners Association convention was very well attended in early November and results were revealed there from many of Alaska's exploration, development and production properties. A quick tally of spending across... Full story
Vancouver, British Columbia-based War Eagle Mining Co. Inc. has partnered with Strategic Metals Ltd. to drill for the first time the Antimony Mountain copper-silver-gold porphyry prospect, 65 kilometers (40 miles) northeast of Dawson City, Yukon Territory. Reconnaissance field work started in late June, with core drilling beginning in August. A total of 1,000 meters (3,275 feet) is planned for this year's five-hole program, according to an Aug. 26 press release. "This summer's work program budget is $400,000, of which roughly...
One of six new 190-ton Caterpillar haul trucks hit the dirt at the open pit Fort Knox gold mine near Fairbanks, Alaska, on Sept. 1, part of a $15 million-plus capital investment in the mine's dirt-moving fleet this year. Fairbanks Gold Mining Inc., a subsidiary of Toronto-based Kinross Gold, has gone on a $24 million-plus equipment shopping spree this year and last, increasing capacity of the Fort Knox dirt-moving fleet by 30 percent each year. The new equipment additions will help mine crews remove 55 million tons of waste r...
Heavy rains in late July and early August have dampened the number of wildlands fires that burned through Interior and the eastern part of Alaska, adversely affecting placer miners and metals prospectors attempting to complete field work this summer. Large fires in the eastern Interior, covering the Fortymile mining district, continue to smolder and creep, according to the Aug. 2 report from the Alaska Interagency Coordination Center, which is monitoring about 100 active fires in the state. So far, 520 fires in Alaska have...
Teryl Resources Corp. continues to prospect on ground nearby the Fort Knox mine northeast of Fairbanks, Alaska, this time drilling on some placer claims with historical gold occurrences just downstream from the mine's fresh water dam. Reverse circulation drilling has started on 25 placer drill holes, vertical eight-inch diameter holes on two lines, according to the company's Aug. 4 press release. Each line will contain 10 to 15 drill holes, spaced 50 to 200 feet apart and from 45 to 75 feet deep, penetrating bedrock by up to... Full story
One of the most bizarre summers in Alaska's recent history is in full swing and only the snows of winter will dampen things. I am speaking of course of the impact that Alaska's plus-4 million acres of wildfires have had on mineral exploration, development and operations in the central and eastern parts of the state. The fires came along with an unusually dry and warm summer for virtually all of the state. In addition to the usual problems of who's AWOL after the Fourth of... Full story
In the final hot and dry days of June, the Boundary wild lands fire was burning its way across rolling hills in Alaska's Interior three to five miles from the Fort Knox gold mine, although workers couldn't see its proximity due to smoke shrouding the area. Weather conditions changed on July 4, with shifting winds and cooling temperatures causing the fire to shift directions. That gave Fort Knox's general manager John Wild a view of how close the fire came to the mine and mill site, about 25 miles northeast of Fairbanks. "It...
As anyone can tell you who has tried recently to locate geologists, drill rigs and helicopters, Alaska is not the place to search for any of these commodities. Mineral exploration and development in Alaska is clipping along at a pace not seen in more than five years and in the process, these activities have sucked up just about all of the people, rigs and aircraft in the state. Exploration and development projects are spread from Nome to Ketchikan, the Brooks Range to...
In his first season as the Alaska and Russia exploration manager for Kinross Gold, Rich Harris will be spending about $2.5 million on exploration in 2004, mostly for early-stage prospects neighboring the company's Fort Knox and True North mines northeast of Fairbanks, Alaska. Final budgets for several projects, including three prospects neighboring True North and three others in the Fort Knox/Gil area, are still pending, Harris said in interviews June 1 and June 5. "Everything is being reevaluated locally. We're looking at...
Work began this spring on a three year, $60 million capital project at the Fort Knox gold mine northeast of Fairbanks, Alaska, a project that will ultimately access 1 million ounces of deeply buried gold, ensuring production at Alaska's largest mine through 2010. Called Phase 6, the mine expansion entails removing 55 million tons of non-gold bearing rock, or waste rock, in order to access an estimated 1 million ounces of gold already included in the mine's reserve used to estimate the remaining amount of production life....
Metals prices remain strong and funding for projects large and small is already in place or nearly so as Alaska prepares for the annual summer exploration dance. Exploration drilling on several winter drilling targets has been completed and summer drilling projects are beginning on several others. Mine permitting issues at Pogo have cast a shadow over the otherwise bright picture of Alaska's mining industry but resolution of this problem is expected sooner rather than later...
Kinross Gold and its partner in the Gil project, Teryl Resources, plan exploration this year at the prospect some seven miles east of the Fort Knox gold mine and mill complex. But exploration budget plans have not yet been finalized, according to Teryl's president, John Robertson. He's waiting to hear from planners in Kinross' corporate office to find out what his company's share of exploration spending at Gil will be this year. Kinross holds an 80 percent interest in Gil, and serves as the project's operator. Teryl holds...
All of the first six drill holes punched this spring on Teryl Resources' West Ridge property near Fairbanks, Alaska, encountered anomalous gold mineralization, according to a company press release issued April 28. Drilling work completed between March 16 and April 1 included 2,650 feet of reverse circulation drilling at the Old Glory prospect at West Ridge. Teryl's 100 percent owned West Ridge property is just south of the True North Mine, a Fort Knox satellite mine operated by Kinross Gold from 2001 through early this year.... Full story
Describing Alaska as "a good place to do business," AngloGold (U.S.A.) Exploration's president of North America said the company's focus is shifting away from projects in Nevada and parts of Canada. The company increased its landholdings through a sizeable claim staking effort in recent months in the area surrounding the Pogo gold deposit, and is negotiating a land lease in the Livengood area. Total exploration spending in Alaska is planned for $2 million, which is more than two-thirds of the company's North America green-fie...
Estimates of $1.05 billion for Alaska's mineral industry value in 2003 were released by state officials on March 9, making it the eighth straight year the industry's value exceeded $1 billion. Rising prices for almost all metals, including gold, silver, zinc, and lead, increased the 2003 value of metal production in Alaska by 2 percent from 2002 levels, according to the annual report released by the state Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys. Contributing heavily to Alaska's mineral industry are the state's three...
Tom Irwin, commissioner of the Alaska Department of Natural Resources, will be one of the luncheon speakers at the 19th Biennial Conference on Alaska Mining in Fairbanks, beginning March 14 and concluding with a number of mine tours on March 20. Irwin, formerly general manager and a key member of the development team at the Fort Knox gold mine near Fairbanks, will present a speech at the March 15 luncheon, titled "Progress Toward Resource Development." Technical sessions will be held March 15 through 17 at the Westmark...
