The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
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International Tower Hill Mines Ltd. is taking long strides in advancing its 13.3-million-ounce Livengood gold project toward becoming a world-class mine. While an aggressive drill program continues to expand the Money Knob deposit, the company is completing metallurgical, geotechnical and baseline studies. This work, which will be needed to move the project into permitting and development, also lowers the risk of the Interior Alaska gold project, making Tower Hill a more...
The annual Fraser Institute "Report on Mining Companies, 2009-2010" was recently released to a thundering silence. Several oddball items may help explain the lackluster response, but Alaska fared well in the survey of 333 companies working in 72 jurisdictions worldwide. Alaska ranked 18th out of 72 under the policy potential index, which measures the regulatory attractiveness of a jurisdiction. Not unreasonably, Alaska was beaten by some mining heavyweights like Chile, Quebec,... Full story
As Alaska's mining industry moves into the frenetic summer exploration and development season, the rest of the world is being buffeted by wild financial and commodity "mood swings" that are affecting the metals markets. The big markets shake the little markets and the little markets shake Alaska. Perfect example: the World Gold Council recently reported that China's growing middle class is expected to double its demand for gold for jewelry and investment purposes over the...
The expansion of North America's infrastructure ended about 500 miles short of reaching the westernmost shores of the United States, leaving more than 350,000 square miles of Alaska without surface transportation or affordable energy. A vast amount of mineral wealth is locked up in this Texas-sized expanse of western Alaska. In its 2010 report, the Alaska Minerals Commission informed state lawmakers that, "Mining is one of few Alaska industries with near-term growth... Full story
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... Full story
LIVENGOOD - International Tower Hill Mines Ltd. is rising to the challenges posed by Interior Alaska's sub-zero temperatures in successfully conducting a winter drill program here. The explorer completed more than 30 holes since it kicked off 20,000 meters of drilling at the Livengood gold project about 70 miles, or 110 kilometers, north of Fairbanks in early February. The company attributes the success of its winter campaign to the drill crews, an established camp and...
The Alaska Miners Association recently released an economic benefits summary of the Alaska mining industry. This summary indicated that in 2009 the Alaska mining industry provided 3,300 direct jobs along with 5,200 indirect jobs in 120 communities in Alaska with a combined payroll of US$320 million. Average industry jobs came in at US$83,000 per year, which is 85 percent higher than the average Alaska wage and second only to wages in the oil and gas industry. The industry...
I am a great supporter of Alaska's mining industry. How could an Alaskan not be? In 2009, Alaska's mining industry paid a total of US$12.3 million to local governments, US$35 million to the state government in royalties, rents, fees, and taxes, US$48.9 million in other state government-related revenues and US$320 million in direct and indirect payroll to a total of 5,200 industry jobs. Those are also proving to be some of Alaska's highest paid jobs. In my six sessions with the Alaska State Legislature, I have found myself on...
As we plunge headlong into a new year and a new decade, the broad economic indicators for the mining industry suggest continued strong prices for most commodities in 2010 followed by slightly lower average prices in 2011 and beyond as supplies catch up to demand. Not surprisingly, the source of much of the commodities demand will be Asia with China and India being the two leading economic engines driving commodity prices. Where Alaska's mining industry fits into this global... Full story
Although commodities prices have improved for the mining industry over the past year, 2009 has been the kind of year most of us hope not to repeat. The best analogy I can come up with is the one that says "All boats rise and fall with the tide." Under this scenario, company fortunes fell as the general market declined. Unfortunately, not all boats (companies) rise when the tide goes back up. Some get holed on the rocks of economic misfortune and remain on the bottom....
International Tower Hill Mines Ltd.'s rapidly expanding Livengood gold project could prove to be the catalyst that transitions the Vancouver B.C.-based junior from explorer to producer. "The Livengood project has potential to form a strong foundation for a new emerging North American gold producer," said Jeff Pontius, the company's president and CEO, in a Nov. 30 statement about a preliminary assessment the junior conducted on the economics of a heap leach operation at the...
Metals markets continue to climb out of the basement as the world demand for metals resumes its upward trend. Fueled by this growing demand, numerous Alaska precious, base and rare metal projects reported results of their 2009 exploration, development and production programs. The recent Alaska Miners Association Convention in Anchorage felt this surge of interest with the highest attendance in more than a decade. The atmosphere at the conference was charged with optimism, a co...
Alaska Governor Sean Parnell reflected on Alaska's rich mining history and vowed to defend the state's mining regulatory process and to oppose unjust attacks on the industry during an address to miners at the Alaska Miners Association 2009 Annual Convention. While falling short of pointing directly to those who are fighting to prevent development and further exploration at the Pebble project in Southwest Alaska, the Alaska Governor's words addressed the issues state regulators and the Pebble Mine owners are facing. "We are... Full story
The plunge of base metal prices and turmoil in the financial markets caused explorers and producers alike to scale back exploration budgets for 2009. North of 60 Mining News estimates this year's exploration spending in Alaska to be around US$125 million, down more than 60 percent from the US$328.6 million spent in 2008. Though the global financial meltdown played its role, it was not the largest factor in the dramatically scaled back exploration in Alaska. Alaska's two... Full story
International Tower Hill Mines Ltd.'s Livengood gold project can best be compared to the proverbial snowball. As positive drill results continued to roll in so did investment cash, in turn funding an evermore expansive exploration program that has revealed a multimillion-ounce gold resource lying in the shadow of the appropriately named Money Knob. Raising about C$37 million in 2009, the explorer increased its 2009 drill program at Livengood from 16,000-meters at the onset of...
Alix Resources Corp. geologists spent the summer investigating the junior's two new gold properties in Alaska and the Yukon Territory. Joining the 2009 gold rush to the White District south of Dawson City, Alix purchased lode quartz mineral claims six kilometers, or nearly 4 miles, east and slightly north of the White Gold Project where Underworld Resources Ltd. made a significant gold discovery in the Golden Saddle zone in 2008. Alix said its 500-plus-hectare, or about 1,205-... Full story
As the active exploration season winds down in Alaska, both good news and bad is afoot and both sets of news turn out to be the same data. Double speak you say? Read on and judge for yourself. Halifax-based Metals Economics Group announced some preliminary numbers relating to worldwide mineral industry exploration for 2009. The group estimates that worldwide exploration spending will drop to US$8.4 billion in 2009, a 40 percent decrease from the US$14 billion spent in 2008.... Full story
The gold resource at International Tower Hill Mines Ltd.'s Livengood property in Interior Alaska more than tripled to 12.5 million ounces in October from 4 million ounces going into 2009. The junior expects to add another million or so ounces when assay results from about 60 more drill holes are added to a new resource estimate due out by the end of the year. As Alaska's summer exploration season drew to a close, the Vancouver B.C.-based junior continued to discover potential...
Although Alaska's summer field season is quickly coming to an end, the mineral industry continues to gain momentum thanks to rapidly increasing metals prices, fueled in part by growing industrial demand and an astonishing increase in investment demand for metals like gold and silver. Goldfields Mineral Service reported that for the period 1993 to 2000, world gold investment averaged about 383 metric tons of metal per year, while annual gold investment for the period 2001 throu...
They say when it rains, it pours, and that is just what is happening with news from field programs all over Alaska. Results from summer 2009 programs are pouring in from the Brooks Range to Prince of Wales Island, from Eastern Interior Alaska to Southwestern Alaska. Commodities of interest range from the expected gold, silver, copper, lead and zinc to the nearly unpronounceable, including praseodymium, dysprosium, terbium, thulium, lutetium and yttrium. Go ahead, drop a...
LIVENGOOD - From the surface, there is nothing outstanding about the low-lying hills that cover International Tower Hill Mines Ltd.'s gold project. The birch and black spruce-covered terrain is typical of the vast expanse of Alaska's Interior. But the Vancouver-based junior has unveiled a multimillion-ounce gold deposit here, lying in the shadows of the appropriately named Money Knob. The rapidly expanding deposit has, at last official count, 288 million metric tons of ore...
The Alaska summer is in full swing but news is slow in arriving from new field programs and mining operations around the state. The biggest news in the past month was the U.S. Supreme Court's affirmation of Coeur d'Alene Mines' tailing disposal permits at its Kensington deposit north of Juneau. The longstanding stalemate, dating back to late 2006, clears the way (hopefully) for completion of the construction at the Slate Lake tailings facility and commencement of mining... Full story
Kinross Gold Corp. - operator of the largest gold mine in the Tintina Gold Belt - has embarked on a treasure hunt in hopes of identifying another Fort Knox-like deposit in this gold-rich province. The Tintina belt is a boomerang-shaped swath of land that spans the breadth of Alaska, through the Yukon Territory and into northern British Columbia. While Kinross works to extend the mine life of Fort Knox after 13 years of production through drilling, the Toronto-based miner is...
I have been reading the tea leaves and think there is an extremely important sequence of events unfolding that represents a golden opportunity for Alaska. Please bear with me as I try to wade through the logic of this and you can tell me what you think. About two months ago, Brent Cook, a well-known mining analyst and owner of Exploration Insights, published a rather illuminating article entitled "Where Have All the Gold Mines Gone?" The upshot of his article was that most...
Spring has arrived in Alaska and the mining industry is heading to the hills to do its work. Compared to last year, the state is a quiet place in the sun due to drastically reduced exploration and development budgets. Alaska's mines continue to benefit from the sharply reduced costs of power, diesel fuel, labor and other goods and services, but worldwide economic uncertainties have dried up the availability of venture capital for smaller exploration companies and have made... Full story
