The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
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Indispensable, expensive, and rare – PGMs get a green upgrade. Back in 1950, the first catalytic converter in the United States was a box bolted onto a car's undercarriage to reduce tailpipe emissions. It was patented by French mechanical engineer Eugene Houdry, who was concerned about the effects of automobile exhaust on the good people of Los Angeles. And it would have worked if it had not been for the octane-boosting lead then being added to fuel, which could choke any c...
The Bureau of Land Management has struck again, this time in the form of a land management plan for the Central Yukon Resource Management Area or the "CYRMP" (pronounced crimp). The CYRMP and the associated Final Environmental Impact Statement, dated April 2024, will have significant adverse effects on the future of mining in Alaska because of the intent to adopt hybrid Alternative E that will effectively foreclose vast acreage in the state to mineral exploration and...
Discovering Alaska's hidden wealth, the journey of Indigenous explorers in the land of platinum, Goodnews Bay Mining District. In the heart of Alaska's wilderness, two Alaska Native men stamped their names in state history with the discovery of the largest platinum deposit ever found in the Last Frontier. Both born into Yup'ik heritage, the journey of Walter Smith and Henry Wuya begins with early prospecting as little more than teenagers, to the landmark 1926 discovery on the...
Canadian North Resources Inc. Sept. 26 announced initial assays from the 2023 definition drilling program on the company's Ferguson Lake nickel-copper-cobalt-platinum group metals project in Nunavut, Canada. According to a 2022 calculation, Ferguson Lake hosts 24.3 million metric tons of indicated resource averaging 0.85% (455.4 million pounds) copper, 0.6% (296.3 million lb) nickel, 0.07% (37.5 million lb) cobalt, 1.38 grams per metric ton (1.08 million ounces) palladium,...
Assays from the first five holes of Li-FT Power Ltd.'s inaugural drill program at Yellowknife Lithium have begun to confirm what is apparent on the surface, this project east of Northwest Territories' capital city is home to globally significant quantities of lithium-rich pegmatites. With the world demanding enormous quantities of lithium for electric vehicle batteries, Li-FT amassed a 141,572-hectare (349,832 acres) land package covering some of the most prospective targets...
With its treasury full and a definitive exploration agreement with the Yellowknives Dene First Nation, Li-FT Power Ltd. has launched a 45,000-meter drill program aimed at unlocking the obvious but underexplored potential of the large pegmatites – igneous rocks with exceptionally large crystals that are the major global source of the lithium mineral spodumene – spanning its Yellowknife Lithium project in Northwest Territories. "We are thrilled to have started the drill pro...
In preparation of bringing its Alaska Strategic Metals Complex online in 2024, Ucore Rare Metals Inc. has streamlined its management and technical teams and secured new feedstock for the future rare earths separation plant. To be developed near the Southeast Alaska port town of Ketchikan, the Alaska SMC is a processing facility that will do the hard work of separating rare earths into the individual elements that are used in a variety of high-tech applications. Though often...
From jewelry at a black-tie soiree to scrubbing harmful emissions from the exhaust system of a farm truck, the six platinum group metals – platinum, palladium, rhodium, ruthenium, iridium, and osmium – are metals that are both precious and critical to the United States and Canada. Extremely rare, durable, and with a brilliance that does not tarnish, platinum and other metals in its group are a treasured choice for high-end jewelry that stands the test of time. Three of the...
A heavy reliance on imports for a long list of minerals and metals critical to American supply chains could be a stumbling block for the Biden administration's ambitious "Build Back Better" agenda. "From the largest infrastructure plan since the Eisenhower interstate highway system, to an aggressive plan for a national energy transition, the Biden administration's agenda will require an immense amount of minerals," National Mining Association President and CEO Rich Nolan...
From reinstating the Roadless Rule in the Tongass Forest to replacing the General Mining Law of 1872, federal regulations being proposed by President Joe Biden threaten to rain on a parade of strong metals prices, growing demand for critical minerals, and robust investments into mineral exploration and mining across Alaska. "We recommend Congress develop legislation to replace outdated mining laws including the General Mining Law (GML) of 1872 governing locatable minerals...
Granite Creek Copper Ltd. is leveraging the power of artificial intelligence to help discover more copper, gold, and silver across its Carmacks and Carmacks North project in the Yukon. After acquiring Copper North Mining Corp. late last year, Granite Creek expanded its land position within Yukon's Minto Copper Belt to 176 square kilometers (68 square miles). This merged land package includes the Carmacks deposit, which hosts 23.76 million metric tons of resources averaging...
The six platinum group elements – platinum, palladium, rhodium, ruthenium, iridium, and osmium – have one foot firmly planted in the realm of precious metals while the other is firmly established in the industrial sectors. While being amongst the rarest metals on the planet already makes PGE's highly valued for jewelry and bullion, their applications in the automotive, petrochemical, and electronics industries are catalysts that drive the price of these industrious pre...
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...
A true northern pioneer far from his Eastern European home, 'Wise' Mike Stepovich, settles in a new land and leaves behind a historic legacy in Alaska's Golden Heart City. The history of Fairbanks is not unlike many other gold rush settlements, rife with rugged explorers, savvy tycoons and luckless vagabonds. So, the melting pot of happenstance plays its hand again and begets a fascinating tale of a frontier city and a man far from home. It is hard to say whether Stepovich...
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...
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,...
Granite Creek Copper Ltd. Feb. 19 said it has secured a substantial historical database detailing exploration work conducted on the area covered by the company's newly acquired Stu copper-gold-silver project about 47 kilometers (29 miles) northeast of Carmacks, Yukon. Granite Creek Copper is a newly formed exploration company that closed a deal to acquire Stu in January. At the time of the acquisition, the company closed a C$1.8 million non-brokered private placement...
The six platinum group elements – platinum, palladium, rhodium, ruthenium, iridium, and osmium – are amongst the rarest metals on Earth. This scarcity, coupled with PGEs' uses in the automotive, petrochemical and electronics industries, has this group of metals firmly planted on the United States Geological Survey's critical minerals list. "PGEs are indispensable to many industrial applications but are mined in only a few places," USGS inked in a 2017 report on platinum gro...
The six platinum group elements – platinum, palladium, rhodium, ruthenium, iridium, and osmium – are amongst the rarest metals on Earth. This scarcity, coupled with PGEs' uses in the automotive, petrochemical and electronics industries, has this group of industrious precious metals firmly planted on the United States Geological Survey's critical minerals list. "PGEs are indispensable to many industrial applications but are mined in only a few places," USGS inked in a 2017 rep...
Over the past month, three of Alaska's large mines reported strong quarterly results; two projects in advanced permitting and pre-feasibility reported recent progress; and three exploration properties changed hands. The latter is a trend putting 2015 on course to be one of the most active years for new acquisitions in the past decade. Placer gold production has all but ceased for the year; however, output from Alaska's placer mines is not likely to be known with any certainty...
Alaska fell from favor with the 350 mining executives who responded to the Fraser Institute’s Survey of Mining Companies 2016, published on Feb. 28. This group of miners, explorers and consultants ranked the Far North State as the 14th best jurisdiction on Earth to seek and develop a mine. To gather information for its report, the Fraser Institute asks mining executives to rank the mineral potential and mining policies of mining jurisdictions around the globe. The C...
Group Ten Metals Inc. June 22 said it has begun 2017 exploration at its nickel-copper-platinum group elements properties in southwestern Yukon. This work, which is expected to be carried out in July, includes mapping, prospecting and surface sampling at the Ultra, Spy and Catalyst projects. The work at Spy, which is roughly 25 miles (40 kilometers) the Wellgreen nickel-PGE-copper project, will focus primarily on defining the orientation of the Spy ultramafic sill and sighting optimal locations for a potential drill program...
Group Ten Metals Inc. Feb. 29 reported completion of an exploration and staking program on its Spy mineral property in southwestern Yukon Territory. Situated in the Kluane Ultramafic Belt, a sequence of igneous and sedimentary rocks extending from northern British Columbia through the Yukon into southern Alaska, the Spy property is prospective for copper and nickel sulfide mineralization as well as platinum group metals. Based on the results of the exploration program, the...
Group Ten Metals Inc. Sept. 24 reported the acquisition of the Duke Island copper-nickel-platinum group element project in Southeast Alaska from Quaterra Alaska Inc., a subsidiary of Quaterra Resources Inc. The property consists of 31 unpatented claims that control the core area of copper-nickel-platinum group element sulfide mineralization discovered by Quaterra in 2001. Four large zones of mineralization have been identified on the property. Only one of these zones has been...
Group Ten Metals Inc., formerly Duncastle Gold Corp., Sept. 14 said it has signed an agreement to earn full ownership of the Spy platinum group metal-nickel-copper property in southwestern Yukon Territory. The 1,250-hecatre Spy property is located roughly 40 kilometers (25 miles) southeast of the company's Catalyst project that adjoins Wellgreen Platinum's Wellgreen PGE-Cu-Ni Project. Group Ten has the option to earn a 100 percent interest in Spy by issuing 1.05 million...
