The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
Sorted by date Results 26 - 40 of 40
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...
From the enormous Pebble copper-gold-molybdenum project to grassroots gold and copper discoveries, the Kahiltna Terrane of Southwest Alaska is becoming a hot destination for mining companies seeking the mineral wealth of this rugged and underexplored region. The Kahiltna assemblage was formed when an arc of islands known as Wrangellia thrust up the ocean floor as it collided with North America. This bulldozed seabed created much of the spectacular mountains of the Alaska...
The Alaska Miners Association's annual convention marks the changing of seasons for junior exploration companies with mineral projects in Alaska. As a blanket of snow hides outcropping rocks and the water needed for drilling crystalizes, geologists who have spent the long summer days investigating the vast mineral endowment across the Far North trade in their hammers, backpacks and hiking boots for suits, ties and PowerPoint presentations that show off the achievements of their latest field programs. While the 2013...
I was tempted to make a few 2012 predictions now that 2011 is nearly gone, but I decided not to when I came across the following lines and was struck by how closely they mimic our current mining climate: "On a more local level, several old Alaska properties have been rejuvenated by new players to the Alaska mineral scene. Reserve announcements have touched off renewed land acquisitions and property negotiations. Contracts for technical personnel, drill rigs, helicopters and...
For Yukon geologist Jean Pautler, the busy 2011 field season also may end up being one for her personal record book. "I was lucky to spend a week in one place," she told Mining News in a recent interview. Pautler, a geological consultant through her company, JP Exploration Services, has spent more than 30 years tramping through the Canadian bush in search of mineral deposits. A sprite of a woman with a cheerful smile, Pautler works alone, except for her German Shepherd mutt, Shadow, who accompanies her into the field....
Frontrunners in the Yukon mineral exploration rush in 2011 spent more than C$12 million each, with at least one company pouring C$25 million into its program. These companies include Atac Resources Ltd., Kaminak Gold Corp., Capstone Mining Corp., Alexco Resource Corp., Golden Predator Corp., Ryan Gold Corp. and Silver Range Resources Ltd. At least another 14 companies shelled out more than C$5 million each to search for precious and base metals, using virtually every modern exploration technique from sampling to drilling....
As gold prices soared in 2011 along with demand for silver and base metals, droves of mineral explorers fanned out across remote areas of Yukon Territory, seeking lucrative hardrock deposits. Lured by news of recent gold discoveries in the White Gold district of the Dawson Range and the Carlin-type mineralization found in the Rackla Gold Belt to the east, the horde of juniors, along with the occasional major, turned up with a frenzy of new claim-staking that started early in the year. Many returned to projects they first...
Government and industry officials agree that mining exploration and development in recent years have brought substantial positive change to Nunavut, Canada's newest and least explored territory. Ongoing and new exploration, however, are rapidly advancing understanding of this vast Arctic land's mineral potential. "In this industry, it seems that all of the best and worst of times were compressed into less than two years (between 2008 and 2010)," said Peter Taptuna, minister of Economic Development & Transportation for the Gov...
When Rimfire Minerals Corp. and Geoinformatics Exploration Inc. joined forces to form Kiska Metals Corp. in the fall of 2009, the primary objective of the amalgamated junior was to resolve the tenure of the Whistler Project. A year later the junior explorer achieved this goal, gaining sole-ownership of the expansive gold-copper property in Alaska. Rio Tinto subsidiary Kennecott Exploration Co., which optioned Whistler to Geoinformatics in 2007, had the right to buy back a...
While intrepid juniors are busy pursuing another season of uranium exploration in Nunavut, the Government of Nunavut, in partnership with the federal government through the Canada-Nunavut Geoscience Office are participating in a major collaboration between government, industry and academia in hopes of achieving similar objectives - gaining a better understanding of the region's prospectivity for the radioactive mineral. "In Nunavut much of this geology is poorly understood," says Peter Taptuna, Nunavut's Minister of Economic...
I recently attended the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada convention in Toronto where a buoyant, project-hungry crowd of 22,000 created enough of its own hot air to start the Greenland Icecap melting. In a clear case of anthropogenic global warming, representatives of companies, governments and agencies rolled out their projects in efforts to see and be seen. Alaska was well represented at the conference and should see some new investment interest coming from...
Kiska Metals Corp. emerged on the Alaska exploration scene as the result of a merger between Geoinformatics Exploration Inc. and Rimfire Minerals Corp. The amalgamated company has a portfolio of ten precious metal properties including its flagship Whistler gold-copper project located 150 kilometers, or 92 miles, northwest of Anchorage, Alaska. Kiska will be led by the current Rimfire management team, including President and CEO Jason Weber and Mark Baknes, vice president,...
The Northwest Territories has four operating mines: three diamond producers and one long-running tungsten operation. Exploration and development activity was brisk in 2008 with the most advanced projects located in the Slave Province. Here's a look at mining companies active during 2008 in the Northwest Territories: Producing mines BHP Billiton Diamonds Inc. (80 percent) and partners C. Fipke (10 percent) and S. Blusson (10 percent) produced about 3.5 million carats of rough diamonds at the Ekati diamond mine in 2008, making...
Even though the concept of global warming is a welcome idea to many companies working in Alaska, its effects are not being felt fast enough to allow companies to complete all of the work they had hoped to finish in 2007. Drills are still turning all over the state, but the first signs of "termination dust" are showing on the higher peaks and the smell of fermenting berries fills the air, giving us all a not-so gentle prod to get ready for winter. Western Alaska Teck Cominco...
While the noisy debate continues over ANWR, the gas pipeline possibilities and the ever-increasing cost of gasoline, the Alaska mining industry has quietly made the seasonal transition from winter to summer. The sound of drills and rock picks on outcrops is beginning to echo across the state. By all accounts the number of feet drilled, the number of geologists and engineers employed and the number of dollars spent around the state this year will be down significantly compared to the last several years. That said, several area...
