The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
Sorted by date Results 101 - 125 of 245
Graphite One Inc. Feb. 22 announced that it has raised C$10 million to help fund ongoing evaluation of Graphite Creek and the mid-year completion of a prefeasibility study for the world-class graphite project in western Alaska. The prefeasibility study will build upon a 2017 preliminary economic assessment that outlined plans for a mine at Graphite Creek that would produce roughly 60,000 metric tons of 95% graphite concentrate per year and a separate processing facility to...
Like nearly every other aspect of human existence, the COVID-19 pandemic has fundamentally changed the mineral exploration industry in Canada and Alaska. The Association for Mineral Exploration British Columbia embraced this change with the first ever AME Remote Roundup, a virtual rendition of the long-lived mineral exploration convention that traditionally brings thousands of people to Vancouver, British Columbia at the onset of each year. "This is one of the first meeting...
Cans, cups, roofs, and foil hats are likely the first things that come to mind when thinking about tin – none of which conjure images of a metal that should be considered critical to a modern country like the United States. According to a study carried out by Massachusetts Institute of Technology, however, tin is the metal expected that be most impacted by new technologies. Commissioned by Rio Tinto, the MIT study found that tin beat out more likely technology metals candidate...
Wind turbines, solar panels, and the batteries that store the electricity these renewable energy sources generate are creating new demands for an array of minerals and metals, many of which are not mined in the United States. Recognizing that mines lie at the front end of America's expanding renewable energy supply chains, federal officials have determined that critical mining projects must be eligible for Fast-41, a program established in 2015 to improve the timeliness,...
America's supply of tungsten, an extremely durable metal that is vital to a broad range of American industrial sectors, is at high-risk. A recent U.S. Geological Survey assessment to identify which mineral commodities are most at risk to supply disruptions ranked tungsten near the top of the list – alongside rare earth elements, cobalt and graphite, platinum group metals and tungsten. Like many of its neighbors at the top of the mineral commodity supply risk list, much of the...
When you consider the 17 rare earths and six platinum metals individually, more than 50 of the elements on the periodic table have been deemed critical to the economic wellbeing and security of the United States, a list that worries the White House and many policymakers in Washington, D.C. To sort the hierarchy of this expansive list, the U.S. Geological Survey has developed a tool that helps identify which mineral commodities lying at the crux of America's manufacturing...
The rapidly accelerating expansion of the electric vehicle and renewable energy sectors is driving enormous new demand for graphite, a major ingredient in lithium-ion batteries. The World Bank forecasts that low-carbon energy technologies, primarily lithium-ion batteries, will require 4.5 million metric tons of graphite per year by 2050, which is about a 500% increase over 2018 levels and a 318% increase over the total graphite produced in 2019. "Graphite demand increases in...
In addition to dealing a major blow to the economy, the COVID-19 pandemic has shined a spotlight on a chink in the United States' economic and security armor – an overreliance on foreign countries for the minerals and metals that lie at the frontend of American supply chains. "The COVID-19 pandemic has shown how delicate our supply chains are and that should be a wakeup call for all of us," Senate Committee on Energy & Natural Resources Chair Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, said dur...
Graphite One Inc. Oct. 1 said President Donald Trump's declaration that the United States' heavy reliance on foreign nations for critical minerals is a national emergency highlights the importance of the company's plans to establish a domestic graphite supply chain by developing a mine at its Graphite Creek deposit in Alaska. The U.S. is 100% dependent on imports for graphite, which is currently the primary anode material in the lithium-ion batteries that power smartphones,...
In addition to a potential source for anode material in the lithium-ion batteries powering electric vehicles and storing renewable energy, the graphitic carbon contained in the enormous Graphite Creek deposit in western Alaska may also work well in high-purity coatings, synthetic semiconductor diamonds, fire suppressing foams and other applications. Graphite One Inc., the company advancing the Graphite Creek project, is working with an unnamed industrial partner to identify...
Nickel Creek Platinum Corp. March 11 said it plans to carry out exploration drilling, geophysics and sampling at its Nickel Shäw (formerly Wellgreen) nickel-copper-cobalt-platinum group metals project in southwestern Yukon. To fund this work, as well as permitting and other expenses, the company plans to raise C$4.4 million through a proposed non-brokered private placement being supported by a C$2.2 million commitment from Electrum Strategic Opportunities Fund L.P., Nickel Cre...
North of 60 Mining News is proud to introduce 20 questions for 2020. Over the course of this series, Mining News will interview mining and political leaders from Alaska, British Columbia, Northwest Territories, Nunavut and Yukon. Each interview will include 20 questions on mining, markets and doing business across Alaska and Canada's North. For the inaugural 20 questions for 2020, Mining News talks with Contango ORE Inc. CEO Rick Van Nieuwenhuyse, a longtime mining executive...
It's official, U.S. mining projects can now be considered for more efficient permitting under Title 41 of the Fixing America's Surface Transportation Act, or Fast-41, a program established in 2015 to improve the timeliness, predictability, and transparency of the federal environmental review and authorization process for eligible infrastructure projects. This Obama-era Fast-41 program established the Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council (FPISC), a federal entity...
SPARKS, Nev. – The notoriously long timeline for permitting a mine in the United States may soon be shortened. This reprieve is not from the various renditions of mine permit reform that has been introduced to Congress over the past decade but from an agency in Washington D.C. that most people have never heard of – the Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council (FPISC). Alexander Herrgott, executive director of FPISC, drew the nervous laughter he was expecting when he...
Graphite One Inc. Nov. 6 announced the appointment of Shane Beattie as its chief technology officer, a lithium-ion battery expert that has worked with several global automotive and battery manufacturers. Beattie received his Ph.D. in Physics through the Jeff Dahn Research Group at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The Jeff Dahn Research Group focuses on the physics and chemistry of materials for energy storage, primarily in the area of lithium-ion batteries and...
An abnormally long fall has allowed the Alaska mining industry to extend seasonal work well into mid-October, creating a lot of new information about project work conducted around the state. Exploration efforts, in particular, benefitted from this additional field time. Based on information available to date, 2019 exploration expenditures are expected to be in the $135-140 million range, well ahead of the $120-125 million exploration spending tracked for 2018. In addition,...
Graphite One Inc. Oct. 23 reported that material from the company's Graphite Creek project in western Alaska is being tested by a major U.S. electric vehicle manufacturer. Earlier this year, Graphite One began shipping roughly 12,000 pounds of graphitic material from surface sampling at Graphite Creek to a United States-based industrial partner for processing into advanced graphite materials. This unnamed strategic partner has processed some of this material into...
In a recent letter to the White House, Alaska Governor Michael Dunleavy has requested that U.S. President Donald Trump consider designating the Graphite Creek mine project and associated processing facility as a high-priority infrastructure project under Executive Order 13766, signed by Trump shortly after he took office in 2017. "Graphite Creek is the largest deposit of graphite in the nation, and would be a superior domestic supply of this critical mineral, which is...
If you have watched the metals markets over the last month, you know why Alaska's mineral industry has surged, stalled, swerved, swooped, slowed, shelved and stuttered, sometimes all at the same time! Gold has gone above US$1,500 per ounce; copper pundits are predicting an increasingly dour future; zinc markets are looking to dive below $1.00 per pound; tin markets have marched strongly upward due to supply disruptions; and silver bulls are calling for annual worldwide...
Graphite One Inc. Sept. 23 announced the start of a fall drill program at its Graphite Creek property located near Nome, Alaska. The roughly 800 meters of planned drilling will provide geotechnical information for an open-pit mine design and determine ground conditions in proposed infrastructure sites in preparation for the completion of a prefeasibility study for developing a mine at Graphite Creek, slated for the second quarter of next year. "Our 2019 drilling program is exp...
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...
Graphite One Inc. Sept. 9 announced it has secured the funding to finalize a prefeasibility study for its Graphite Creek project in western Alaska. Taiga Mining Company Inc., an Alaska-based company that is a major Graphite One shareholder, has agreed to loan Graphite One US$4.8 million for the advanced engineering and economic study for developing a graphite mine and processing facility. "In our current challenging capital markets, a commitment of US$4.8 million – which is ex...
In the famous words of Sherlock Holmes, the game is afoot! After seasonally slower news from Alaska's mining industry in March and April, the dam has broken with over two dozen Alaska mining project news releases issued in the last month. Including those projects moving forward that have not released their 2019 plans, Alaska has become a very busy place under the sun. All of our major metal mines reported strong performances in the first quarter, several of Alaska's most...
With the goal of helping to meet the rocketing demand of graphite needed as anode material for the lithium-ion batteries that power electric vehicles, Graphite One Inc. is focused on advancing its Graphite Creek deposit in western Alaska toward development. A 2017 preliminary economic assessment outlines a roughly 2,800-metric-ton processing facility at Graphite Creek. Once this operation is running at full capacity, which the PEA slates for the sixth year of production, this...
At least 125 million electric vehicles are expected to be traveling global highways by 2030, which means the world is going to need a lot more graphite in the coming decade and beyond. This is because graphite serves as the anode in the lithium-ion batteries that power these EVs, not to mention the growing number of portable tools and electronics that use the same type of battery. According to Mineral Commodity Summaries 2019, an annual report published by the United States...
