The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
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The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has added 33 days to the comment period for the draft environmental impact statement for Donlin Gold, providing area residents and other interested parties more time to review the lengthy document and offer informed input on the enormous gold mine project proposed for the Yukon-Kuskokwim region of Southwest Alaska. The Donlin Gold Mine being considered in the draft EIS includes a 53,500-metric-ton-per-day mill that is expected to produce an...
Over the past month, three of Alaska's large mines reported strong quarterly results; two projects in advanced permitting and pre-feasibility reported recent progress; and three exploration properties changed hands. The latter is a trend putting 2015 on course to be one of the most active years for new acquisitions in the past decade. Placer gold production has all but ceased for the year; however, output from Alaska's placer mines is not likely to be known with any certainty...
Although there is plenty of Alaska mining industry news this month, the big dog in the pen is the dramatic and unexpected run-up in the price of gold, which moved from a low of $1,078 per ounce to a high of $1,246/oz., most of which occurred after Feb. 1. Although profit-taking and other factors have caused the price to back off a bit, the move was both dramatic and unexpected. As you might guess, the ether is full of talking heads telling us why it went up, why it either won'...
As the curtain rings down on 2015, the sound of clapping and cheering can already be heard from the mining industry as it anticipates the end of a largely depressing year which started out looking like the long-awaited industry recovery was going to happen but in the end, did not. The uncertainty brought on by this year's unsettling events was front and center in a recent round-table discussion hosted by Northern Miner, sponsored by PearTree Securities and entitled "New...
After 20 years of exploration and permitting, the Donlin Gold project is on the downhill side of gaining the permits needed to develop a mine at the 39-million-ounce gold deposit in the Yukon-Kuskokwim region of Southwest Alaska. On Nov. 25, the U.S. Army Corp. of Engineers released a draft Environmental Impact Statement for what will likely be among the largest gold-producing mines on the planet. The Donlin Gold Mine being considered in the draft EIS includes a...
Barrick Gold Corp. and Novagold Resources Inc. Nov. 30 reported that the Donlin Gold Draft Environmental Impact Statement has been published by the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers, a significant permitting milestone for the 39-million-ounce Donlin Gold project located in the Kuskokwim region of Southwest Alaska. Leaders of Calista Corp., the Alaska Native regional corporation that owns the mineral rights at Donlin Gold, and Kuskokwim Corp., the village corporation that owns the...
Novagold Resources Inc. July 8 reported that the permitting process for its 50-percent-owned Donlin Gold project continues to move ahead with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers planning to issue the draft Environmental Impact Statement for public comment towards the end of 2015. "Reminiscent of 'The Tortoise and the Hare'," Donlin Gold continues to advance at a steady pace, as originally envisioned. In less than two-year's time, subject to market conditions, the co-owners will...
Plummeting oil prices have put Alaska residents and Alaska miners in the same boat. Suddenly, it's less expensive to top off the tank of an SUV or a haul truck, but the state budget, fueled by oil revenue, is teetering on the edge of an estimated $3.5 billion deficit. That's $10 million a day for 2015. "We know Alaska is experiencing a significant drop in revenue - the price of oil has dropped more than 50 percent over the past six months," Alaska's new governor, Bill Walker,...
A group of presenters at the first annual Northern Regions Summit held in Vancouver May 28-30 addressed the nature of "social licenses to operate" and how mining companies should go about getting and keeping them. The dialogue, at the same time, allowed Alaska's Institute of the North, the summit organizer, to showcase young aboriginal leaders from Far North communities in Alaska and Canada. Jason Prno, Ph. D., a researcher and consultant from Waterloo, Ont., moderated a panel discussion titled, "Emerging Leaders Dialogue -...
The over-all mood at the recent Cordilleran Roundup mining convention in Vancouver, B.C. was more restrained than in previous years, but also more realistic due in large part to the prolonged downturn in risk capital mining markets. It seems the industry has transitioned from the denial stage accompanying the declines of 2013 to an acceptance and determination stage that always precedes a return to market vitality. In a recent public release by financial giant Ernst and...
Ending a streak of robust growth, mineral exploration spending in Alaska during 2012 took a downward turn from the record US$300 million spent a year earlier. "More advanced-stage projects that added ounces or pounds to their resource base had a better go of it than early-stage exploration projects which have taken a hard right cross to the jaw!" Curt Freeman, a well-known Alaska geologist and president of Fairbanks-based Avalon Development, observed in September. This blow de...
An employment forecast published by the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development in October pegged the state's mining sector job growth from 2010 to 2020 at 19 percent. That is second only to health care, at 31 percent, and outpacing the 12 percent average growth across all Alaska industries. Expansion of current operations coupled with prospects of building mines at the world-class Livengood and Donlin gold deposits were cited as drivers behind adding new miners t...
While NovaGold Resources Inc.'s ultimate goal is to become a 1-million-ounce-per-year gold producer, the Vancouver B.C.-based junior is taking a fresh look at the enormous reserves of copper waiting to be mined at its Galore Creek project in British Columbia and its Ambler project in Northwest Alaska. "Management believes the recently completed economic analyses of Galore Creek and Ambler clearly demonstrate that NovaGold's copper assets are considerably undervalued having reg...
FVL: TSX-V President and CEO: Kristina Walcott Chief Financial Officer: Gordon Steblin Vice President, Exploration: Michael Gross Weighed down with about C$11 million in debt in mid-2009, it appeared Freegold Ventures Ltd. would become another casualty of the market collapse. Stepping into the leadership role, former Freegold Vice President of Corporate Development Kristina Walcott leveraged the value of the company's four gold assets in Alaska and Idaho. Over the course of a few short months, the new president and CEO...
Donlin Creek LLC, the 50-50 joint venture between NovaGold Resources Inc. and Barrick Gold Corp., has renegotiated its lease on the Donlin Creek gold project in southwestern Alaska. The Calista Regional Native Corp., owners of the property that holds the 40-million-ounce gold deposit, said the renewed lease provides the miners the additional time and land to mine the gold-rich ore, while maximizing benefits for its more than 13,000 shareholders. Calista Corp. owns 6.5 million...
Left leaderless and weighed down with about C$11 million in debt in mid-2009, it appeared Freegold Ventures Ltd. would become another casualty of the market collapse of 2008. Many believe this surely would have been the case if not for the tenacity of Kristina Walcott, then the company's vice president of corporate development. Stepping into the leadership role at Freegold, Walcott leveraged the value of the company's four gold assets in Alaska and Idaho. Over the course of a...
Full Metal Mineral Ltd., like many juniors, battened down the hatches in 2009 to ride out the financial storm that sank many explorers and caused others to climb aboard ships better suited to the turbulent weather. The explorer emerged in January to raise money and test the financial winds with assay results from its 2008 drilling at the Nadaleen silver-lead-zinc project in the Yukon Territory, and again in March with results of from the OG project, another silver-lead-zinc...
When Greg Beischer and Phil St. George teamed up to form Millrock Resources Inc. early in 2007, they set out to make big discoveries that would attract the interest of the world's mining giants. The Millrock team has the background to know what global mining companies are looking for and the geological expertise to find it. Beischer, the Vancouver B.C.-based junior's president and CEO, spent two decades working for Inco Ltd., now a subsidiary of global mining giant Companhia...
Reclamation is a critical element of modern mining and mine planning. In Alaska, companies who wish to extract minerals from the earth must first present a plan on how they propose to return the disturbed land to a reusable state and post financial assurances that they will complete the job. Planning for what the site will look like and be used for begins before any mining is started. The information needed to design a successful reclamation plan is gathered from the...
Built on a project generator model, Millrock Resources Inc. has teamed up with Kinross Gold Corp., Altius Resources Inc. and Vale Exploration Canada to seek out and explore new large gold and copper projects in Alaska and Arizona during a tough financial market. "Millrock continues to march steadily forward, meeting corporate milestones in a timely manner despite challenging market conditions," Millrock President and CEO Gregory Beischer said. "The company has acquired an...
Full Metal Minerals Ltd. and Kinross Gold Corp. struck a deal with Calista Corp., an Alaska Native regional corporation, to acquire 100 percent of mineral rights to the Russian and Horn Mountain complexes in the Kuskokwim region of Southwest Alaska. The Russian and Horn Mountain gold-silver targets are located about 25 miles, or 40 kilometers, southwest of the 29-million-ounce Donlin Creek gold deposit being developed by joint venture partners Barrick Gold Corp. and NovaGold...
While many people are familiar with the 30-million-ounce-plus gold deposit discovered at Donlin Creek in Southwest Alaska, the world-class gold resource boasts another less known but equally impressive statistic. Nearly 90 percent of the 200-plus people working at the Donlin Project are shareholders of the Calista Corporation, the Native regional corporation that owns the land where the deposit is located. "Calista Corp. has had great success with Barrick (Gold Corp.) and...
Alaska saw robust mining activity in 2008 across the full spectrum of the industry, from small placer operations to major producers, and from exploration programs to advanced development projects. Here is a look at companies reporting significant progress during the year. Placer mining Silverado Gold Mines Ltd. has recovered 26,879 ounces of placer gold from channel and bench deposits in the Nolan Valley through 2007. The largest nugget recovered from the property, located about 280 miles north of Fairbanks, weighed 41.35...
After years of exploring Southwest Alaska on its own, Gold Crest Mines Inc. has teamed up with Newmont North America Exploration Ltd., a subsidiary of Newmont Mining Corp. in three separate ventures and with Cougar Gold LLC, a wholly-owned affiliate of Electrum Ltd., on five other gold properties in the region. Gold Crest May 12 said its subsidiary, Kisa Gold Mining Inc., signed joint venture agreements for the three gold properties. Three weeks before on April 24, the...
Tonogold Resources Inc., in hopes of drawing attention to its search for an Alaska partner, released a geology, geochemistry and drilling report April 17 that covers exploration from 2005 to 2007 of its Nyac Porphyry Gold Project in southwestern Alaska. The Nyac property consists of 57,600 acres and is located at the western end of the Alaska-Yukon Tintina Gold Belt on lands owned by Calista Corp, the Alaska Native regional corporation for the Yukon-Kuskokwim region. Tonogold leases the Nyac property from Calista. During 2007...
