The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
Sorted by date Results 276 - 300 of 451
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... Full story
Over the past 13 years NovaGold Resources Inc. has grown its resource base from 500,000 ounces of gold to more than 17 million ounces of gold reserves, 14 million ounces of gold resources, plus 150 million ounces of silver and 9 billion pounds of copper. While the company intends to continue to add to its stores of metals in the ground, its primary objective is to begin extracting these reserves at Donlin Creek and Galore Creek. "We continue to believe that advancing our asset...
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... Full story
TAU: TSX-V President and CEO: Raj Chowdhry Chairman: Rick Van Nieuwenhuyse Vice President, Exploration: Jerry Zieg TintinaGold Resources Inc. emerged on the Alaska mining scene in 2009 when NovaGold Resources Inc. (see NovaGold Resources Inc.) rolled 397,680 acres of its early-stage exploration properties in Alaska into the Vancouver B.C.-based junior. This transaction included two gold exploration claim groups in the Kuskokwim region (Tintina gold properties and the Colorado Creek gold project) and three western Alaska base...
Dozens of small explorers mounted exploration campaigns in 2010 in and around the historic Stewart Gold Camp in northwestern British Columbia, and as assays trickle in from samples and core sent to labs this spring and summer, many of them are reporting encouraging results. The Stewart Gold Camp, located about 20 miles, or 35 kilometers, from the B.C./Alaska border, is an emerging, world-class mining district that continues to offer discovery opportunities for major gold-copper and precious metal polymetallic deposits. The...
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,... Full story
While many mining companies boast about their pipeline of projects, Barrick Gold Corp. and NovaGold Resources Inc. are studying the feasibility of building an actual pipeline 320 miles, or 515 kilometers, across Alaska to their 33.6-million-ounce Donlin Creek gold project. If the economics makes sense, natural gas shipped via pipeline from Alaska's Cook Inlet would replace the diesel proposed by the 50-50 partners in a feasibility study completed in 2008 as the fuel to generat... Full story
The expansion of North America's infrastructure ended about 500 miles short of reaching the westernmost shores of the United States, leaving more than 350,000 square miles of Alaska without surface transportation or affordable energy. A vast amount of mineral wealth is locked up in this Texas-sized expanse of western Alaska. In its 2010 report, the Alaska Minerals Commission informed state lawmakers that, "Mining is one of few Alaska industries with near-term growth... Full story
Donlin Creek LLC, the 50-50 joint venture between NovaGold Resources Inc. and Barrick Gold Corp., has renegotiated its lease on the Donlin Creek gold project in southwestern Alaska. The Calista Regional Native Corp., owners of the property that holds the 40-million-ounce gold deposit, said the renewed lease provides the miners the additional time and land to mine the gold-rich ore, while maximizing benefits for its more than 13,000 shareholders. Calista Corp. owns 6.5 million...
I recently attended the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada convention in Toronto where a buoyant, project-hungry crowd of 22,000 created enough of its own hot air to start the Greenland Icecap melting. In a clear case of anthropogenic global warming, representatives of companies, governments and agencies rolled out their projects in efforts to see and be seen. Alaska was well represented at the conference and should see some new investment interest coming from... Full story
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...
As we plunge headlong into a new year and a new decade, the broad economic indicators for the mining industry suggest continued strong prices for most commodities in 2010 followed by slightly lower average prices in 2011 and beyond as supplies catch up to demand. Not surprisingly, the source of much of the commodities demand will be Asia with China and India being the two leading economic engines driving commodity prices. Where Alaska's mining industry fits into this global... Full story
NovaGold Resources Inc. has cut a deal with Rio Tinto subsidiary Kennecott Exploration Co. to purchase 100 percent interest in the precious-metal-rich Ambler copper-zinc property in Northwest Alaska. The outright purchase overrides a 2004 joint venture agreement in which NovaGold would have earned a 51 percent stake in the property by spending US$20 million and delivering a positive prefeasibility study on the project by 2016. The junior agreed to pay US$29 million to...
NovaGold Resources Inc. tapped a wealth of mining experience recently when it appointed Gil Leathley as senior advisor to the junior's president and CEO, Rick Van Nieuwenhuyse. "Mr. Leathley is one of the best mine builders in our industry," Nieuwenhuyse said. "He has an unparalleled record of building and operating mines around the world, including Golden Giant in Ontario, Eskay Creek in British Columbia and Ruby Hill in Nevada. Mr. Leathley's pragmatic advice and expertise... Full story
Alaska Governor Sean Parnell reflected on Alaska's rich mining history and vowed to defend the state's mining regulatory process and to oppose unjust attacks on the industry during an address to miners at the Alaska Miners Association 2009 Annual Convention. While falling short of pointing directly to those who are fighting to prevent development and further exploration at the Pebble project in Southwest Alaska, the Alaska Governor's words addressed the issues state regulators and the Pebble Mine owners are facing. "We are... Full story
Romios Gold Resources Inc. Nov. 11 reported the discovery of significant copper, gold and silver mineralization on its Dirk Property located about 37 kilometers, or 24 miles, southeast of NovaGold Resources Inc.-Teck Resources Ltd.'s giant Galore Creek deposit and 7 kilometers, or 4 miles, northwest of Romios' Newmont Lake Property in northwestern British Columbia. Only two zones, Dirk and Telena, of a number of mineralized zones indentified on the newly discovered Dirk property have been sampled to date. A total of 15...
The plunge of base metal prices and turmoil in the financial markets caused explorers and producers alike to scale back exploration budgets for 2009. North of 60 Mining News estimates this year's exploration spending in Alaska to be around US$125 million, down more than 60 percent from the US$328.6 million spent in 2008. Though the global financial meltdown played its role, it was not the largest factor in the dramatically scaled back exploration in Alaska. Alaska's two... Full story
The arrival of 2009 was a milestone for NovaGold Resources Inc. Emerging from a tumultuous 2008, the Vancouver, B.C.-based explorer raised badly needed capital and positioned itself to move its three advanced projects toward production. "NovaGold weathered the considerable challenges of 2008 and has emerged well-positioned to take advantage of a rising gold market and build a premier growth-focused precious metals company," NovaGold President and CEO Rick Van Nieuwenhuyse...
The US$4.48 billion price tag to build a mine at the Donlin Creek gold project did not invoke sticker shock for Barrick Gold Corp. and NovaGold Resources Inc., co-owners of the enormous gold project. After reviewing the feasibility study for the Donlin Creek project in late April, the partners decided to move ahead with permitting a mine at the 40-million-ounce gold deposit located in the Kuskokwim Region of Southwest Alaska. NovaGold President Rick Van Nieuwenhuyse said the...
Full Metal Mineral Ltd., like many juniors, battened down the hatches in 2009 to ride out the financial storm that sank many explorers and caused others to climb aboard ships better suited to the turbulent weather. The explorer emerged in January to raise money and test the financial winds with assay results from its 2008 drilling at the Nadaleen silver-lead-zinc project in the Yukon Territory, and again in March with results of from the OG project, another silver-lead-zinc... Full story
Kinross Gold Corp. - operator of the largest gold mine in the Tintina Gold Belt - has embarked on a treasure hunt in hopes of identifying another Fort Knox-like deposit in this gold-rich province. The Tintina belt is a boomerang-shaped swath of land that spans the breadth of Alaska, through the Yukon Territory and into northern British Columbia. While Kinross works to extend the mine life of Fort Knox after 13 years of production through drilling, the Toronto-based miner is also investing in junior explorers with promising pr...
Most of the mining companies looking for minerals in northern British Columbia ushered in 2009 with high hopes and little else. "It's a perfect storm. The credit crunch in the world financial system has led to a worldwide recession and a collapse in commodity prices. In equities, there is nowhere to hide. Financing has become expensive and difficult to get. I have never seen more difficult conditions for junior resource companies in my entire career," said Hard Creek Nickel Corp. President and CEO Mark Jarvis in describing...
Since Mantra Mining Inc. emerged as the vehicle in which NovaGold Resources Inc. would spin off its noncore assets, the Vancouver B.C.-based junior has positioned itself to become a major player on the Alaska mining scene. In 2009 Mantra acquired whole or part interest in more than 417,000 acres of mining properties in western Alaska, assembled an impressive management team and board of directors (including two Thayer Lindsley award winners) and raised C$5 million to...
