The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
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TNR: TSX-V Executive Chairman and President: Gary Schellenberg Vice President, Exploration: John Harrop Following a five-year hiatus, TNR Gold Corp. returned to Alaska in 2012 to confirm a 1 million-ounce gold resource at its Shotgun project in the Kuskokwim Gold Belt of western Alaska. Located about 110 miles (175 kilometers) south of Donlin Gold and about the same distance northeast of Pebble, this property lies at the intersection of two trends known to host big deposits. When TNR Gold optioned Shotgun from NovaGold...
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...
The 17,209-meter drill program carried out by NovaCopper Inc. in 2012 at the Upper Kobuk Mineral Project in the Ambler Mining District of Northwest Alaska is revealing a third copper deposit with sufficient size and grade to be deemed world-class. When the spin-out of NovaGold Resources Inc.'s copper-rich Ambler project was completed in May, NovaCopper held Arctic, a single deposit with an NI 43-101-compliant resource. But the deal also included US$40 million in start-up...
As gold topped US$1,775 per ounce in September, banks and billionaires predicted the safe-haven metal will continue to rocket upward, topping US$2,000 per ounce by early 2013. This bullish outlook is being fueled by continued quantitative easing by the U.S. Federal Reserve and central banks in Europe. "Loose monetary policies with a scope for more aggressive balance-sheet use in the U.S. and Europe will keep real rates in most reserve currencies low (or negative) in 2012,"...
Over a year ago, Natural Resource Holdings published a report entitled "How Rare are One Million Ounce Gold Deposits?" At that time, the publisher ranked 296 gold deposits that have more than 1 million ounces of gold in all resources categories. The same firm recently published a follow-up report titled, "Global Gold Mines & Deposits 2012 Ranking." The report ranks gold deposits above 1 million ounces, whose numbers have increased to 439 deposits with total resources of...
Under the chairmanship of historian and entrepreneurial billionaire Thomas Kaplan, there is little chance NovaGold Resources Ltd. will be among those of which Spanish philosopher George Santayana warned when he wrote, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." Kaplan, though, does not need to exercise his bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees in history from Oxford University to see the wisdom of marching Donlin Gold - a 40-million-ounce gold deposit...
In a long overdue step to bring Alaska into the 21st Century, state and federal agencies met in late June to discuss collaborative funding strategies for Alaska's Statewide Digital Mapping Initiative, an enterprise designed to create Alaska's first high-quality digital topographic map. The roundtable was convened by Alaska Lt. Gov. Mead Treadwell and the Assistant Secretary for Water and Science, U.S. Department of Interior. Alaska remains the only state in the United States...
An early June shakeup at the upper echelon of Barrick Gold Corp. management, including the sacking of CEO Aaron Regent, calls to question the future of the 40 million-ounce Donlin Gold project in Southwest Alaska. Regent, who had served as Barrick president and CEO since 2009, was replaced by executive vice president and CFO Jamie Sokalsky. Barrick founder and Chairman Peter Munk cited lackluster share performance when announcing the changes to the top executive office. "We...
If you are looking for proof that the mining industry is experiencing unparalleled changes, look no further than "Mine 2012: The growing disconnect," the 9th edition of PricewaterhouseCoopers' annual report on the global mining industry. This recently released report indicates that in 2011 the top 40 global mining companies posted record profits of $133 billion and generated record operating cash flows of $174 billion. However, over the course of the year, market...
Following a five-year hiatus, TNR Gold Corp. has returned to confirm a 1 million-ounce gold resource at its Shotgun project in the Kuskokwim Gold Belt of Southwest Alaska. Located about 110 miles (175 kilometers) south of Donlin Gold and about the same distance northeast of Pebble, the property lies at the intersection of two trends known to host big deposits. "So, it's in a very, very prolific gold area. We think it has a potential not just for 1 or 2 million ounces we...
While most juniors are cinching their belts and scaling back programs, Millrock Resources Inc. has C$7.5 million of exploration slated for its array of gold and copper-gold properties in Alaska in 2012, not to mention a healthy C$4.5 million budget for its copper-gold prospects in Arizona. Millrock President and CEO Greg Beischer said the scarcity of venture capital available to the junior exploration sector was palpable at the Cambridge House World Resource Investment...
The stock symbol "NCQ" lit up the boards on the Toronto and New York stock exchanges May 2, marking the official launch of NovaCopper Inc. as an independent mineral exploration company under the leadership of NovaGold Resources Inc. founder Rick Van Nieuwenhuyse. "Now that we are a public company independent of NovaGold, we are looking forward to unlocking great value from the exceptional assets we have in the Ambler mining district," said NovaCopper President and CEO Van Nieu...
The winds of change are once again blowing across Alaska's mineral industry, not only because the industry is gearing up for another busy summer season, but also because the mining investment climate has turned from cautiously optimistic to decidedly undecided. The sea change occurred steadily and without a lot of fanfare between mid-January and mid-March. As is always the case, good projects continue to advance with those that are drilling and adding resources or moving throu...
When geologists talk about the exciting gold deposits recently discovered in Canada's Yukon Territory, they use terms like "structurally controlled, intrusion-related" and "Carlin-style." Attentive laymen soon catch on, recognizing that "structural" often characterizes the non-glaciated hydrothermal deposits found in the White Gold district of west-central Yukon and "intrusive" commonly refers to impressive finds in mountainous central Yukon, while some discoveries to the east have been labeled "Carlin-style" because of...
The Fraser Institute's "Survey of Mining Companies, 2011/2012" was recently released to the public. This annual survey of exploration and mining companies gauges the pros and cons of working in various countries around the world. This year's results came from over 800 mineral industry companies working in 93 jurisdictions and representing cumulative 2011 exploration expenditures of over US$6.3 billion. The perception of Alaska from the companies that work here was about the...
British Columbia, Yukon Territory and Alaska - the headliners of the Association for Mining Exploration British Columbia's annual Mineral Exploration Roundup - tallied more than C$1 billion of mineral exploration spending and some C$12.7 billion in mine production in 2011. "We are going to talk in the next three sessions about the wrinkly parts of western North America - B.C., Yukon and Alaska. The geological phenomena that has created these mountain chains that we have in...
I was tempted to make a few 2012 predictions now that 2011 is nearly gone, but I decided not to when I came across the following lines and was struck by how closely they mimic our current mining climate: "On a more local level, several old Alaska properties have been rejuvenated by new players to the Alaska mineral scene. Reserve announcements have touched off renewed land acquisitions and property negotiations. Contracts for technical personnel, drill rigs, helicopters and...
NovaGold Resource Inc. has made tectonic shifts in its leadership and corporate structure. Shedding all of its assets except for the Donlin Gold project in Southwest Alaska, the restructured company is singularly focused on bringing this 40-million-ounce gold deposit into production by the end of the decade. Rick Van Nieuwenhuyse - who founded NovaGold and guided the exploration company through 15 years of trials and triumphs - is relinquishing NovaGold's top executive office...
Rick Van Nieuwenhuyse, who is stepping down as the president and CEO of NovaGold Resources Ltd., is jumping into the driver's seat of NovaCopper Inc., a vehicle designed for the continued exploration of NovaGold's Ambler project and other prospects in the Upper Kobuk region of Northwest Alaska. "My passion is exploration and just like we found two other world-class, high-quality targets in Donlin and Galore (projects), we are looking to do the same thing in the Ambler...
Much of Alaska's resource wealth is locked up in more than 350,000 square miles (906,000 square kilometers) west of the state's contiguous road system. Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell has included some US$50 million in his fiscal 2013 state budget proposal to support measures aimed at gaining access to much of the state's abundant oil, gas and minerals resources including three roads that would trek westward. "Better transportation corridors will open up petroleum and mining...
As a busy year in the Alaska and global mining industry starts to slide closer to its end, I figured now was a good time to gaze into my crystal ball (rutilated quartz, of course) to see what next year might bring. While strong metals prices promise another busy year for Alaska, a dose of global reality was provided by the financial giant Ernst & Young, who recently published a list of the top 10 business risks for the mining and metals industry for the coming year. Resource n...
Whether it is multimillion-ounce gold discoveries, copper deposits that measure in the billions of pounds or massive ore-bodies of 20 percent zinc, Alaska is renowned for its mammoth deposits. The prospect of finding another Donlin, Pebble or Red Dog continues to draw explorers to this vast and underexplored corner of the United States. In the Survey of Mining Companies: 2010/2011, conducted by the Fraser Institute, top executives from 494 mining and mineral exploration...
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...
From deploying its own geologists to make grassroots discoveries to partnering with junior explorers with strong geological know-how and enticing projects, Teck Resources Ltd. is seeking new high-quality deposits of zinc, copper and gold across Alaska and Canada's North. "In terms of our overall exploration strategy, it has three parts to it: One is doing our own grassroots, regional exploration; the second arena we get involved with is joint ventures with junior companies; an...
Frontrunners in the Yukon mineral exploration rush in 2011 spent more than C$12 million each, with at least one company pouring C$25 million into its program. These companies include Atac Resources Ltd., Kaminak Gold Corp., Capstone Mining Corp., Alexco Resource Corp., Golden Predator Corp., Ryan Gold Corp. and Silver Range Resources Ltd. At least another 14 companies shelled out more than C$5 million each to search for precious and base metals, using virtually every modern exploration technique from sampling to drilling....
