The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
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It all began in 1991, when geologists Charles E. Fipke and Stewart Blusson found 81 small diamonds at Lac de Gras in Northwest Territories, Canada, marking the first diamond pipe discovery in North America. While this groundbreaking discovery is often synonymous with the name Chuck Fipke – as it was the culmination of his relentless pursuit of elusive diamond indicator minerals for hundreds of kilometers from the Mackenzie River Valley eastward to their source near Lac de G...
Rare earths from the Nechalacho Mine being delivered into the supply chain marks the opening of a new critical minerals chapter in the story of mining in Northwest Territories – a saga that includes a 1930s gold rush to the territory's capital, a whole new town to support the Pine Point zinc mine, and the unlikely discovery of world-class diamond deposits in the famed Lac de Gras region. "We have an opportunity to add to our rich and long-standing mining story," Northwest Terr...
Fortune Minerals Ltd. April 20 reported that its 2021 drilling cut strong cobalt-gold-bismuth mineralization in the Peanut Lake zone on its Nico project in Canada's Northwest Territories. Nico hosts 33.1 million metric tons of proven and probable reserves averaging 0.11% (82 million pounds) cobalt, 0.14% (110 million lb) bismuth, 0.04% (27 million lb) copper, and 1.03 grams per metric ton (1.1 million ounces) gold. Peanut Lake is a strong magnetic anomaly about 2,000 meters...
Mineral exploration activity in Northwest Territories showed signs of revival in 2021, coming on the heels of the slowest year in recent memory. Excited by renewed interest in gold deposits in and around the capital city of Yellowknife and other hot spots after the pandemic-related restrictions of 2020, juniors joined longtime explorers Nighthawk Gold Corp. and Gold Terra Resource Corp. (formerly TerraX Minerals) in hunting for the yellow metal across the 1.14...
Home of the famed golden beaches of Nome that has captured the imagination of millions over the past 120 years, the Bering Straits Native Corporation (BSNC) region covers the Seward Peninsula and coastal lands arcing around the eastern and southern coast of the Norton Sound in the far western reaches of Alaska. While this region may be 300 miles beyond North America's highway system, it has served as a crossroads for human activity for at least 15 millennia and will continue...
With such incredible technologies at mankind's disposal today, it is easily forgotten the ingenuity and sheer gumption that our predecessors brought to solving some of the more rigorous and demanding jobs that construed early development. The ever-present wheel, hand tools, weaponry, and beyond, the plethora of devices humanity has created, only expanded into breathtaking and mind-numbing concepts our forebearers could never fathom. Areas such as animal husbandry, agriculture,...
Fortune Minerals Ltd. Sept. 23 announced the start of a 3,000-meter resource expansion and exploration drill program at its Nico cobalt-copper-bismuth-gold project in Canada's Northwest Territories. Nico hosts 33.1 million metric tons of proven and probable reserves averaging 0.11% (82 million pounds) cobalt, 0.14% (110 million lb) bismuth, 0.04% (27 million lb) copper, and 1.03 grams per metric ton (1.1 million ounces) gold. This unique mix of critical, precious, and base met...
The envisioned green future where every North American is driving a battery-powered electric vehicle charged with renewable energy could be undermined by cobalt, a somewhat scarce and controversial metal that makes lithium-ion batteries better. "Cobalt is considered the highest material supply chain risk for electric vehicles in the short and medium term," the U.S. Department of Energy penned in an April report. This risk has automakers, lithium-ion battery manufacturers, and...
Far to the north lies the second largest of Canada's three territories, simply named the Northwest Territories, and within this vast region of more than 400,000 square miles lies its only city, the capital called Yellowknife. Yellowknife, and most of the region of the Northwest Territories, lies within what is known as the Canadian Shield, a large area of Precambrian igneous and metamorphic rock, meaning it dates to the earliest part of Earth's history. Scoured down to stone...
Fortune Minerals Ltd. March 17 reported that geophysics carried out last fall has identified five high-priority drill targets for this summer's drill program at the company's Nico gold-cobalt-bismuth-copper deposit in Canada's Northwest Territories. Nico hosts 33.1 million metric tons of proven and probable reserves averaging 0.11% (82 million pounds) cobalt, 0.14% (110 million lb) bismuth, 0.04% (27 million lb) copper and 1.03 grams per metric ton (1.1 million ounces) gold....
Nighthawk Gold Corp. March 11 reported that the Tlicho Road connecting the community of Whati, Northwest Territories to Highway 3 remains on pace to be completed this fall. Being constructed along an existing winter route, the Tlicho Road will bring all-season access 97 kilometers (60 miles) closer to Nighthawks Indin Lake gold property, which lies about 160 kilometers (100 miles) northeast of Whati. The construction of this road into mineral-rich areas is being funded...
For many mining companies eyeing prospects in Canada's far north, 2020 presented insurmountable challenges. But for the few explorers and producers focused on Northwest Territories, the year proved to be quite productive, even as a global coronavirus pandemic added expensive restrictions to already costly campaigns. Rigorous restrictions imposed by local and federal officials to quell potential outbreaks of the disease at mining camps and prevent its spread to local...
As 2020, arguably the most calamitous year for northern mining in decades, drew to a close, the Government of Northwest Territories took the unusual step of topping up its annual mining incentives program with an additional C$100,000. In August, the territorial government awarded C$1 million in these grants to 19 junior mining companies and prospectors who proposed mineral exploration programs during the 2020-2021 field season. Normally awarded in the spring, the incentives...
More than six years after turning its attention to advancing to production the world-class mineral reserves of its Nico project in Northwest Territories, Fortune Minerals Ltd. is again putting boots on the ground in search of new mineralization near the Nico deposit located 160 kilometers (99 miles) northwest of Yellowknife. The tenacious junior reported Sept. 2 that an exploration program planned for the 2020 field season is underway, despite restraints imposed by the...
Fortune Minerals Ltd. Sept. 3 announced the start of a geophysical program to further delineate expansion drill targets east of the company's Nico gold-cobalt-bismuth-copper deposit in Canada's Northwest Territories. Nico currently hosts 33.1 million metric tons of proven and probable reserves averaging 0.11% (82 million pounds) cobalt, 0.14% (110 million lb) bismuth, 0.04% (27 million lb) copper and 1.03 grams per metric ton (1.1 million ounces) gold. Fortune has evidence...
Fortune Minerals Ltd. Aug. 10 announced it is gearing up for an exploration program focused on gold targets on its Nico cobalt-gold-bismuth-copper project in Northwest Territories. A 2014 feasibility study for Nico detailed plans for a 4,650-metric-ton-per-day operation that would produce an average of 1,615 metric tons of battery-grade cobalt; 41,300 ounces of gold; 1,750 metric tons of bismuth; and 265 metric tons of copper annually over a 20-year mine life. This feasibility...
Resumption of construction of the Tlicho all-season road is good news for Colomac and Nico, two mineral exploration projects in Canada's Northwest Territories. The Tlicho Road is being constructed along an existing winter route that connects the community of Whati to Highway 3, which is roughly 97 kilometers (60 miles) to the south. Construction of the road got under way last September, but activities were halted due to COVID-19 but ramped back up in mid-May. Nighthawk Gold...
As the largest shareholder and chairman of Novagold Resources Inc., a company that owns 50% of the 39-million-ounce Donlin Gold project in Alaska, it is natural for New York billionaire Thomas Kaplan to elucidate potential investors on his predictions of coming rises in the price for an ounce of gold. The truth, however, is the renowned entrepreneur and natural resources investor is not bullish on gold because he has skin in the game. Instead, he is a major owner of the...
Fortune Minerals Ltd. May 7 announced that it continues to make progress on a new mine plan for its Nico cobalt-gold-bismuth-copper project in Northwest Territories during the coronavirus pandemic. The company said it is complying with government COVID-19 protocols, including temporary closure of its head office in Ontario, prohibiting non-essential travel and social distancing. Working from home, Fortune employees, with some assistance from engineering consultants, continue...
Fortune Minerals Ltd. Nov. 21 announced it has signed an agreement with the Tlicho First Nation for building a road that connects the NICO cobalt-gold-bismuth-copper project to the community of Whati, a Northwest Territories community about 51 kilometers (32 miles) south of Fortune's proposed Nico cobalt-gold-bismuth-copper mine. The 97-kilometer (60 miles) Tlicho Road, which will connect Whati to Highway 3 and Canada's contiguous road and rail infrastructure is being funded...
Fortune Minerals Ltd. Oct. 3 reported that current cobalt markets do not support the idea of developing a larger mine at its Nico cobalt-gold-bismuth-copper project in Northwest Territories. A feasibility study published in 2014 considered a 4,650-metric-ton-per-day operation at Nico that would produce an average of 1,615 metric tons of battery-grade cobalt; 41,300 ounces of gold; 1,750 metric tons of bismuth; and 265 metric tons of copper annually. Fortune was studying the...
Home of the famed golden beaches of Nome that have captured the imagination of millions over the past 120 years, the Bering Straits Native Corporation (BSNC) region covers the Seward Peninsula and coastal lands arcing around the eastern and southern coast of the Norton Sound in the far western reaches of Alaska. While this region may be 300 miles beyond North America's highway system, it has served as a crossroads for human activity for at least 15 millennia and will continue...
Fortune Minerals Ltd. July 18 reported the discovery of a new zone of copper mineralization at its NICO cobalt-gold-bismuth-copper project in Northwest Territories. This new zone, which is about 1,600 meters southeast of the NICO deposit, was identified in bedrock exposed in a pit excavated last spring to provide aggregate for road work. It also sits along the edge of previously identified coincident magnetic, gravity and electrical resistivity geophysical anomalies at Peanut...
Fortune Minerals Ltd. April 23 reported it has entered into an option to purchase an undisclosed alternative site to construct the proposed refinery that would process metal concentrates from the company's planned Nico cobalt-gold-bismuth-copper mine in Northwest Territories. In March, Fortune reported that the Rural Municipality of Corman Park near the town of Langham, Saskatchewan had rejected the company's application for rezoning required to construct and operate the facil...
While mining activity remained strong in the Northwest Territories in 2019, industry and government officials alike worried that the robust sector, driven largely by production at three diamond mines, has entered a prolonged downward slide. The near-term economic outlook for the territory, which covers 1.3 million square kilometers in Canada's central Arctic region, continues to be bleak as its diamond mines that have now passed peak production and replacement projects are in...
