The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
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It is high summer in Alaska and the wheeling and dealing are nearly as frenetic as the exploration, development and production going on all around the state. New deals continue to be cut on old and new projects while more established projects are being subjected to the "truth machine," otherwise known as the drill. This time-tested application has proven many a cock-sure geologist or engineer dead wrong but that doesn't stop anyone in the industry from picking himself up,...
Alaska's summer exploration season is in full swing with strong budgets on a number of projects around the state. Alaska's mines also weighed in with strong quarterly results as metal prices remain strong. The hot spots in the state this month include Southeast Alaska, Interior Alaska and the Alaska Range but don't think that silence means there is nothing going on! We are entering the period where everyone has his nose to the ground and has little time for news releases or...
Buoyed by the purchase of Bema Gold, Toronto-based Kinross is also happy with the performance of the Fort Knox mine near Fairbanks. Even a seep from the tailings dam that could potentially have damaged that mine's near-pristine environmental record can be viewed as a successful example of protective measures being put into action. In the first quarter of 2007, Kinross reported net earnings of $68.5 million, compared to net earnings of $8.9 million in the same period last year. Gold production was up 7 percent compared with th...
The exploration season has started but not before a bevy of new corporate competitors have entered the Alaska mineral scene and not before a number of past producing mines have been dragged into the 21st century. During the last month, three new companies have acquired properties in Alaska and two old Alaska producers have been brought out of mothballs to have new exploration done on them. This month's commodities of interest include gold, copper, lead, zinc, silver, uranium,...
Canadian junior mining companies are increasingly the targets of friendly (and occasionally not-so-friendly) takeover bids, but it's more unusual for the purchaser to be located on the other side of the planet. That is the case for Ontario-based Wolfden Resources, which has agreed to a buy-out by Australia's Zinifex. Wolfden is developing projects in Nunavut, while Zinifex operates two mines and three smelters in Australia, as well as a smelter in the Netherlands and another in Tennessee. Zinifex offered Feb. 19 to acquire... Full story
The trials and tribulations of Alaska's mining industry continued in the last month with one challenged mine given the green light to proceed, the other halted in midstride by the same legal system. In the background, exploration programs quietly began at several locations across the state as the busy 2007 mining season started in earnest. Alaska's global rank dropped from 13th to 24th position in the most recent Fraser Institute survey of mining jurisdictions worldwide. At...
Strong markets and solid production powered hardrock mining companies with large operations and investments in Alaska to outstanding performances in 2006. Teck Cominco, operator of the Red Dog zinc-lead mine near Kotzebue and the Pogo gold mine in the eastern Interior near Delta Junction; Kinross Gold Corp., owner of the Fort Knox gold mine near Fairbanks, Hecla Mining Co., part owner of the Greens Creek silver mine in Southeast Alaska; and Coeur D'Alene Corp., developer of the Kensington Gold Project near Juneau, reported...
Mining companies spent an all-time record $103.9 million on exploration in Alaska in 2005, a big jump from the $70.8 million that was spent the previous year, and a long way from the relatively modest $27.6 million in 2003. At least 16 projects had exploration expenditures of $1 million or more. The companies employed 303 people in exploration projects in 2005, up from 184 in 2004 and 88 in 2003, according to the state's Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys. These impressive figures in Alaska reflected the story...
Kinross Gold, the owner of Alaska's Fort Knox mine, will expand its operations in Russia and elsewhere in the world if a friendly acquisition of Bema Gold goes ahead. The boards of directors of the two Canadian companies unanimously approved the U.S. $3.1 billion transaction in early November, and they are now awaiting a vote by Bema shareholders, scheduled for January. Two-thirds of the smaller company's shareholders must give their approval of the deal for it to go ahead. After the acquisition, the remodeled Kinross would...
Over the last month the Alaska mineral industry continued to report results from 2006 exploration programs including new acquisitions of projects that have been on the back shelf for over 25 years. The industry watched as the American political scene was drastically changed at both the federal and state levels. And despite the fact that the end of the year is nearing, there is no end in sight yet for a number of exploration and development projects while at the same time contracts for work in 2007 already are being inked. If...
Out of an average 157,800 tons of rock, with the assistance of 30 tons of explosives, 6.7 tons of lime and 20,506 gallons of diesel fuel, Fort Knox mine produces 900 ounces of gold per day. Trucks with giant tires that cost $10,000 each carry 150 tons of ore to the crusher every three minutes. The ore comes out of a pit that is 1,100 feet deep and will be a mile long and half a mile wide by the time mining comes to an end in 2010. The mine operates 24/7, 365 days a year and its electricity bill is $1.9 million per month....
Nothing's been built yet, but Vancouver-based Northern Dynasty has already opened the floodgates to a torrent of discussion of the enormous dams the company proposes for the Pebble project. One of the tailings dams would reach an ultimate height of 740 feet and would be at least 4.3 miles long. The largest dam in North America, the Grand Coulee Dam in Washington, is 550 feet tall and almost a mile long. Northern Dynasty had already come under fire before it submitted the proposal for five dams to Alaska's Department of... Full story
Higher metals prices contributed to record earnings in the second quarter across the mining spectrum. Three companies heavily invested in Alaska, Coeur d'Alene Mines Corp., Hecla Mining Co. and Kinross Gold Corp., posted stronger financial results for the period and noted how their Alaska properties fared. Fort Knox battles escalating costs with high gold output Kinross, owner of the Fort Knox mine near Fairbanks, posted record earnings of $65.6 million, or 19 cents per share for the second quarter of 2006, compared with a...
Hang on to your hat, the data is beginning to roll in from Alaskan field programs and there are some hum dingers in this month's data and several others will be showing up next month. What's a "hum dinger"? How about an Alaska gold project at the center of a $1.5 billion corporate takeover by the world's largest gold producer? Or how about 75 feet grading more than 2 ounces of gold per ton? Or maybe silver production costs of a negative $2.28 per ounce? But wait, there's more...
The annual running of the bulls in Pamplona can't hold a candle to the statewide frenzy that is going on right now across the length and breadth of Alaska. Measure it any way you like - meters drilled, helicopter hours used, geologists or engineers on the payroll, gallons of fuel burned or gallons of peanut butter consumed - it all comes out the same. The Alaska mineral industry is running at or over capacity and there is no sign that that will change any time soon. The last month saw the start of multiple drilling programs...
Fairbanks Gold Mining Inc. is moving ahead with plans to build a heap leach facility at the Fort Knox gold mine that could reduce its gold ore processing costs by as much as two-thirds. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Alaska departments of Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation released applications, draft permit, public notice and decisions June 29, relating to Fort Knox and the proposal for a 30-day public review and comment period. Fairbanks Gold is a subsidiary of Kinross Gold Corp. Fort Knox is an... Full story
The game is afoot! The last month has seen the start of a number of field programs in Alaska, marking the beginning of the traditional "field season" in the Great Land. With demand for metals remaining extraordinarily high, Alaska's mining industry is operating at capacity but well below demand. An acute shortage of drills and drillers, geologists and engineers and helicopters to move them all around is affecting exploration, development and production plans around the state. For the first time in my career, money is not in...
Fort Knox workers poured the 3 millionth ounce of gold extracted from the Interior mine May 10 as gold prices soared to a 25-year-high, above $725 an ounce. Production at Fort Knox started in 1997, when the mine produced 366,223 troy ounces of gold. At startup, the mine's operating life was projected for 10 years, but discoveries of additional deposits have stretched that timeline. Fairbanks Mining Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Toronto-based Kinross Corp. operates Fort Knox. Mine officials now say production will... Full story
Kinross Gold Corp., owner of the Fort Knox gold mine 25 miles northeast of Fairbanks, posted a loss for 2005 of $216.0 million, including a $154.3 million deficit in the fourth quarter. The Toronto-based gold producer blamed the bulk of its fourth quarter loss on non-cash impairment charges of $147.2 million, including a charge of $141.8 million related to Fort Knox. During a thorough review of its assets and investments in 2005, Kinross said it examined the Fort Knox operation to determine the impact of higher operating...
Ontario-based Wolfden Resources is making its mark in Canada's far north, and the company's acquisition of Lupin gold mine from Kinross could significantly lower the costs of its other projects in Nunavut. Almost simultaneously with the announcement in mid-February of the deal with Kinross, Wolfden also signed a letter of intent with Inmet Mining to acquire the nearby Izok, Hood and Gondor base metal deposits in Nunavut. Lupin has produced more than 3 million ounces of gold since 1982, and there may be potential for further...
The sound of boots, hammers, drills and helicopters is starting to drown out the sounds of "we are planning," "we hope to" and "later this year" that we've been hearing for the last few months. Despite a late spring through most of Alaska, a number of projects kicked off recently and more are gathering steam as the short, hectic Alaska summer season approaches. Companies counting on an early spring due to Global Warming have been disappointed and Plan B options are being formulated however, the end result will be the same:...
Alaska vendors reaped a share of $110 million spent last year to keep the open pit Fort Knox gold mine humming night and day, according to Lorna Shaw, community affairs director of mine owner Fairbanks Gold Mining, a subsidiary of Kinross Gold Corp. The money went primarily to buy labor, power, and fuel, Shaw said, adding that even the small items are essential - items like toilet paper, for instance. "We've got 400 people out there," Shaw said. "Consumable paper products - that's a lot of toilet paper; it can shut us down,... Full story
Kinross Gold Corp., owner of the Fort Knox gold mine near Fairbanks, reported a 27 percent jump in proven and probable reserves at year-end 2005 to 24.7 million ounces of gold. The year-over-year increase from 19.4 million ounces in 2004 marks the fifth consecutive year of reserves growth. Digging its way out of an accounting tangle that began nearly two years ago, Kinross posted the reserves figures in February along with financial results for the first nine months of 2005. The third-largest primary gold producer in North... Full story
Preparations for exploration and development activities ramped up again in the last month as budgets were approved and committed on projects extending from Southeast Alaska to the Seward Peninsula to Interior Alaska. Commodity and equity markets for the metals mining industry have remained strong in anticipation of continued high demand and restricted supplies. To put things into a global perspective, the Worldwatch Institute (www.worldwatch.org) recently published information about the growing demand for goods and services i...
In the last month the Alaska mining industry has seen start-up of its first major gold mine in five years (Pogo) and approval of permits for the Nixon Fork copper-gold mine. We also saw announcement of substantial increases in copper, gold and molybdenum resources at two advanced exploration/development projects (Donlin Creek and Pebble). New development plans were offered for heap leaching at the Fort Knox gold mine and initial funding was approved for evaluation of a coal to liquids facility at the Beluga coal deposits.... Full story
