The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
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Alaska's mining industry captured the attention, not only of Alaskans but also the country during the past year when a controversy over the proposed Pebble Project in Southwest Alaska bubbled to the surface. Supporters and opponents of a ballot initiative aimed at blocking the mining venture squared off in a vocal and often strident campaign that made headlines nationwide. Alaska Miners Association director Steve Borell cited the contest over development the world-class...
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...
When Greg Beischer and Phil St. George teamed up to form Millrock Resources Inc. nearly two years ago, they set out to make big discoveries that would attract the interest of the world's mining giants. These two exploration geologists now think the Estelle high-grade gold property in Alaska's Rainy Pass district, about 160 kilometers, or 100 miles, northwest of Anchorage could be one such property. The Millrock team has the background to know what global mining companies are...
One of the techniques that miners use to effectively and quickly mount a mining exploration program in the wilds of Alaska and Northwestern Canada is to hire out to knowledgeable contractors much of the work involved, including the actual exploring and decision-making. But it takes a very special kind of temp agency to fulfill such demanding job requirements. Equity Exploration Consultants Ltd. is one firm that has met this need for 20 years. The Vancouver, B.C.-based consultant has racked up considerable international...
Full Metal Minerals Ltd. has 11 exploration projects spanning Alaska. The company's two primary projects are the Lucky Shot high-grade gold property about 90 miles north of Anchorage, and the LWM zinc-lead-silver prospect at its 40 Mile property in eastern Alaska. In a joint venture with BHP Billiton, Full Metal is exploring multiple copper-gold porphyry targets on 88,675 acres of Doyon Ltd. land in eastern Alaska. Full Metal has joint venture agreements with both major and junior mining companies, including Kinross Gold,...
After six years of hard work, NovaGold Resources Inc. is moving closer to its goal of developing a world-class gold mine in the hills above the Yukon-Kuskokwim River Basin of southwestern Alaska. The Vancouver, B.C.-based junior is set to produce its first gold at the Rock Creek project near Nome this year, but its ongoing development of the Donlin Creek deposit hundreds of miles southeast of Nome is more likely to propel the company onto the world stage as a mega-producer of the yellow precious metal. NovaGold and its 50...
Mining exploration appears to be hotter than ever this season in the Northwest Territories and Nunavut, but the Canadian Arctic region's few producers are getting hammered by the strong Canadian dollar. The discrepancy was particularly evident in the territories' mining production. The total value of metal and diamond shipments from the Northwest Territories and Nunavut Territory decreased to C$1.53 billion during the calendar year 2007 for the second consecutive year, down from C$1.63 billion in 2006 and C$1.79 billion in...
The game is afoot all across Alaska with the drills turning to the right on projects all across the state. The operating mines turned in strong first-quarter results and several new acquisitions, joint ventures and new players were announced in the last month. Western Alaska Teck Cominco American announced first quarter results from its Red Dog Mine. In the first quarter, the mine produced 138,500 metric tons of zinc in concentrate. Zinc ore grade increased to 21.3 percent while mill recoveries remained steady at 83.8...
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...
Let me extend my apologies to all those looking for a quick summary of the Alaska mining industry this month. There is nothing "quick" about the tome you are about to read, but don't blame the messenger. I just report what I read, and this month it's a sack full! No need for more words, just read on! Western Alaska NovaGold Resources announced results of a newly released report on the Rock Creek project, nearing commercial production outside of Nome. The revised feasibility... Full story
Spokane, Wash.-based Gold Crest Mines Inc. has signed agreements with a subsidiary of gold mining giant Newmont Mining Corp. in which the companies propose to enter into two separate joint ventures to explore Gold Crest's AKO and Luna gold properties in the Kuskokwim region of southwest Alaska about 90 miles east of Bethel. Denver-based Newmont will be the operator of the proposed venture and can earn 51 percent in each of the properties by spending a minimum of $3 million by...
With metals prices riding high, Yukon Territory government officials are excited about prospects for increased exploration and development activity by mining companies in the coming season. "We are optimistic about industry's continued interest in Yukon," said Energy, Mines and Resources Minister Archie Lang, who joined a government delegation attending the 25th annual Mineral Exploration Roundup in Vancouver the week of Jan. 27. More than 6,000 delegates, including geologists, prospectors, junior and senior mining and...
The government of Nunavut reported figures in early November suggesting the Canadian territory is heading for its eighth year of record spending on mineral exploration and development. A sector that injected about C$26 million into the economy in 1999 is now expected to pump in more than C$256 million in 2007. That's nearly one-quarter of Nunavut's entire gross domestic product and a 17 percent jump from last year. Over 65 exploration companies were active in Nunavut in 2006. With the Jericho diamond mine, operated by Tahera...
If Newmont Mining Corp., the world's second largest gold producer, succeeds in its $1.52 billion takeover of Vancouver, B.C.-based Miramar Mining Corp., the major will gain control of one of the largest undeveloped gold projects in North America. Miramar owns the Hope Bay Project in Nunavut Territory, which has a 10.7 million-ounce gold resource about 99 miles north of the Arctic Circle and about 434 miles northeast of Yellowknife, NWT. Miramar planned to start construction this year and achieve annual output up to 600,000...
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,...
Exploration spending in British Columbia hit a record high of C$265 million in 2006, a figure that the province's mining minister, Bill Bennett was proud to announce at the recent Mineral Exploration Roundup in Vancouver. Unfortunately for Bennett, he probably won't be invited to boast about the industry's successes next year, since he was forced to resign in early February after sending an obscenity-laced email to a gun club member. "British Columbians want good jobs, and they also, frankly, want the tax revenues that come... Full story
A broad spectrum of Alaskans who support the proposed Pebble mine have formed a non-profit organization to inform the public about Northern Dynasty's copper-gold project in the Bristol Bay region. Truth About Pebble was officially launched at a meeting of the Resource Development Council in Anchorage Jan. 18 with speeches by three of the new organization's board members. Truth About Pebble's chairman, Dick Cattanach, who is executive director of the Associated General Contractors of Alaska, told the RDC that the opposition...
When a University of Alaska Fairbanks professor moonlighting as a consultant asked student Mike Busby to drive out to a gold mine north of the city, Busby had no idea the day trip would change his life. It turned out the mine was looking for workers and hired Busby on the spot. That opportunity in the mid-1970s thrust Busby into a gold mining career in Interior Alaska that has lasted for 30 years. Along the way, Busby met his wife, Lou, and raised two children. In 1990, the Busbys began mining a site about 180 miles east of...
Two Vancouver-based mining companies are forging ahead with gold projects in Nunavut, and if all goes according to plan they could both be in production by 2008. Cumberland Resources and Miramar Mining have seen their stock prices leap from under $2 a year ago to around $5 today thanks to endorsement from the Nunavut Impact Review Board. The mainly indigenous residents of Canada's far northern territory have expressed enthusiasm for new mining projects, as long as stringent environmental conditions are adhered to. After... Full story
Drop by Galore Creek camp this summer and you're sure to be well fed. A lively bunch of young people load up their plates with steak, shrimp, potatoes, salads and cakes, refueling after another rainy day in the field. The only slight problem for the casual visitor is getting here. There is no way into this temporary town up in the mountains of British Columbia other than by helicopter. From Wrangell in southeast Alaska a group from the Alaska Miners Association took a five-seater plane to Bob Quinn airstrip across the border...
Higher prices for precious and base metals, gemstones, coal and other minerals are luring explorers back to the Yukon Territory, and this resurgence in mining activity has government officials grappling with ways to encourage the miners to stay. The number and variety of mining exploration projects under way this year bodes wells for the territory's future and for government's chances of re-awakening what many call a sleeping giant - Yukon's mining industry. "Yukon is coming back," says Ivan Jacobsen, a stockbroker at Canacco...
Coping with the unexpected is a challenge facing Teck Cominco in Alaska this summer, as both its Pogo Mine project near Delta Junction and the Red Dog Mine near Kotzebue encounter the unexpected. Construction of the Pogo gold mine is rapidly moving toward completion in time for an early 2006 startup. But workers are grappling with poor ground conditions in underground development at the project. The mine, 85 miles southeast of Fairbanks, is estimated to contain 7.7 million tons of ore that should yield just under a... Full story
Current market conditions favor the three metals uncovered in the Pebble project operated by Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd. in southwestern Alaska. Not only are gold and copper fetching good prices, but a recent run-up in molybdenum prices could deliver a nice bonus for the project. Little known metal makes big contributions Molybdenum, pronounced "meh-LIB-deh-nem," is mainly a byproduct of copper mining but some standalone molybdenum mines do exist. The element was discovered by Carl Welhelm Scheele, a Swedish chemist, in...
Canadian junior Rimfire Minerals is expanding its horizons yet again, this time by clinching a deal with one of the world's largest gold mining companies. In December Mining News reported on Vancouver-based Rimfire's promising results at the Tide property in British Columbia. In January the company announced a partnership with Barrick Gold to explore another British Columbia gold-silver property called Kizmet. Under a memorandum of understanding between the two companies, Barrick has agreed to make a $60,500 cash payment to R...
An initial investment of $10 in a gold-silver property by Vancouver-based Rimfire Minerals might pay off handsomely in the long term. Rimfire purchased the Tide property in British Columbia from Newmont Exploration in 2001 for that nominal fee, and last year partnered with another Vancouver company, Serengeti Resources, to push forward a drilling and fieldwork program. Serengeti is earning a 51 percent interest in Tide by spending C$1.4 million on exploration. The results so far have been very promising. High-grade gold and... Full story
