The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
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A recent article in the Newsletter of the Society of Economic Geologists discussed ways of addressing an arresting trend in the mining industry that affects Alaska's mining future. Authors N. Stephen Enders of the Colorado School of Mines and Cliff Saunders of Too Serious Unlimited, showed that the discovery rate for gold has been dropping steadily since 1999, while the gold mined by operating mines worldwide has remained essentially unchanged at about 80 million ounces per year. The low for ounces discovered coincided with...
A mine-builder's dream" is how James Komadina, the new CEO of International Tower Hill Mines Ltd. characterizes the enormous Livengood gold project in Interior Alaska. An updated preliminary economic assessment released by Tower Hill in August - which outlines a 91,000-metric-ton-per-day mill churning out more than a half-million ounces of gold yearly for 20-plus years -paints a clearer picture of the operation Komadina envisions. "There are not a lot of 20-million-ounce (gold...
Every year about this time, I notice new ways to gauge just how busy the Alaska mining industry is. This year, it is the silence. Not the amazing silence of a mountaintop in the Alaska Range but the virtual and literal silence being practiced by the people who make up the industry. In an age where communications options are abundant and the opportunity to be "connected" is a 24-7 reality, people in the Alaska mining industry go silent in the depths of summer, primarily...
Tri-Valley Corp., a California-based oil explorer, has cut an exploration-purchase deal with US Gold Corp. on the Richardson gold property, one of Tri-Valley's two mineral exploration properties in Interior Alaska. The agreement, penned July 1, provides US Gold with an option to acquire 60 percent interest in the 55-square-mile Richardson property once the Toronto-based company completes US$5 million in exploration and pays Select Resources Corp., Inc., Tri-Valley's mineral...
The last month has seen a massive transition in Alaska from planning to execution, from getting ready to go to the field to boots on the outcrop and drills in the ground. Each year the hustle and bustle of the Alaska summer exploration season subsumes virtually everything else (except the Stanley Cup) as field programs launch around the state. This year has been no different with base metal programs in the Brooks Range, gold programs in Interior Alaska and the Seward...
The mineral project generator model is paying dividends for Millrock Resources Inc. The junior anticipates exploration on its Alaska gold properties to top US$10 million in 2011, with more than US$9 million to be funded by project partners. Millrock has attracted senior miners Teck Resources Ltd. and Kinross Gold Corp. to some of the Alaska gold projects it has generated. Additionally, junior explorers Crescent Resources Corp., Brixton Metals Corp. and Ryan Gold Corp. also...
The Money Knob deposit at International Tower Hill Mines Ltd.'s Livengood Project ranks among the top 2 percent of gold discoveries made globally during the past 20 years - a far cry from the prospect a newly-formed junior inherited from AngloGold Ashanti Exploration Inc. in late 2006. "The Livengood Project from 'Day One' really felt to me like we were on top of a very large gold system, so I was very committed to the project," Tower Hill CEO Jeff Pontius told Mining News...
Some months ago I was talking to a senior exploration manager regarding the lack of new discoveries worldwide in the last few years. The subject came up of just how rare a +1-million-ounce gold deposit really was. Then last week one of our project geologists lays a publication in front of me entitled "How Rare are One Million Ounce Gold Deposits?" by Natural Resources Holdings, Ltd. Although this publication comes at the question from the standpoint of which new deposits are...
Although the mining news for the last month was rather on the thin side in terms of volume, a number of significant milestones were reached by the Alaska mineral industry. Over the past 30 days or so, we have had new mineral resources published on three gold deposits and one polymetallic deposit. We've had the first preliminary economic analysis released on a deposit from the Ambler Mining District and the schedule for a second preliminary economic analysis announced for...
The Fraser Institute recently released its "Survey of Mining Companies, 2010/2011," an annual survey of exploration and mining companies that gauges the pros and cons of working in various countries around the world. This year the survey results came from 494 mining companies working in 79 jurisdictions and representing cumulative exploration expenditures of more than US$2.4 billion in 2010. There was a bit of honey and a bit of vinegar for Alaska in this report. Let's do...
From college students seeking their first job in the minerals industry to executives of the world's leading mining companies, a record-setting 7,003 people packed the Westin Bayshore Hotel in Vancouver, B.C., Jan. 24-27 to attend the Association for Mineral Exploration British Columbia's 2011 Mineral Exploration Roundup. "The theme this year is 'Exploring Today for Tomorrow's Resources' - it couldn't be more important a theme, and it couldn't be more important an activity,"...
There are some new stats out regarding mining's impact on Alaska that the McDowell Group Inc. produced for the State of Alaska. For 2010, the Alaska mining industry accounted for 3,500 direct jobs and 5,500 indirect jobs. The industry paid US$350 million in payroll with the average salary totaling US$95,000 per year, which is double the statewide average for all sectors. Mining salaries were higher than all other sectors except for the oil and gas sector. The industry paid...
The last half of December and the first half of January are normally relatively slow for business in the mining industry, in general, and in Alaska, in particular. The last two weeks this December were a bit slower than the first two weeks of the month but if anyone was thinking that January 2011 was going to creep silently into being, they were sadly mistaken! With metals prices heading toward recent and, in some cases, historical highs, there seems to be a sense of urgency...
As the last days of the decade tick by, I am tempted to look back on 2010 and distill the year in a few sentences. I'll resist and opt for a bunch of sentences similar to some I recently dumped on the Society of Economic Geologists, an exploration-focused scientific organization of which I am a card-carrying member. Those words prompted more than a few heated responses, both supportive and not so supportive ("You're a pin-head" is the one that will probably stick with me...
Alaska's mining industry is entering the final lap for what has turned out to be a more robust than expected year for exploration, development and production. Strong worldwide demand for mined products has certainly helped push metallic and energy minerals prices up, but all is not rosy for Alaska's mineral industry. A recent CNBC report placed Alaska dead last of all the states in terms of overall business attractiveness. We were a dismal 46th of 50 in terms of cost of doing...
Mining is becoming increasingly important to Alaskans looking for good-paying jobs. Not only does the industry provide high wages, the geographical diversity of the mines provides employment opportunities to oftentimes economically challenged rural regions of the vast state. According to the Alaska Department of Labor & Workforce Development, the number of mining jobs in Alaska has jumped 40.3 percent since 2000, almost triple the statewide average employment growth of 14.1...
The Last Frontier, as Alaska has long been labeled, is as applicable a moniker today as it was to prospectors who ventured to the territory at the end of the 19th century. Alaska is considered one of the most mineralized provinces on Earth, but due to an inter-related combination of Arctic weather, rugged terrain, limited infrastructure and high exploration costs, the state's vast mineral potential remains at the edge of exploratory expansion. Though the Far North state...
Corvus Gold Corp., a new junior formed to explore International Tower Hill Mines Ltd.'s non-Livengood assets, hit the ground running with C$8 million worth of partner-funded exploration on its four Alaska properties and a 10,000-meter drill campaign on its sole-owned gold property in Nevada. By the time the Corvus' ticker symbol, KOR, lit up on the Toronto and New York Stock exchanges in August the new explorer was well into the summer exploration its promising Alaska...
Since International Tower Hill Mines Ltd. began exploring Livengood in 2007, it has outlined nearly 20 million ounces of gold resources. The junior continues this brisk pace as it contemplates building a mine at the Interior Alaska project. In order to focus its attention on developing the rapidly advancing project, Tower Hill has transferred its non-Livengood exploration assets into Corvus Gold Inc., a new company under the direction of Tower Hill Vice President of...
FS: TSX-V President and CEO: Bill Wishart Vice President Exploration: Karsten Eden First Star Resources Inc. is exploring West Pogo and LMS, two gold properties in the vicinity of Sumitomo Metal Mining Co. Ltd.'s Pogo Mine in Interior Alaska. The junior signed an option agreement with International Tower Hill Mines Ltd. to earn up to a 100 percent interest in the properties, and in August Tower Hill rolled these assets into a new junior exploration company, Corvus Gold Inc. (See Corvus Gold). West Pogo is situated 2.8 miles,...
OCP: TSX-V Chairman: Paul Matysek CFO: Tony Ricci Senior Geologist: Chris Taylor Ocean Park Ventures Corp. spent US$6.2 million in 2010 to investigate the Chisna project, a 163,460-acre, or 661.5-square-kilometer, property in Interior Alaska that encompasses a cluster of porphyry copper-gold centers. In November 2009, Ocean Park entered into the joint venture agreement with International Tower Hill Mines Ltd. to earn up to a 70 percent interest in the Chisna project. Since that time Tower Hill has spun out Chisna into Corvus...
As we near the end of September and the metals market remains robust, the mining industry is breathing a sigh of relief as we remember the market meltdown of early September 2008. Although nobody is suggesting that the larger economy is in any way out of the woods yet, the worldwide demand for metals and metal products continues to expand. For example, the gold price hit US$1,274.95 earlier this month, well above the previous record of US$1,261 hit on June 28. Some believe...
In the last month, several of Alaska's major metal mines reported strong operating numbers; one company released a preliminary economic assessment and three new mineral exploration companies acquired exploration interests in Alaska. While the functions of explorers and producers are quite different, the symbiotic relationship between the two ends of the mining cycle is unequivocal: exploration would not exist without production and production would eventually cease without...
Having completed a preliminary economic assessment for the Livengood project in early August, International Tower Hill Mines Ltd. has shifted its focus toward bringing the multimillion-ounce gold property into production. "Our operational team is making excellent progress in advancing the project down the development and permitting path, a process which we will continue to accelerate," Tower Hill President and CEO Jeff Pontius told Mining News Aug. 17. The PEA envisions a...
As the long-awaited summer solstice comes and goes, Alaska's mining industry is deep in the midst of its summer exploration, development and production programs. Mineral exploration programs are under way from far Southeast Alaska to the Brooks Range, from eastern Interior Alaska to the Seward Peninsula. The commodities being explored for, developed and mined are equally diverse and include gold, silver, copper, nickel, lead, zinc, platinum and palladium. Two new exploration...
