The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
Sorted by date Results 101 - 110 of 110
Fortune Minerals Ltd. reported Dec. 4 the startup of a $3.8 million pilot plant last month at SGS Lakefield Research Limited in Ontario for its Nico cobalt-gold-bismuth deposit in the Northwest Territories. Fortune aims to confirm the economic feasibility of producing precious and base metals from NICO. A total of 180 metric tons of ore mined from the Nico deposit during the 2006 and 2007 underground test mining programs will be processed by May, the company said. Underground mining tests conducted at Nico produced about...
The financial markets haven't been kind to junior mining and exploration stocks lately. During the past six months, five of Alaska's junior explorers have lost more than three-quarters of their average stock values. This decimation of junior stocks is not isolated to companies doing business in Alaska and northern Canada, but sweeps the industry across the board. The S&P/TSX Venture Composite Index, which represents about 40 percent of mining companies worldwide, has declined...
Mining exploration appears to be hotter than ever this season in the Northwest Territories and Nunavut, but the Canadian Arctic region's few producers are getting hammered by the strong Canadian dollar. The discrepancy was particularly evident in the territories' mining production. The total value of metal and diamond shipments from the Northwest Territories and Nunavut Territory decreased to C$1.53 billion during the calendar year 2007 for the second consecutive year, down from C$1.63 billion in 2006 and C$1.79 billion in...
When Anglo American plc. CEO Cynthia Carroll spoke to Alaska business leaders during a visit to Anchorage in October she vowed that the partnership between her company and Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd. would recruit first in Alaska before looking elsewhere to find professionals to manage, run and work their massive Pebble Project. The Pebble Partnership didn't have to look far. John Wood fits the bill perfectly. Not only does Wood offer more than 35 years in civil and mining...
Two of Canada's westernmost governments are moving forward with power transmission projects aimed at bringing lower cost energy and jobs to rural residents while spurring mine development in remote areas. British Columbia and Yukon Territory announced progress in October on separate public-private partnerships pursuing the power projects. B.C. government said Oct. 1 it would pursue the Northwest Transmission Line project, a C$400-million extension of B.C.'s electrical grid into the remote northwest region of the province...
Proponents of an Alaska-Canada rail link are thinking big. In a phase 1 feasibility study commissioned by the State of Alaska and the Yukon government and published in June, they estimate that the project would generate 3,000 direct jobs in Alaska's mining sector and 2,300 additional new jobs in other industries. At least 8.8 billion tons of mineral concentrates could be developed in the rail corridor in Alaska over a 30-year period, with a gross metal value of $16.9 billion, according to the study. To illustrate the scale...
More junior mining companies than ever appear to be seeking their fortunes in precious metals and gems in the wilds of northwestern Canada these days and more seem to be joining the throng every day. Still, few of these modern-day explorers are drawn to the Far North by the allure of high-rank coal and metallurgical minerals such as cobalt and bismuth. But Fortune Minerals of London, Ontario, is one such firm. Founded in 1988, Fortune Minerals went public a year later. In the 18 years since, the company has gotten lucky more...
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...
If Lucky Shot lives up to its name, it could net Vancouver, British Columbia-based junior Full Metal Minerals millions of dollars. But the chances are slim. Less than 1 percent of exploration projects eventually develop into operating mines, according to Full Metal's vice president, Rob McLeod. Still, McLeod hopes that this or one of his company's other Alaska projects will be as lucrative as Pierina in Peru, which his cousin Catherine McLeod-Seltzer discovered and sold to Barrick Gold for a not-so-small fortune. The Lucky...
Current market conditions favor the three metals uncovered in the Pebble project operated by Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd. in southwestern Alaska. Not only are gold and copper fetching good prices, but a recent run-up in molybdenum prices could deliver a nice bonus for the project. Little known metal makes big contributions Molybdenum, pronounced "meh-LIB-deh-nem," is mainly a byproduct of copper mining but some standalone molybdenum mines do exist. The element was discovered by Carl Welhelm Scheele, a Swedish chemist, in...
