The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
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As expected, news has begun to trickle in from projects being worked on across the state. Some of the news is good, some not so good and some makes one scratch the head and wonder what it all means. Two new corporations entered the Alaska exploration industry in August, a trend started late last year as metal prices began their climb to current levels. August also saw the start of several new programs on a wide range of projects spread from the Seward Peninsula to southern Southeastern Alaska. The tally of the good, the bad...
I have had numerous people ask me the same question over and over again for the last month - "What's going on in Alaska; everyone is so quiet?" My response has been and remains the same - everyone is too busy breaking rocks, drilling holes or crushing ore to be bothered with new releases and grandiose public announcements. After all, it is high summer in the high north, a time of seasonal frenetic activity that makes the lot of us look and feel like a mouse in a habitat wheel! Despite the fact that a dozen or so companies...
The good news from Teryl, Kinross, Geoinformatics, Midas, Geocom and others is tempered by the loss of Alaska's gentleman scientist Ernie Wolff, who passed away on May 3; Liberty Star Gold appoints Phil St. George as VP of exploration s I write this summary of recent activities in Alaska's mining industry I am attending a once-every-five-year symposium in Reno put on by the Geological Society of Nevada. Some 1,500 attendees, mostly exploration geologists, are eagerly lapping up hours of new and previously unheard ideas on...
A geologist with 30 years' experience in Alaska has been appointed mining section chief at the Department of Natural Resources. Tom Crafford, 54, will report to Bob Loeffler, director of the Division of Mining, Land and Water, beginning June 1. Crafford has recently been working as a consultant out of Anchorage in partnership with his wife Liz, who is also a geologist. He will have to give up his private clients now that he is employed by the state. Explaining in an interview with Mining News why he applied for the state job...
The air miners breathe, the noise they hear, the equipment they use and the substances they consume all pose safety risks. The industry has learned this the hard way, with tens of thousands of mining fatalities in the 20th century, but today safety regulations are stringent and there is a plethora of measures that can be taken to prevent injuries and ill-health. To discuss what's being done at mines around Alaska, the U.S. Department of Labor's Mine Safety and Health Administration held its Spring Thaw informational seminar...
Red Dog's unenviable position at the top of the Environmental Protection Agency's national Toxics Release Inventory doesn't mean that the world's largest zinc mine is a dangerous polluter, according to the state of Alaska. The Teck Cominco-operated mine in the Arctic, near Kotzebue, released 487.4 million pounds of toxic chemicals in 2003, the newly published TRI reported. The TRI does not indicate whether, or to what degree, the public has been exposed to toxic chemicals, the EPA points out. Greens Creek polymetallic mine...
Thanks to a gutsy move by the tiny Yukon River village of Galena, mine developers across the state could soon possess a new option for solving one of their biggest headaches - find a cheap source of power for their operations. Galena, like most remote Alaska communities, is virtually held captive by high energy costs. But nuclear power from a small 10-megawatt nuclear reactor could rescue the Bush village from economic bondage, according to a recent U.S. Department of Energy study of Galena's energy alternatives. Power costs...
Since the Pebble project began hitting the headlines, Bob Loeffler has been asked some strange questions. People accost the mild-mannered director of the Alaska Department of Natural Resources' Division of Mining, Land and Water and demand to know why he issued permits for the Pebble project and when it is going to break ground. Loeffler is puzzled, because he hasn't issued any permits for the Pebble project. The developer, Northern Dynasty, won't even submit its permit applications until next year. Loeffler spoke to the Newh...
The chief of the mining section within the Alaska's Department of Natural Resources, Stan Foo, has taken a senior position with Placer Dome. Foo, 48, left DNR in mid-March, having worked there since 2001. He will now be Placer Dome's project manager for Alaska, representing the Vancouver-based company in the state and heading the Donlin Creek project, a joint venture with NovaGold. Foo spent 15 years of his career with Placer Dome and was an independent resource consultant for two years before moving to DNR. He started...
Many Alaska state legislators have a personal connection with mining, and perhaps none more so than Richard Foster, Nome's Democratic representative. Foster, 58, grew up on his father's mine, 100 miles north of Nome. Today he is glad to see Vancouver-based NovaGold developing its Rock Creek project in his district, but he also regrets the disappearance of "mom and pop" mining operations like the one where he worked as a child. "NovaGold has been very aggressive in trying to develop their gold and also their boundless...
No one shows up late to work at Greens Creek mine. That's because all the employees are in the same boat, from underground miners to top managers - literally. The ferry leaves Juneau's Auke Bay at 5 a.m. and 5 p.m. every day for the 35-minute trip to Admiralty Island, taking the day and night crews back and forth. That doesn't leave a lot of time between shifts before you're back on the boat again, no matter what the weather. "We don't consider the ride rough until the seats begin folding up underneath you," Ron Plantz,...
The Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys and the Department of Commerce and Economic Development have released their annual preliminary report on Alaska's mining industry for 2004. As expected, investment in all categories was up significantly over previous years. Exploration spending in 2004 was estimated at $63.7 million, up from $27.6 million in 2003. The 2004 expenditures were the highest in the state since 1981. Development expenditures jumped to $105.6 million vs. $39.2 million in 2003, thanks largely t...
An Alaska mine located in one of the nation's most unique ecosystems has received the prestigious ISO 14001 certificate for its environmental management practices. Greens Creek silver, gold, zinc and lead underground mine is on Admiralty Island National Monument in southeast Alaska's Tongass National Forest. The old growth temperate rainforest on the island provides habitat for about 1,700 brown bears - more than in the Lower 48 states combined - as well as around 2,500 bald eagles, black-tailed deer, salmon and a host of...
What a difference a year makes ... along with a few things like rebounding metals prices, China's voracious appetite for minerals and investors' enduring love affair worldwide with gold. That's the assessment of Alaska officials after reviewing the state's annual report on mining industry activity in 2003, released in late October. The cumulative value of Alaska's mining industry in 2003 dipped slightly to $1.067 billion, down about $6 million from the $1.073 billion reported in 2002, according to the report, the 23rd in an...
After seeing his daughter Lisa elected to the U.S. Senate, the first place Alaska Gov. Frank Murkowski headed to on Nov. 3 was the Alaska Miners Association convention in Anchorage. Perhaps because of his good mood, Gov. Murkowski promised to request a $700,000 addition to next year's budget for enhanced airborne geophysical surveys. In a speech to the convention two days later, Alaska Department of Natural Resources Commissioner Tom Irwin confirmed the state's enthusiasm for the mining industry. "Men and women of the Alaska...
The month of November started off with a bang with favorable results for the mining industry from both the state and federal elections standpoint. As it closes the price of gold is flirting with $450 per ounce, the highest price for this metal since mid-1988. The Alaska Miners Association convention was very well attended in early November and results were revealed there from many of Alaska's exploration, development and production properties. A quick tally of spending across...
In case you hadn't noticed, one of the busiest but quietest Augusts in the last 10 years just slipped into the pages of history. Mineral exploration, development and production maintained a low profile in just about every region of the state during August. Drills continued to turn and samples continued to stream in from programs searching for gold, silver, copper, lead, zinc, nickel, platinum and palladium. The hot spots continued to be the Iliamna District, the Goodpaster...
As anyone can tell you who has tried recently to locate geologists, drill rigs and helicopters, Alaska is not the place to search for any of these commodities. Mineral exploration and development in Alaska is clipping along at a pace not seen in more than five years and in the process, these activities have sucked up just about all of the people, rigs and aircraft in the state. Exploration and development projects are spread from Nome to Ketchikan, the Brooks Range to...
Spending about $250,000 on its first phase of drilling this year, Bravo Venture Group hit the ground mid-May with a core drill to test three prospects on the Woewodski Island property in Southeast Alaska about 18 miles southwest of Petersburg. The 3,000 meter drill program will be completed mid-June, according to Jay Oness, vice president of investor relations for the Canadian junior, part of the Manex Group of mineral exploration companies. "We might increase that (drill work)," Oness told Mining News June 7. "We're getting...
Operators of the Greens Creek polymetallic mine started surface core drilling in late April, the beginning of a summer long program designed to complete 40,000 feet of drilling at several targets surrounding the underground mine near Juneau, Alaska. The $1.9 million budgeted for surface drilling work this year is the largest surface exploration program at the mine since production began in 1989 at Greens Creek, said Bill Oelklaus, environmental manager. "There are eight different areas around the mine" that will be explored...
Estimates of $1.05 billion for Alaska's mineral industry value in 2003 were released by state officials on March 9, making it the eighth straight year the industry's value exceeded $1 billion. Rising prices for almost all metals, including gold, silver, zinc, and lead, increased the 2003 value of metal production in Alaska by 2 percent from 2002 levels, according to the annual report released by the state Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys. Contributing heavily to Alaska's mineral industry are the state's three...
Alaska's exploration season is well under way with drilling in progress at several locations and planning for the summer season proceeding at a frenetic pace not seen in more than five years. Anyone who has tried to line up a drill rig, a helicopter or a project manager will tell you the same thing: all are in short supply, even at this early point in the year. Projects under way and planned for the coming year include numerous gold projects, several base metal projects, a...
In a 16-page report released in January, the Alaska Minerals Commission made 12 recommendations to the state Legislature and Governor on ways to mitigate constraints on mineral development in Alaska. In addition, the commission identified seven federal issues of concern and made suggestions that the state and/or the governor should pursue to rectify those issues. Recommendations include suggestions involving government regulatory reform, access and infrastructure development, state's rights issues, data acquisition, regional...
The U.S. Forest Service has dismissed an environmental group's appeal of an agency decision to allow operators of the Greens Creek mine to expand its tailings pile for the mining operation on Admiralty Island, some 18 miles southwest of Juneau, Alaska. Greens Creek, an underground hardrock mine that produces gold, silver, copper, lead and zinc, received final regulatory approval for a tailings expansion project on Feb. 4, more than three years after submitting its initial construction proposal to state and federal...
Alaska's mineral industry contributed an estimated $1.073 billion to Alaska's economy in 2002, a slight increase compared to the prior year, according to the Alaska Mineral Industry report released Nov. 6. A 10 percent increase in both exploration spending and in the total value of minerals mined and sold in 2002 helped offset a $47 million decline in development spending by the mining industry. Of the $26.5 million spent for exploration in Alaska, more than $17 million went to prospecting for gold and associated precious met...
