The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
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Fort Knox mine near Fairbanks is considering the construction of a heap leach pad to improve its recovery rate and take advantage of soaring gold prices. The project is still in the planning stages, but if mine owner Fairbanks Gold Mining - a subsidiary of Kinross - decides it is viable, the estimated capital cost would be $22 million. Operating costs would be approximately one-third of the current mill operating costs, and the heap leach would be used in addition to the mill processes. "Heap leaching is being evaluated to im...
As the mining industry booms and companies rush to develop new properties, there is often one major snag in remote northern regions: inadequate infrastructure. This is the case with the Red Chris property in British Columbia, which completed the province's environmental assessment process last August. Vancouver-based bcMetals is champing at the bit to obtain permits and start construction of its proposed copper-gold mine, but everything hinges on whether or not the British Columbia government will build a 37.5-megawatt power... Full story
Over the course of the last several months, a series of new gold and base metal discoveries have been made. Several of these new discoveries were reported in the last month and highlights of these and other activities were presented at the annual Alaska Miners Association convention in Anchorage in early November. The convention was one of the most exciting and up-beat events in nearly a decade. The new discoveries are a trend that, while long in coming, are an inevitable...
It's widely understood that Canada is Alaska's third-largest market with exports of $242 million in 2004. But our next-door neighbor is an even bigger source of goods and services imported to the state, $289 million last year. That's right. Canada accounted for 2,600 direct jobs in Alaska in 2004, while direct and indirect employment generated by Canadian enterprises totaled 7,500 positions in the state with a $330 million payroll. These are among findings of a new report, "Canada's Impact on Alaska," prepared for the...
The Kamchatka peninsula in Russia's Far East was off-limits to mining in the Soviet era. Exploration took place, but no mines were built because Kamchatka - a short hop across the Bering Sea from Alaska - was home to numerous military bases. After the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, a group of geologists and investors formed a company, KoryakGeoldobycha, KGD, hoping to take advantage of the region's vast mineral potential. But they had to fight to prevent some of it from being closed again: this time because of the creation o... Full story
The UK's Trans-Siberian Gold is blazing a trail as one of the first foreign mining companies to operate in the Kamchatka region of Russia. Trans-Siberian is developing the Asacha and Rodnikova gold deposits, just outside the city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, and plans to have a producing hard rock mine by the end of 2006. The process hasn't gone altogether smoothly, but Trans-Siberian is determined to proceed, unlike Kinross Gold, which departed Kamchatka when faced with environmentalists' roadblocks. After four years of...
Kinross Gold and Teryl Resources are advancing their Gil Joint Venture Project from exploration to the development stage in hopes of identifying a viable source of new high-grade gold ore for production. The joint venture plans to permit the deposit once sufficient baseline data has been collected. A $793,800 budget has been approved this year for permitting and engineering work. A full feasibility study is expected to be completed by the end of the year, and a production decision by Kinross, which holds an 80 percent interes... Full story
The good news from Teryl, Kinross, Geoinformatics, Midas, Geocom and others is tempered by the loss of Alaska's gentleman scientist Ernie Wolff, who passed away on May 3; Liberty Star Gold appoints Phil St. George as VP of exploration s I write this summary of recent activities in Alaska's mining industry I am attending a once-every-five-year symposium in Reno put on by the Geological Society of Nevada. Some 1,500 attendees, mostly exploration geologists, are eagerly lapping up hours of new and previously unheard ideas on... Full story
Toronto-based Kinross Gold has appointed Tye Burt as president and CEO, replacing Bob Buchan, the company said in a release March 23. Burt moves to Kinross from Barrick Gold, where he was vice-chairman and executive director for corporate development. Prior to that he spent 16 years in corporate finance, including some time as chairman of Deutsche Bank Canada. Burt sits on the board of directors of the Ontario Financing Authority and is chairman of technology developer NRX Global. Bob Buchan, who founded Kinross in 1993,...
Linux Gold Corp. and Teryl Resources Corp. said March 22 that they had agreed to extend the term of their original Fish Creek claims agreement until March 5, 2007, giving Teryl a 50 percent interest in 30 Fish Creek claims, which are within six miles of Kinross Gold Corp.'s Fort Knox mill. The Fish Creek claims are also adjacent to the Teryl/Kinross joint venture Gil claims. Other than this extension, all other terms of the original agreement remain the same, the companies said in a joint release from their Vancouver offices....
Foreign companies will no longer be allowed to bid for exploration and development licenses in Russia, the country's natural resources minister said Feb. 10. Only companies that are at least 51 percent Russian owned may participate in the auctions, according to Yuri Trutnev. This will exclude mining companies like Canadian major Barrick Gold and Britain's Highland Gold Mining, which are already active in Russia. The decision by Russia brings it more in line with other countries' policies. Now foreign companies will have to fo...
December, January and February are normally a time when the mining industry can stop and catch its collective breath, look into its often cloudy but well-used crystal ball and prepare for the coming year. Not so the last December, January and February! While 2004 results continued to pour in from projects large and small, plans for 2005 are well advanced and in some cases, already in full swing. Metals prices remained strong and even the most pessimistic prognosticators...
Robert Buchan, the president and CEO of Toronto-based Kinross Gold, has announced that he will step down following the company's AGM on April 27 and assume the role of non-executive chairman. Buchan, 57, who is from Scotland, founded Kinross in 1993. After he oversaw a merger with TVX Gold and Echo Bay Mines a decade later the company became the world's seventh-largest gold producer. In Alaska Kinross owns and operates the Fort Knox and True North mines near Fairbanks. "Starting Kinross in 1993 with 25,000 ounces of annual...
What a difference a year makes ... along with a few things like rebounding metals prices, China's voracious appetite for minerals and investors' enduring love affair worldwide with gold. That's the assessment of Alaska officials after reviewing the state's annual report on mining industry activity in 2003, released in late October. The cumulative value of Alaska's mining industry in 2003 dipped slightly to $1.067 billion, down about $6 million from the $1.073 billion reported in 2002, according to the report, the 23rd in an...
A new copper discovery in Mongolia's South Gobi region could rival Alaska's Pebble deposit as one of the most valuable in the world. Drilling on the Hugo North deposit at the Oyu Tolgoi copper-gold project has produced impressive results, according to a Nov. 18 release from Ivanhoe Mines. Ivanhoe's controversial chairman, Robert Friedland, denies media accusations that he has been over-hyping the company's Mongolia finds. "Based on my 30 years of experience in the exploration business, I believe the Hugo North deposit is the... Full story
Neither the heat and smoke from wildfires, nor excruciatingly low winter temperatures could deter miners from expanding their operations in Alaska this past season. Representatives of several companies described their achievements in the "Development and Mine Operations" session at the Alaska Miners Association convention on Nov. 5. NovaGold Resources' Rock Creek John Odden from NovaGold Resources began with a presentation on Rock Creek, which is located on the Seward Peninsula, seven miles north of Nome. Part of it is on...
The month of November started off with a bang with favorable results for the mining industry from both the state and federal elections standpoint. As it closes the price of gold is flirting with $450 per ounce, the highest price for this metal since mid-1988. The Alaska Miners Association convention was very well attended in early November and results were revealed there from many of Alaska's exploration, development and production properties. A quick tally of spending across... Full story
Russia's gold mining industry, once ruled by Stalin's most vicious henchmen, has transformed itself into an attractive prospect for international corporations. Much of the gold mining takes place in the Russian Far East, in Magadan and Chukotka, thousands of miles and several time zones away from Moscow. The industry grew up on the backs of slave laborers, sent here as punishment for imaginary crimes and to carve a nation's wealth out of the permafrost. Gold was crucial to the economy of the Soviet Union, which sold gold to...
Despite the fact that winter has arrived over much of Alaska, exploration efforts continued at record pace throughout the state in October. Late summer programs are now competing for people and drills with early winter programs in a number of areas, a problem not normally encountered in Alaska. In a further sign of the strength of the rebound in the metals markets, a number of companies are already tying up people, drills, camp equipment, analytical services and helicopter... Full story
Rich Hughes, a former project manager at the Nolan Creek mine in northern Alaska, has been selected by the state of Alaska to serve as the development specialist for mining in Fairbanks. Hughes started the job July 1, working in the Office of Economic Development, Mining, a part of the Alaska Department of Commerce, Community and Economic Development. "I've been playing catch-up, because no one has been in the position since early April," he said. Rich Harris held the minerals development specialist position, beginning last...
One of six new 190-ton Caterpillar haul trucks hit the dirt at the open pit Fort Knox gold mine near Fairbanks, Alaska, on Sept. 1, part of a $15 million-plus capital investment in the mine's dirt-moving fleet this year. Fairbanks Gold Mining Inc., a subsidiary of Toronto-based Kinross Gold, has gone on a $24 million-plus equipment shopping spree this year and last, increasing capacity of the Fort Knox dirt-moving fleet by 30 percent each year. The new equipment additions will help mine crews remove 55 million tons of waste r...
Heavy rains in late July and early August have dampened the number of wildlands fires that burned through Interior and the eastern part of Alaska, adversely affecting placer miners and metals prospectors attempting to complete field work this summer. Large fires in the eastern Interior, covering the Fortymile mining district, continue to smolder and creep, according to the Aug. 2 report from the Alaska Interagency Coordination Center, which is monitoring about 100 active fires in the state. So far, 520 fires in Alaska have...
One of the most bizarre summers in Alaska's recent history is in full swing and only the snows of winter will dampen things. I am speaking of course of the impact that Alaska's plus-4 million acres of wildfires have had on mineral exploration, development and operations in the central and eastern parts of the state. The fires came along with an unusually dry and warm summer for virtually all of the state. In addition to the usual problems of who's AWOL after the Fourth of... Full story
A proposal to create Canada's fourth largest gold miner has unraveled, with shareholders of Iamgold rejecting a controversial C$2.3 billion merger with Wheaton River Minerals. Iamgold shareholders voted 58 percent against the plan July 6, reviving what had already been a tangled ownership battle involving two U.S.-based companies. Denver-based Golden Star had previously launched a C$1.1 billion hostile bid for Iamgold and Idaho-based Coeur d'Alene Mining, the largest U.S. silver producer, had offered C$3 billion in cash and...
As anyone can tell you who has tried recently to locate geologists, drill rigs and helicopters, Alaska is not the place to search for any of these commodities. Mineral exploration and development in Alaska is clipping along at a pace not seen in more than five years and in the process, these activities have sucked up just about all of the people, rigs and aircraft in the state. Exploration and development projects are spread from Nome to Ketchikan, the Brooks Range to...
