The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
Sorted by date Results 101 - 125 of 151
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...
It would put a halt to activity around mining in Alaska." That's what Cynthia Carroll, president and CEO of global mining giant Anglo American plc, had to say about the Clean Water Initiative when asked about the proposal currently working its way to the ballot in Alaska. Carroll made the comment at the Sheraton Anchorage Hotel Oct. 24, after speaking to members of the Resource Development Council about the proposed 8.2 billion-ton Pebble copper-gold-molybdenum mine. Anglo...
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...
As 2008 winds inexorably to a close, I found myself looking for words adequate to describe what will go down in history as one of the most memorable years in many a moon. Words like tumultuous, unpredictable, singular, turbulent, chaotic, confusing, and unsettling hardly do justice to the past year's events. As usual, the mining industry played its small but vital role in the scheme of world events. The first half of the year brought stratospheric commodity prices, while the...
Let me start this month's mining update by saying I am not a chartist nor do I believe economic cycles are controlled by cosmic forces known only to the mystics. That said, I do believe in cycles because I have lived and worked through more cycles in the mining industry than I care to remember. So a couple of observations seem in order as we plummet down the slope off another peak into what looks to be a pretty deep, chilly valley. First off, what goes up, must come down with...
ILIAMNA - The Bristol Bay region of Southwest Alaska is the home to two world-class resources: a celebrated sockeye salmon fishery and the humongous Pebble copper-gold-molybdenum deposit. This combination offers the potential for an enduring vibrant economy. But the challenge for owners of a proposed mine at Pebble is to create a workable development plan for the mineral resource that poses no threat to the fish resource that relies on the area's rivers and streams for its...
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...
The Pebble Partnership, vowing to share its research with the public as it becomes available, has launched a series of reports based on its pre-permitting environmental and socio-economic reports. In May, the partnership of Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd. and Anglo American plc., the two companies working to develop the massive Pebble copper-gold-molybdenum project in Southwest Alaska, published Report Series A: Meteorology and Report Series B: Surface Water Hydrology-the...
Liberty Star Uranium and Metals Corp. April 10 said it has received interest from "more than one large global mining company" in becoming a joint venture partner to explore the 113,000-acre Big Chunk property that borders the northern and western edges of the Pebble Property in Southwest Alaska. The Tucson, Arizona-based junior said expressions of interest came within two days of a March 26 announcement that Liberty Star is seeking a partner to explore the property. "It is early in the process and the company has no way of ju...
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...
Final assay results from the 2007 drill program at the Pebble Project in Southwest Alaska are bearing out predictions about the copper-gold-molybdenum deposit made by Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd. and Anglo American plc, co-owners of the project. Samples from 157,000 feet taken from 36 drill holes offered enticing clues to the overall size, copper-gold-molybdenum grade distribution and geometry of the Pebble East deposit. Sean Magee, a spokesman for the partnership formed by...
When Anglo American plc. CEO Cynthia Carroll spoke to Alaska business leaders during a visit to Anchorage in October she vowed that the partnership between her company and Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd. would recruit first in Alaska before looking elsewhere to find professionals to manage, run and work their massive Pebble Project. The Pebble Partnership didn't have to look far. John Wood fits the bill perfectly. Not only does Wood offer more than 35 years in civil and mining...
Full Metal Minerals Corp. is gearing up for a busy 2008 exploration season. And Rob McLeod, the Vancouver, B.C.-based junior's vice president of exploration, "can't think of a better place to explore than Alaska in terms of mineral potential." McLeod told Mining News in a recent interview that the company will spend between $17 million and $20 million on exploration this year on ten projects in Alaska and one prospect in Canada's Yukon Territory. Some $6.5 million of that...
Sean Magee, spokesman for The Pebble Limited Partnership, told members of the Anchorage Chamber of Commerce Dec. 3 that the Pebble Mine Project could be developed in an environmentally and socially responsible manner. "There are lots of precedents in our part of the world where mining does coexist with fisheries," Magee told the Anchorage audience. He gave examples of several modern large-scale mines in Alaska and British Columbia that are not only coexisting with the fish...
The results from Alaska's summer field campaigns continue to pour in from all over the state, while field crews wind down their summer work and kick off their winter programs. If the results released this month are any indication of what is yet to come, 2008 is fixing to be one heck of a year! Western Alaska NovaGold Resources announced that initial testing of their crushing circuit had commenced at their commissioning Rock Creek gold mine near Nome. The operation is...
Even though the concept of global warming is a welcome idea to many companies working in Alaska, its effects are not being felt fast enough to allow companies to complete all of the work they had hoped to finish in 2007. Drills are still turning all over the state, but the first signs of "termination dust" are showing on the higher peaks and the smell of fermenting berries fills the air, giving us all a not-so gentle prod to get ready for winter. Western Alaska Teck Cominco...
As the late, great Phil Rizutto used to say when something amazing happened on the baseball field: "Holy Cow!" The last month has seen an explosion of activity across Alaska with companies working in virtually every region on a diverse package of metals including gold, platinum group elements, silver, molybdenum, lead, zinc, copper and nickel. Several new companies have entered the exploration field in Alaska and several new partners have joined forces with previously active...
Vancouver-based Northern Dynasty, whose sole asset is the Pebble project in southwest Alaska, is the only junior mining company to remain in the top five on the TSX Venture Exchange or TSX-V by market capitalization for two years straight. The company's market capitalization was C$326.5 million in 2005, making it the fourth-largest in its sector, and C$657.4 million in 2006, making it the third-largest. These and other achievements by Canadian companies are highlighted in a report called Junior Mine by Pri...
The trials and tribulations of Alaska's mining industry continued in the last month with one challenged mine given the green light to proceed, the other halted in midstride by the same legal system. In the background, exploration programs quietly began at several locations across the state as the busy 2007 mining season started in earnest. Alaska's global rank dropped from 13th to 24th position in the most recent Fraser Institute survey of mining jurisdictions worldwide. At...
A bill in the Alaska Legislature that would place severe restrictions on water use in the Bristol Bay area is undergoing revision by its sponsor, Rep. Bryce Edgmon, D-Dillingham. House Bill 134, was motivated by concerns about the possible development of Northern Dynasty's Pebble mine, but many of those who testified to the House Special Committee on Fisheries said it could block all other forms of development and even subsistence activities. New additions to a committee substitute version of the bill exempt unincorporated...
Okay, the lull is over. It lasted about 25, maybe 30 minutes, after I wrote those prophetic but ill-considered words in late January! Shortly after that point I was in Vancouver for the annual Cordilleran Roundup mining conference, an annual barometer of mining activity in western North America if not the world. What I saw at the 2007 conference was a crowd well in excess of 5,000, populated by two types of people: those who were smiling from ear to ear and those whose terrified eyes reminded me of a whitetail deer in the...
A plan to expand the remote Kemess copper-gold mining operation in northern British Columbia has met with significant opposition from members of First Nations communities in the area. The protests surfaced during a series of public hearings held by the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency between Oct. 30 and Dec. 7. The hearings are part of the provincial and federal environmental assessment process. Northgate Minerals Corp., operator of the Kemess South Mine, wants to extend the life of its mining operation by developing...
By most years' standards, the last month has been a barn burner for mining news. By 2006 standards it hardly measures on the Mining Industry Care-O-Meter, a highly subjective, totally unscientific measurement of what is happening in Alaska's mineral industry. In the last month we have seen the state's largest primary gold deposit resources increase to a mind-boggling 32 million ounces, we've seen one new mine begin commercial construction, we've seen one mine under construction receive a partial injunction against part of...
The game is afoot! The last month has seen the start of a number of field programs in Alaska, marking the beginning of the traditional "field season" in the Great Land. With demand for metals remaining extraordinarily high, Alaska's mining industry is operating at capacity but well below demand. An acute shortage of drills and drillers, geologists and engineers and helicopters to move them all around is affecting exploration, development and production plans around the state. For the first time in my career, money is not in...
Stephen Hodgson, vice president of engineering for Northern Dynasty Mines Inc., says he often hears people who don't live in Alaska talk about the isolation of his company's Pebble mine prospect, but he doesn't consider Pebble to be isolated at all. "Pebble is probably one of the least isolated major copper projects in the world," he said. "We're at low elevation, about 815 feet above sea level, and only 85 miles from tidewater." Northern Dynasty's Pebble gold-copper-molybdenum deposit, near Iliamna in southwestern Alaska,...
