The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
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Alaska's summer exploration season is in full swing with strong budgets on a number of projects around the state. Alaska's mines also weighed in with strong quarterly results as metal prices remain strong. The hot spots in the state this month include Southeast Alaska, Interior Alaska and the Alaska Range but don't think that silence means there is nothing going on! We are entering the period where everyone has his nose to the ground and has little time for news releases or...
The trials and tribulations of Alaska's mining industry continued in the last month with one challenged mine given the green light to proceed, the other halted in midstride by the same legal system. In the background, exploration programs quietly began at several locations across the state as the busy 2007 mining season started in earnest. Alaska's global rank dropped from 13th to 24th position in the most recent Fraser Institute survey of mining jurisdictions worldwide. At...
For a change, Alaska's large mines received praise from an environmentalist during public testimony in the legislature about House Bill 156, the mining tax bill, March 21. Kate Troll, executive director of the Alaska Conservation Alliance, which is a coalition of 40 groups, said that both Greens Creek and Fort Knox are in compliance with all the environmental regulations. Her comments were made in an effort to demonstrate that it is possible to support a tax increase without wishing to kill the mining industry. "Greens Creek...
Strong markets and solid production powered hardrock mining companies with large operations and investments in Alaska to outstanding performances in 2006. Teck Cominco, operator of the Red Dog zinc-lead mine near Kotzebue and the Pogo gold mine in the eastern Interior near Delta Junction; Kinross Gold Corp., owner of the Fort Knox gold mine near Fairbanks, Hecla Mining Co., part owner of the Greens Creek silver mine in Southeast Alaska; and Coeur D'Alene Corp., developer of the Kensington Gold Project near Juneau, reported...
Ever since prospectors rushed to the Yukon seeking gold more than a century ago, miners have been guilty of extracting the mineral riches in the North and doing a vanishing act when the veins petered out or prices fell. These miners often left behind environmental messes that occasionally became regulatory nightmares. Now that modern-day prospectors are again venturing to the far North, many of them are seeking out old mining claims. But before new exploration can occur, the old mine sites often must be cleaned up. That's...
Research prepared for mining industry critic Earthworks claims that faulty water quality predictions, and mitigation and regulatory failures are responsible for hard rock mining-related water pollution, primarily in the West. The purpose of the studies, by consultant Jim Kuipers of Butte, Mont., and Boulder, Colo.-based geochemist Ann Maest, was to review the history and accuracy of water quality predictions in environmental impact statements for major U.S. hardrock mines, according to Earthworks. Kuipers and Maest found... Full story
Over the last month the Alaska mineral industry continued to report results from 2006 exploration programs including new acquisitions of projects that have been on the back shelf for over 25 years. The industry watched as the American political scene was drastically changed at both the federal and state levels. And despite the fact that the end of the year is nearing, there is no end in sight yet for a number of exploration and development projects while at the same time contracts for work in 2007 already are being inked. If...
As the mine permitting process gets ever more rigorous, advances in technology are helping companies comply with environmental requirements. Clean water is usually at the top of the list when it comes to mining concerns, and membrane treatment systems are the wave of the future, according to G. Paul Schuitt of Anchorage-based GPS Environmental, which represents several water and wastewater equipment manufacturers. Membrane treatment systems are fairly new to the industry, having arrived in the past 10 years, Schuitt said in a...
Alaska legislators didn't get much of a break this summer. After sitting through two special sessions in Juneau to debate a new oil tax and a proposed gas pipeline, followed by some hard-fought primary elections, members of the House and Senate Resources Committee convened again Aug. 31 for a hearing about Kensington mine. Several legislators participated in the Anchorage meeting by telephone, keen to find out what was going on after the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals issued an injunction in late August against work on...
Higher metals prices contributed to record earnings in the second quarter across the mining spectrum. Three companies heavily invested in Alaska, Coeur d'Alene Mines Corp., Hecla Mining Co. and Kinross Gold Corp., posted stronger financial results for the period and noted how their Alaska properties fared. Fort Knox battles escalating costs with high gold output Kinross, owner of the Fort Knox mine near Fairbanks, posted record earnings of $65.6 million, or 19 cents per share for the second quarter of 2006, compared with a...
Hang on to your hat, the data is beginning to roll in from Alaskan field programs and there are some hum dingers in this month's data and several others will be showing up next month. What's a "hum dinger"? How about an Alaska gold project at the center of a $1.5 billion corporate takeover by the world's largest gold producer? Or how about 75 feet grading more than 2 ounces of gold per ton? Or maybe silver production costs of a negative $2.28 per ounce? But wait, there's more...
As coal mine safety leaped into the national spotlight this year, miners in Alaska and Canada thankfully have been left out of the loop. That's because Canada has only two underground coal mines and Alaska has none. The only underground coal mine in Western Canada is on Vancouver Island and is a mostly mechanized operation with just 17 employees. Canada's other mine that fits the profile is located in Nova Scotia. "It's primarily underground coal mining at issue, and we don't have any, right now," said Steve Borell,...
Kennecott Greens Creek Mining Co. and Connors Drilling LLC have agreed to pay a $12,900 penalty to resolve two alleged federal Clean Water Act violations at the Greens Creek mine near Juneau, Alaska. Connors was conducting exploratory drilling operations near Zinc Creek in June 2004, when there was a discharge of drilling mud and diesel fuel into the creek, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. "The mining industry is an important part of Alaska's economy, but it must operate responsibly and manage its waste...
The game is afoot! The last month has seen the start of a number of field programs in Alaska, marking the beginning of the traditional "field season" in the Great Land. With demand for metals remaining extraordinarily high, Alaska's mining industry is operating at capacity but well below demand. An acute shortage of drills and drillers, geologists and engineers and helicopters to move them all around is affecting exploration, development and production plans around the state. For the first time in my career, money is not in...
Red Dog mine remains at the top of the Environmental Protection Agency's national Toxic Release Inventory for the third straight year, but owner Teck Cominco wants the public to know that the movement of waste rock is not the same as pollution. The lead-zinc mine near Kotzebue in Alaska's Arctic released 458.2 million pounds of toxic chemicals in 2004, according to the latest EPA report. This is slightly less than last year's figure, but still four times as much as the second entity on the list, Kennecott Utah copper mine....
"Ready, aim, fire" is the traditional litany of any marksman hoping to hit his target. But critics of the Pebble mineral development have confused that sequence, firing aimless broadsides at the project even before a clear target has emerged. Recent efforts to inflame public opinion against the Pebble copper-gold deposit as an inevitable environmental catastrophe ignore two fundamental truths. First, Pebble is not a working mine, nor even a mine under construction. It's a mineral deposit whose owners, though certainly busy... Full story
A bill in the Alaska Legislature introducing a mining production tax would ensure that the people of the state derive the maximum benefit from the use of resources, as guaranteed in the constitution, according to the bill's sponsor. Rep. Paul Seaton, R-Homer, a commercial fisherman, believes that the mining industry is not contributing enough to the state compared with the fishing industry and the oil and gas industry. His bill would impose a tax of 0.6 percent of the gross value of the resource at the point of production in...
In the last month the Alaska mining industry has seen start-up of its first major gold mine in five years (Pogo) and approval of permits for the Nixon Fork copper-gold mine. We also saw announcement of substantial increases in copper, gold and molybdenum resources at two advanced exploration/development projects (Donlin Creek and Pebble). New development plans were offered for heap leaching at the Fort Knox gold mine and initial funding was approved for evaluation of a coal to liquids facility at the Beluga coal deposits.... Full story
A report on the economic impact of Alaska's mining industry published in February provides a comprehensive look at the varied benefits mining brings to the state. The Alaska Miners Association commissioned the McDowell Group to prepare the report and distributed it to state legislators. Presentations to the Legislature by the AMA and the Alaska Minerals Commission in the same week emphasized the positive aspects of Alaska's mining resurgence and the importance of a stable tax regime. Much of the information in the McDowell...
Northern Dynasty may only be a junior mining company, but it has marshaled an army of contractors to conduct baseline environmental studies for its Pebble project in southwest Alaska. Companies that competed against each other to win the contracts are now working as a team taking samples, monitoring conditions and analyzing data that will eventually be used in the permit applications for the proposed copper-gold mine. In 2005 the Pebble project employed 45 consulting firms, with a total Alaska workforce of 457, plus another... Full story
When I heard that Barrick Gold Corp. had made an unsolicited offer on Oct. 31, 2005, to purchase Placer Dome Inc. my first move was to purchase 100 Barrick shares. Although the acquisition was initially rejected, on Dec. 22 a follow-up offer was greeted more favorably. This appears to be a fortuitous marriage. In the 60 days I have held the stock it has gone from $25.05 per share to $29.48, an increase in value of 17.68 percent (106 percent annualized). I like that kind of...
Hard rock mining's contribution to the Alaska economy is larger than it appears at first sight, when the "multiplier effect" is taken into account - the additional spending and services triggered by the mining activities. Anchorage-based consultancy Northern Economics has measured the wealth created by Alaska's three hard rock mines, Fort Knox, Greens Creek and Red Dog, and come up with some impressive figures. The consultancy compiled the data for 2004 using information provided by the companies, state agencies, and...
Over the course of the last several months, a series of new gold and base metal discoveries have been made. Several of these new discoveries were reported in the last month and highlights of these and other activities were presented at the annual Alaska Miners Association convention in Anchorage in early November. The convention was one of the most exciting and up-beat events in nearly a decade. The new discoveries are a trend that, while long in coming, are an inevitable...
Alaska's Department of Natural Resources may not have seen the last of Bob Loeffler. When he resigned as director of the Division of Mining, Land and Water in November, it was the third time he had quit the department that he first joined in 1978. He kept returning because he likes the work, Loeffler told Mining News. This loyalty is much like his loyalty to Alaska: He came to the state in 1977 with the U.S. Geological Survey for one year and never left. The position of director has now been filled by the former deputy direct... Full story
Competition for mining employees is intensifying in Alaska, with mines from the Lower 48 advertising their signing bonuses in Fairbanks, while the Pogo project tries to counter their offers with even bigger ones. State legislators heard about this and other mining issues at the "Gold and Gas in the Interior" meeting at the Fairbanks North Star Borough Assembly Chambers Aug. 22. Two Nevada companies advertised $2,000 signing bonuses in the Fairbanks newspaper in July, and a mine in Montana is offering a $4,000 signing bonus,...
