The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
Sorted by date Results 226 - 243 of 243
The Red Dog Mine, 17 years after startup, is unquestionably the economic and human resources success story of the Northwest Arctic Borough. Zinc and lead prices are strong, and production is up at the mine, which is operated by Teck Cominco Alaska on lands owned by the Alaska Native regional corporation, NANA Regional Corp. But the world's largest producer of zinc concentrate continues to be plagued by issues surrounding its discharge of wastewater. Treated water from the mine is released into tributaries of the Wulik River,...
The Pebble Limited Partnership- an Alaska-based 50-50 partnership formed between a wholly owned subsidiary of Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd. and a wholly owned U.S. subsidiary of Anglo American plc to engineer, permit, construct and operate a modern, long-life mine at the Pebble Project-has set a 2008 budget of $140.1 million to advance the Pebble copper-gold-molybdenum project in southwest Alaska. In early April the partners appointed John Shively as the partnership's first...
Hammered by several significant reverses in the fourth quarter of 2007, Teck Cominco Ltd. managed to still turn a substantial profit and deliver $1.6 billion in full-year earnings. Earnings plummeted to C$280 million, or 64 cents (Canadian) per share, in the fourth quarter, down nearly four-fold from C$866 million, or C$2.01 per share, during the final quarter of 2006.Year-over-year earnings also fell, dipping about one-third to C$1.62 billion from C$2.43 billion a year earlier. Fourth-quarter revenues fell 26 percent to...
I'm ready to give the Devil his due. The Star Trekkie commercials that the Renewable Resource Coalition, or whatever nom de guerre Bob Gillam currently hides behind, are very clever. They are not true, but then again, truth and freedom of speech have always been wholly disassociated when it comes to advertising. The Gillamites attempt to raise the inference that the initiatives that have been offered for the ballot next August will stop the Pebble mine, but won't affect other...
A new group of Alaskans from across the state have joined forces to fight two proposed ballot initiatives that threaten the mining industry and its $10 billion-plus impact on Alaska's economy. Citing concerns about the negative effects the measures could have on Alaska, "Alaskans Against the Mining Shutdown" said in a statement Jan. 25 that it will direct a statewide campaign to defeat the two ballot initiatives which would have the effect of shutting down existing mines and prohibiting future mines in Alaska, the coalition...
The Clean Water Initiatives that could come before Alaska voters in the general election next fall "are dangerous and deceptive proposals that Alaska cannot afford," according to a key executive at NANA Development Corp. Rosie Barr, resources manager for the operating arm of NANA Inc., the Alaska Native regional corporation for Northwest Alaska, spoke out against the initiatives and outlined the economic benefits of the Red Dog zinc-lead mine to Alaska at an industry...
Teck Cominco Alaska Inc. released the final report Nov. 29 of a six-year study that concludes it is safe to consume subsistence foods in all areas near the Red Dog Mine in northwestern Alaska without restrictions. The final report of the "DeLong Mountain Regional Transportation System Fugitive Dust Risk Assessment" incorporated formal comments and input from a wide range of government agencies and stakeholders, including local village residents," said Wayne Hall, Red Dog Mine's Senior Environmental Coordinator. Ore...
For those of you who could not attend the Alaska Miners Association convention in Anchorage in early November, you missed what I understand was a record attendance and presentations on some of the most exciting mining developments in the last decade. In addition, I noticed a lot more business being conducted around the conference hotel than is normally the case. Geologists and engineers from companies large and small could be seen hunkered down over reports and maps with...
A quest by Teck Cominco Alaska Inc. to expand operations at the Red Dog Mine in northwestern Alaska is moving forward as regulators prepare to conduct a series of public scoping meetings Oct. 2-5 in affected communities. Red Dog, the world's largest producer of zinc concentrate, began production in 1989. It is located 82 miles north of Kotzebue on land owned by NANA Regional Corp., the Alaska Native regional corporation for northwest Alaska. Current mining of Red Dog's main deposit is scheduled to wind down between 2010 and...
Vancouver-based Teck Cominco has almost made enough money at Red Dog mine to start paying Alaska Native corporation NANA a 25 percent net proceeds of production royalty, the company announced in its second-quarter report July 30. Teck Cominco currently pays NANA an annual advance royalty equal to 4.5 percent of Red Dog's net smelter return. At a certain point specified in the royalty agreement, NANA must pay the 25 percent royalty, which increases in 5 percent increments every fifth year to a maximum of 50 percent. Advance...
In a week when lead and zinc hit record-breaking high prices, it was particularly appropriate for Vancouver-based Teck Cominco's president and CEO, Don Lindsay, to be visiting Alaska for the seventh time. The state is home to the world's largest lead-zinc mine, Red Dog, and the company has further demonstrated its commitment to Alaska with the recent opening of Pogo gold mine, a partnership with Japan's Sumitomo Metal Mining. The Alaska Miners Association presented Teck Cominco with its new mine award this year. Walter Sampso...
A federal court judge has ruled that Teck Cominco Ltd., owner and operator of the Red Dog Mine in Northwest Alaska, violated the federal Clean Water Act by discharging treated wastewater into a nearby stream. U.S. District Court Judge John Sedwick in Anchorage found that Red Dog exceeded limits set by the federal law in 618 claims in a lawsuit filed by a half-dozen residents of the nearby Arctic village of Kivalina. However, Sedwick denied the lawsuit's 1,300-plus other pollution claims in his July 28 ruling. The six...
NovaGold Resources is heading towards the Center of the Universe this year. No, the Vancouver-based junior won't be mining in outer space; it turns out that the Center of the Universe is in Alaska - which will come as no surprise to some residents of the 49th state. Astronomers may disagree about the accuracy of the name, but geologists believe that the Center of the Universe deposit could contain healthy reserves of copper, lead and zinc. NovaGold plans a 3,000-meter drill campaign at the deposit this year, as part of its...
It is business as usual at Red Dog, the world's largest producer of zinc concentrates. But a new general manager is in charge of guiding operations at the huge production facility 90 miles north of Kotzebue. John Knapp, 49, took on the top job at Red Dog earlier in December, when his boss, Robert G. Scott, was appointed vice president of base metal mining at Teck Cominco Ltd., the mine's owner. Knapp came to work as mill manager at Red Dog in January after 25 years at other Teck Cominco lead/zinc operations, most recently...
Other mining projects may be jumping on the bandwagon, but Teck Cominco still leads the race to find local gas reserves to feed the voracious appetite of a large-mine power plant in Alaska. Seven years after discovering gas deposits in shale near the Red Dog lead/zinc mine, the owner of the huge Northwest Alaska mine is ready to drill a two-well exploration program in hopes of replacing costly diesel fuel it must barge in every year. Though oil companies have developed gas reserves to power production facilities on the North...
The first of two-seasons of construction is under way on the Nome Glacier Creek Road realignment in western Alaska. This is just one of a number of mining road and port projects the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities has carried into Phase II, Mike McKinnon, the project's manager, told the Alaska Miners Association annual conference in Anchorage Nov. 4. For five years, he said, the department has "been looking at the issue of industrial development roads with the idea that there are situations where...
Alaska's largest mine and the world's largest producer of zinc counters its national top ranking by the Environmental Protection Agency for toxic releases, saying that the agency's decision to count naturally occurring metals contained in unmilled rock is misleading. According to the latest Toxic Release Inventory report issued by EPA, Red Dog received the dubious honor of topping the nationwide list, due to the amount of metals considered toxic which naturally occur in rock at the remote mine site. For the 2002 report to...
An increase in sales coupled with significantly higher zinc and lead prices helped the Red Dog Mine in northwest Alaska post a $50 million profit in 2003, turning round from a $28 million loss posted the prior year. Red Dog's operator, Teck Cominco Ltd., released its fourth quarter and year-end reports for 2003 on Feb. 4, announcing net earnings of $149 million for the mining company. Higher earnings are due mainly to rising zinc, copper and gold prices, which rose significantly during the fourth quarter, the company said....
