The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
Sorted by date Results 51 - 75 of 83
Although the Alaska mineral industry is in better health in the middle of 2018 than it has been in the last five years, the spirited recovery that was in progress in the first quarter of the year is now looking more like a dead-cat bounce – a minor recovery after a long down trend. This is particularly true of the exploration sector. Reviewing the Alaska minerals industry, you will note that several exploration projects are only now commencing their 2018 exploration p...
The summer field season is in full bloom across Alaska with programs stretching from the Brooks Range to southeastern Alaska, and from the Yukon border to southwestern Alaska. Exploration targets range from grassroots to mine-site, focused on commodities including gold, silver, lead, zinc, copper, cobalt and graphite. For Alaska's exploration industry, planned, announced and estimated expenditures are well over the $100 million mark for 2018. This expenditure level is well...
Grande Portage Resources Ltd. May 28 filed an NI 43-101-compliant technical report with an updated resource estimate for the company's Herbert Gold project in Southeast Alaska. Incorporating the results from 12 holes drilled last year, the first drilling at Herbert Gold since 2012, the updated estimate outlines 1.1 million metric tons of indicated resource averaging 7.25 grams per metric ton (267,950 ounces) gold; and 423,200 metric tons of inferred resource averaging 6.04 g/t...
As we transition from 2017 into 2018, the weight of evidence pointing to a long-awaited mining industry up-tick is being trumpeted from every financial institution, brokerage house and mining pundit across the globe. For example, RBC Capital Markets' newly released "2018 New Year Preview" has this to say: "We are in the mid-stages of a stock market recovery and the early stages of an economic cycle recovery. Gold is already in a phase where it out-performs other financial...
Grande Portage Resources Ltd. Sep. 6 announced that sampling of a newly exposed outcrop at its Herbert Gold project about 15 miles (25 kilometers) north of Juneau, Alaska , returned 6.75 ounces per metric ton gold. This outcrop of the Goat vein was exposed by the rapid erosion of loose boulders and gravel. The vein here consists of approximately 4 feet of quartz with disseminated arsenopyrite, pyrite, galena and sphalerite and visible gold. Hanging wall alteration of the quartz diorite host rock reaches width of at least six...
As a follow-up to last month's realization that once again "the game is afoot" in the mining industry, major gold producer Goldcorp recently presented some arresting statistics at the Bank of America Merrill Lynch Global Metals, Mining and Steel Conference. The presentation showed gold discovery and production information for the global mining industry that indicated that peak gold discovery occurred in 1995, this despite three periods between 1995 and 2015 when exploration...
Alaska's minerals exploration sector is on an upswing, thanks to Australian mining explorers looking north and mining majors upping their activities in the state. South32 Ltd., a Perth, Australia-based miner spun out of BHP Billiton Plc, is the largest mining company from Down Under to express an interest in Alaska's mineral potential this year. South32, which has eight operating mines in the Southern Hemisphere, secured an option to acquire a 50 percent interest in Trilogy...
With winter programs winding down and summer efforts rapidly ramping up, it is becoming clear that 2017 will be a much more vigorous year for the Alaska mining industry than the 2013 to 2016 period. For example, my internal estimates are already pushing $75 million for exploration activity alone and a significant number of projects that have announced exploration plans have not yet announced budgets for 2017, so that number is likely to rise. Compare this to estimates of less...
Grande Portage Resources Ltd. Oct. 5 announced the completion of a 3,700-meter drill program at its Herbert Gold property about 16 miles north of Juneau, Alaska. So far, the company has outlined 821,000 metric tons of indicated resources averaging 6.91 g/t (182,400 oz) gold; and 51,600 metric tons of inferred resources averaging 7.73 g/t (12,800 oz) gold. This year's 12-hole program aims to add to this high-grade gold resource by testing extensions of three major veins and their satellite structures. Grande Portage said core...
In early November, the Alaska Miners Association will hold its annual convention in Anchorage. Unlike the past four or five years, the excitement surrounding the convention this year is palpable due to the steady increase in exploration, development and production activities in Alaska in 2017. Clear signs of the industry's long-awaited revival include the fact that 11 new project acquisitions have taken place in 2017, half of which involve companies that are newcomers to the...
As the first snows of the coming winter began to fall at high elevations across Alaska, results of summer programs likewise began to trickle in from far-flung areas of the state. Meanwhile, second- and third-quarter production data began to show up and mining industry analysts released a series of reports covering a wide range of industry-wide trends. For example, SNL Metals and Mining Research released information on how long it takes to move a new discovery to production....
The Alaska mining industry continued its increased pace of activities in August, even as the first hint of autumn starts to be felt across the state. Metals prices were relatively stable with increasing demand for zinc and gold, the two metals that generate the most revenue from Alaska's operating mines. Wood Mackenzie is forecasting a 3 percent increase in global refined zinc demand in 2017 to 14.7 million metric tons. With refined zinc production limited to a 2 percent...
For those of you that could not attend, the annual Alaska Miners Association Convention and Trade Show was well-attended, with most people pleasantly surprised by the strong turnout. Compared to a year ago, more companies are planning to get back in the field with exploration and development programs in 2014, a sentiment making up one of the few bright spots in a recent IntierraRMG resource sector exploration summary. This report and a similar snapshot of the exploration...
The ongoing scarcity of venture capital available to junior companies coupled with a retreat in metals prices has landed a one-two blow that sent mineral exploration spending in Alaska plunging for the second straight year. A handful of big-budget projects scattered across Alaska, though, is softening the hit to exploration spending across the Far North State during 2013. Mineral exploration expenditures in Alaska, which were a meager US$23.8 million in 2001, topped US$365...
In a year that has started off with more than its share of mining industry gloom and doom, this year's Fraser Institute "Survey of Mining Companies, 2012/2013" provided a bit of sunshine for Alaska. The annual survey of exploration and mining companies gauges the pros and cons of working in various political jurisdictions around the world. This year's results came from 742 mineral industry companies working in 96 jurisdictions worldwide and represented cumulative 2012 explorat...
I finally found something I have been thinking about for a long time but had not seen discussed in detail. We have all seen summaries of the declining rate of discoveries for new mineral deposits and have heard about the steadily increasing cost of production, now at a record US$727 per ounce, according to GFMS' Gold Survey 2012. What I really wanted to know was the replacement cost of an ounce or a pound of metal. Let's take gold for example: If I am a producing mine and I just produced an ounce of gold, what is the cost of...
A recent letter distributed to the minerals industry by the Alaska Department of Natural Resources' Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys and the Department of Commerce, Community and Economic Development's Division of Economic Development is seeking faster and more efficient ways to gather, collate and publish Alaska's Annual Minerals Industry Report. The agencies are looking for feedback regarding what items the industry thinks is important to retain in the report, what items are not in the report that should be...
Ending a streak of robust growth, mineral exploration spending in Alaska during 2012 took a downward turn from the record US$300 million spent a year earlier. "More advanced-stage projects that added ounces or pounds to their resource base had a better go of it than early-stage exploration projects which have taken a hard right cross to the jaw!" Curt Freeman, a well-known Alaska geologist and president of Fairbanks-based Avalon Development, observed in September. This blow de...
CPG: TSX-V Chairman: Paul Bowes President: Ian Klassen Vice President, Exploration: Wesley Raven Drilling completed by Grande Portage Resources Ltd. over the past three years has outlined a high-grade gold deposit at Herbert Glacier that is shaping up to be on par to its neighbors in the Juneau Gold Belt of Southeast Alaska. Located about 35 kilometers northwest of the historical Treadwell Mine and about the same distance southeast of Coeur d'Alene Mines' Kensington operation, Herbert Glacier lies along a trend legendary for...
Over the past six months, the single-most common question I have gotten asked about Alaska's mineral industry is, "Have there been any significant new discoveries?" While there may be an as-yet unannounced new discovery in Alaska, it seems the above question is being asked more frequently in other parts of the world as well and the most common answer is a simple "no." While information on new discoveries in other sectors of the mining industry is out there, it's not as...
As the first cooler days and termination dust start appearing across Alaska, seasonal exploration activities are winding down and operating mines are preparing for another winter. To be sure, less money was spent on fewer projects by the mineral industry exploring and developing Alaska's mineral resources in 2012 versus 2011. More advanced-stage projects that added ounces or pounds to their resource base had a better go of it than early-stage exploration projects which have...
Grande Portage Resources Ltd. is in the midst of a 15,000-meter drill program targeting a high-grade gold deposit at Herbert Glacier, a project that is shaping up to be on par with its renowned neighbors in the Juneau Gold Belt. Located about 20 miles (35 kilometers) northwest of the legendary Treadwell Mine and about the same distance southeast of Coeur d'Alene Mines' Kensington operation, Herbert Glacier is situated along a 160-kilometer (100 miles) stretch of Southeast...
In a long overdue step to bring Alaska into the 21st Century, state and federal agencies met in late June to discuss collaborative funding strategies for Alaska's Statewide Digital Mapping Initiative, an enterprise designed to create Alaska's first high-quality digital topographic map. The roundtable was convened by Alaska Lt. Gov. Mead Treadwell and the Assistant Secretary for Water and Science, U.S. Department of Interior. Alaska remains the only state in the United States...
If you are looking for proof that the mining industry is experiencing unparalleled changes, look no further than "Mine 2012: The growing disconnect," the 9th edition of PricewaterhouseCoopers' annual report on the global mining industry. This recently released report indicates that in 2011 the top 40 global mining companies posted record profits of $133 billion and generated record operating cash flows of $174 billion. However, over the course of the year, market...
The winds of change are once again blowing across Alaska's mineral industry, not only because the industry is gearing up for another busy summer season, but also because the mining investment climate has turned from cautiously optimistic to decidedly undecided. The sea change occurred steadily and without a lot of fanfare between mid-January and mid-March. As is always the case, good projects continue to advance with those that are drilling and adding resources or moving throu...
