The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
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From the enormous Pebble copper-gold-molybdenum project to grassroots gold and copper discoveries, the Kahiltna Terrane of Southwest Alaska is becoming a hot destination for mining companies seeking the mineral wealth of this rugged and underexplored region. The Kahiltna assemblage was formed when an arc of islands known as Wrangellia thrust up the ocean floor as it collided with North America. This bulldozed seabed created much of the spectacular mountains of the Alaska...
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...
Despite the abundance of good news from the Alaska mining industry this month, there is an unusual black cloud hanging over the industry that threatens to rain on our parade of projects. Domestic and international markets got a severe case of the jitters during the recent United States debt crisis. The resulting economic uncertainty contributed to significant metal price volatility. For example, the London gold price jumped 20 percent, from about US$1,480 to US$1,770 during the month prior to the debt deferral and has since d...
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...
Kiska Metals Corp. is navigating exploration of the Whistler gold-copper project toward expanding targets identified during its 2009 and 2010 programs - which were driven largely by Kennecott Exploration Co.'s desire to look at the overall potential of the 203-square-mile, or 557-square-kilometer, property in order to evaluate its back-in rights. After spending the winter months transporting in supplies over a 110-mile, or 175-kilometer, ice road and relocating its camp next...
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...
Two years after explorers stampeded to Yukon Territory in search of gold and other minerals the rush is showing no sign of abating. In fact, the exploration frenzy appears to gather fresh steam with every new mineral discovery reported in the territory. And the pipeline of discoveries is flowing, fast and furious. Junior mining companies and prospectors also continued to stake hordes of claims in 2010 right up to Dec. 23, stopping only when Government of Yukon mining recorders called a halt for the holidays. The excitement su...
Brixton Metals Corp., the newest explorer and among the largest landowners in the Kahiltna Terrane region of Southwest Alaska, is on a mission to acquire large-scale precious metals properties and advance them to feasibility. To this end, the company has cut exploration deals to explore Millrock Resources Inc.'s Cristo gold-copper property in Southwest Alaska and Kiska Metals Corp.'s Thorn gold-silver-copper project in Northern British Columbia. "Brixton's vision is to focus o...
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...
As termination dust falls across most of Alaska, the curtain has come down for the bulk of the exploration projects around the state; however, mine development programs as well as mine-site exploration continue apace as does some exploration work in tropical Southeast Alaska. With few exceptions, preliminary conclusions drawn from 2010 work indicate that 2011 is going to be a busy year. And though a lot of exploration and development is still going on for gold, copper...
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...
When Rimfire Minerals Corp. and Geoinformatics Exploration Inc. joined forces to form Kiska Metals Corp. in the fall of 2009, the primary objective of the amalgamated junior was to resolve the tenure of the Whistler Project. A year later the junior explorer achieved this goal, gaining sole-ownership of the expansive gold-copper property in Alaska. Rio Tinto subsidiary Kennecott Exploration Co., which optioned Whistler to Geoinformatics in 2007, had the right to buy back a...
Kinross Gold Corp. is a partner of choice for many junior explorers investigating gold prospects in Alaska and northwest Canada. The Toronto-based major has formed various alliances with a number of juniors exploring for gold in the Tintina Gold Belt, the prolific 145-million-acre (58.7-million-hectare) mineral region that hosts Kinross' Fort Knox Gold Mine and huge gold deposits including Donlin Creek and Livengood in Alaska as well as significant gold showings in Yukon...
Since its inception in 2007, Millrock Resources Inc.'s modus operandi is to seek out early-stage mineral prospects in Alaska and Arizona, complete initial exploration and then joint venture the projects to other industry players. Utilizing this project generator model the junior has amassed a portfolio of 10 gold and copper projects, seven of which received partner-funded exploration in 2010. Estelle, Millrock's flagship gold property in Alaska, had been the one caveat to the...
TSX: TCK.A, TCK.B and NYSE: TCK Chairman: Norman Keevil President and CEO: Donald Lindsay Vice President, Exploration: Fred Daley Teck Resources Ltd. is looking forward to 20 more years of high-grade zinc-lead-silver production at its Red Dog Mine in Northwest Alaska. Early in 2010, it was unclear whether the company would continue operations at Red Dog or shutter the mine until issues surrounding its water discharge permits were resolved. After lengthy discussions with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and a...
VAZ: TSX-V President and CEO: Michael Skead Valdez Gold Inc. has turned north to seek gold near the legendary mining towns of Dawson City and Nome. In January 2010, the Toronto-based junior signed an option to earn up to a 75 percent stake in Valley High Ventures Ltd.'s Flume Property in the White Gold District of Yukon Territory. Valdez earns an initial 51 percent interest in Flume by spending C$1.5 million on the property and paying Valley High C$500,00 over a four year period. The 3,900-hectare Flume property is located...
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...
Two seminal events related to the Alaska mining industry occurred in the past month. First, in late June, Coeur d'Alene Mines Corp. reported the commencement of production at it Kensington gold mine near Juneau. The mine has now joined the ranks of large-scale producers here in Alaska but only after lots of years and lots of dollars, capped by a trip to the U.S. Supreme Court! Hat's off to Coeur for its commitment to Alaska and for its desire to do this job right. Secondly,...
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,...
When the financial storm of late 2008 wreaked havoc on global markets, Millrock Resources Inc. refrained from splurging its precious cash on expensive drill campaigns. But it didn't it sit idly by waiting for better economic times either. Instead, the Vancouver, B.C.-based junior invested its wealth of geological experience in identifying promising grassroots gold and copper projects. Millrock also formed key alliances with financially stable miners wanting to invest in projec...
Eager to discover whether Rio Tinto Ltd. subsidiary Kennecott Exploration Inc. will exercise its right to buy back a 60 percent stake in the Whistler gold-copper project, Kiska Metals Corp. has launched a 15-hole drill campaign and corresponding 3-D-induced polarization survey to explore the larger potential of the 173-square-mile, or 448-square-kilometer, central Alaska property. The largest portion of the drill program, which began in mid-March, is testing targets within...
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...
Geologically, Alaska is a terrane wreck, with multiple tectonic plates dumping their mineral payloads over the landscape. Geologists are still sifting through the wreckage in many places across the state to determine which mineral deposits were dumped by which terranes and when - a task not always easily accomplished as pileups have resulted, in many cases, from multiple mineralization events happening in the same geographical regions over time. A terrane is a series of...
