The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
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Alaska Miners Association April 10 released "The economic benefits of Alaska's mining industry," a report put together by the McDowell Group that details roughly $1.26 billion in direct economic benefits from Alaska's mining sector during 2018. Healthy paychecks being brought home to more than 60 communities across Alaska is mining's biggest single economic contributor to the state. Alaska's mines, development and mineral exploration projects paid roughly $459 million to some...
As is usually the case this time of year, the mining industry is awash in backward-looking statements designed to allow for more accurate forward-looking statements. Prime among them is one of my favorites, S&P Global's annual "World Exploration Trends 2019", a summary of what happened industry-wide in 2018 and what it may portend for the mining industry in 2019. The study predicts that global exploration budgets will increase again in 2019, although by a smaller amount, with... Full story
Seeking economic and cultural prosperity for its more than 22,000 Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian shareholders while also looking to provide even greater benefits for future generations, Sealaska takes a balanced approach to developing the resources growing above and stored beneath its lands in Southeast Alaska. This does not mean the Southeast Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) corporation shuns mining or other resource development in its region, a nearly 600-mile... Full story
The value of non-fuel metals produced in Alaska and the United States during 2018 were similar to 2017, according to Mineral Commodity Summaries 2019, an annual report published by the U.S. Geological Survey. Alaska mines produced roughly $3.44 billion worth of non-fuel minerals last year, down nearly 3 percent from the US$3.53 million in 2017. This slight drop is largely due to lower output from the two largest mines in the state – Fort Knox and Pogo. The roughly 1.4 b... Full story
Those of you that attended the recent Cordilleran Roundup Convention in Vancouver can attest to the exuberant, upbeat atmosphere that pervaded the conference and was very much in evidence at the standing-room only festivities at our annual self-hosted Alaska Night meet and greet. But digging down under this veneer of optimism, many of the junior explorers and most of the producers admitted to their expectations of challenging times in 2019. Putting words to this apparent... Full story
Hecla Mining Company Feb. 14 reported the highest silver, gold and lead reserves in its 128-year history. "The increase reflects the quality of the districts we control; our long-term, consistent strategy; and the capturing and use of all the data that long-lived mines have," said Hecla Mining President and CEO Phillips Baker, Jr. "It is particularly important that this growth comes at Greens Creek and Casa Berardi, who generate approximately 85 percent of our revenue and...
I, for one, feel vindicated, relieved and ready to face the New Year! How so, you ask? Please let me explain. For those of you who remember my column in November, I noted that EY Global Mining and Metals publishes an annual "risk radar" for mining and metals, outlining what mining companies perceive as the top ten risks facing them in the near future. This publication was for the years 2017-2018 and stated that "Our number one risk this year is digital effectiveness." If you... Full story
Hecla Mining Company Jan. 15 reported that its Greens Creek Mine in Southeast Alaska produced 8 million ounces of silver and 51,493 oz of gold in 2018, compared to 8.4 million oz silver and 50,855 million oz of gold in 2017. The roughly 5 percent drop in silver production at Greens Creek is due to anticipated lower grades. The mill operated at an average of 2,316 tons per day in 2018. This marks the second straight year of record throughput for the Greens Creek mill. This...
WESTERN ALASKA Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd. announced that it had finalized a surface right of way agreement with Alaska Peninsula Corporation for use of that latter's lands for the construction and operation of transportation infrastructure associated with the Pebble copper-molybdenum-gold project. Alaska Peninsula Corporation is an Alaska Native village corporation with extensive land holdings proximal to the Pebble site and more than 900 shareholders, many of which live... Full story
As Alaska's mining industry nears the end of another hectic year during which metals prices and investor sentiments rose and fell as precipitously as the world's major stock exchanges, the industry is naturally looking into its crystal ball trying to anticipate what the new year will bring. EY Global Mining and Metals does this sort of forecasting by putting out an annual "risk radar" for mining and metals. The idea is to find out what the industry perceives as the top ten... Full story
Hecla Mining Company Oct. 23 reported that its Greens Creek Mine in Southeast Alaska produced 1.88 million ounces of silver during the third quarter of 2018, down 20 percent from the 2.34 million oz produced during the same period last year. The Juneau area mine also produced 11,559 oz of gold during the quarter ending Sept. 30, down 7 percent from Q3 2017. The Idaho-based mining company attributes the slight drop in precious metals production at Greens Creek to lower ore...
An 18-year-old man was fatally attacked by a female brown bear with two cubs while working at a remote drill site on Hecla Mining Company's Greens Creek silver mine property in Southeast Alaska. The mauling victim, identified as Anthony Montoya from Hollis, Oklahoma, works for Timberline Drilling, an Idaho-based company that carries out surface drilling at Greens Creek. "I want to express our condolences to the families, colleagues and friends of the individual at this...
Underscoring the interconnected nature of the global mining market, not 48 hours after the John S. McCain National Defense Authorization Act was signed into law, the mining industry began wondering out loud how they were going to produce rare earth element, tungsten, tantalum and molybdenum in the near future. Why these metals and why the worry now? Because one of the many impacts the Defense Authorization Act will have on the U.S. economy is its ban on the U.S. Department of... Full story
Hecla Mining Company Aug. 7 reported that drilling in the second quarter and strong assay results received from drilling in the first quarter have upgraded and expanded the Deep 200 South, Gallagher, East Ore, Upper Plate and Southwest Bench zone resources at its Greens Creek Mine in Southeast Alaska. Drilling has extended the Deep 200 South Zone, especially to the south. One hole drilled in the southern portion of Deep 200 South cut eight feet (2.4 meters) averaging 101.4...
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... Full story
Constantine Metal Resources Ltd. said the first two holes of a 10,000-meter drill program at its Palmer joint venture project encountered wide intervals of silver-gold-zinc-lead-barite volcanogenic massive sulfide mineralization 150 meters southeast of the AG Zone, increasing the strike length of this 2017 discovery to 350 meters. Being carried out by a joint venture between Constantine Metal Resources (51 percent) and Dowa Metals & Mining Co. Ltd. (49 percent), this year's...
Alaska Gov. Bill Walker has called for a halt to an environmental review process aimed at determining whether a mine at Pebble can be developed in a way that protects the environment of the Bristol Bay region where the world-class copper-gold-molybdenum deposit is found. In a June 29 letter to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, also signed by Lt. Gov. Byron Mallott, Walker questioned the "readiness of the proposed Pebble project to move forward." The governor cited the lack of...
One of the most common complaints I hear from companies and individuals working in the mineral industry in Alaska is our deplorable lack of modern, usable-scale digital geophysical and geologic maps. How bad is it? Consider this: the U.S. Geological Survey has estimated that less than 2 percent of Alaska has acceptable geophysical data coverage, and less than 20 percent has been geologically mapped at a scale useful to evaluate the state's mineral resources. Nobody will deny... Full story
Cobalt is an essential ingredient to optimizing the performance of batteries in the growing number of electric vehicles on global highways, yet essentially none of this battery metal is mined in the United States. With at least one advanced stage exploration project in Alaska looking into the potential of producing cobalt alongside its copper, America's 49th State could provide a domestic source for this critical metal. In its annual report, Mineral Commodity Summaries 2018,...
Hecla Mining Company May 8 said first quarter exploration drilling continues to expand high-grade silver resources along the East Ore, Upper Plate, Deep 200 South and Deep Southwest mineralized trends at its Greens Creek Mine in Southeast Alaska. "(D)rilling at Greens Creek continues to discover high-grade mineralization that could enhance the already exceptional mine economics and mine life," said Hecla President and CEO Phillips Baker, Jr. Hecla said the high-grade...
An early spring coupled with low snow fall in many parts of Alaska have combined to enable companies large and small to start their summer field programs early this year. As expected, competition is stiff for people, drills, helicopters, heavy equipment and related services, awarding those who committed budgets early and penalizing those who did not or could not commit early. For the first time in half a decade, projects with money at hand may not be able to get the services t... Full story
Hecla Mining Company April 11 reported that its Greens Creek Mine in Southeast Alaska produced 1.91 million ounces of silver and 13,118 oz of gold during the first quarter of 2018, down slightly from the 1.93 million oz of silver and 14,022 oz gold produced during the first three months of last year. The Idaho-based mining company attributes the slight drop in precious metals production at Greens Creek to lower ore grades due to mine sequencing, partially offset by higher...
Thanks to its own rich mineral endowment, Australia is a juggernaut in the world of mining, especially across the Southern Hemisphere. Over the past couple of years, however, a growing number of Aussie mining companies are looking north to Alaska, another minerals-rich land way north of the Equator. At least four Aussie juniors – White Rock Minerals Ltd., PolarX Ltd., Nova Minerals Ltd. and Riversgold Ltd. – and three Australia-based metals producers – South32 Ltd., North... Full story
Thanks largely to increased investments from Aussie mining explorers, mineral exploration spending across Alaska topped US$100 million in 2018. This is well above the roughly US$95 million invested last year and nearly double the US$58 million spent at the bottom of the market in 2015. "Canadian and Australian companies continue to be the source for the bulk of funds spent in Alaska in 2018, together comprising well over 80 percent of the exploration expenditures earmarked... Full story
Thanks to its ongoing exploration success, Hecla Mining Company entered 2018 with the highest silver, gold and lead reserves in its 127-year history, as well as the highest level of zinc reserves in the past five years. Going into 2018, the Idaho-based miner had reserves totaling 2.3 million ounces of gold, up 12 percent from the beginning of 2017; 177 million oz of silver, an increase of 3 percent; 737,290 tons of zinc, an 8 percent increase; and 840,870 tons of zinc, up 15... Full story
