The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
Sorted by date Results 326 - 350 of 451
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...
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...
Reeling from regulatory and operating problems at the Rock Creek Mine 12 kilometers, or 8 miles, from Nome and effects of the recent credit drought, NovaGold Resources Inc. Nov. 24 said it has suspended production at the Rock Creek gold mine for at least six months. The move comes less than three months after production startup at the small gold mining project in September. The Vancouver, B.C.-based fledgling producer blamed its financial troubles on huge unexpected cost...
Rick Van Nieuwenhuyse, president and CEO of NovaGold Resources Inc., said problems facing global markets today as well as his struggling company are the result of society's desire for zero risks. "Today we have a world that is ruled by lawyers, accountants, politicians, and (securities and banking) regulators; and they have made a mess of things lately," Nieuwenhuyse told members of the Alaska Miners Association at their annual convention in Anchorage Nov. 7. "We can't really... Full story
Alaska's mineral industry set a new spending record of about $4 billion in 2007, up 13.3 percent from the value of the industry's expenditures in 2006, according to an 89-page report released Nov. 5 by the Division of Geological & Geophysical Surveys and the Office of Economic Development. The industry's reported value, according to DGGS, is calculated by combining the amount spent on exploration and development with the production value of mines in Alaska. While 2007 was a... Full story
NovaGold Resources Inc. reports that the startup of its first mining operation at Rock Creek near Nome is going smoothly. Production levels at Rock Creek have been higher than the company anticipated, averaging about 50 percent of design capacity during the first month of operation, NovaGold said in its third-quarter financial report. The gold mine's gravity circuits ran at about 80 percent availability and the carbon-in-leach system is in the process of being charged and... Full story
The Northwest Transmission Line along Highway 37 is once again on the front burner in British Columbia, and development of the 517-kilometer-long, or 321-mile-long, power line could provide easier access to Lower 48 markets for power generated in Alaska. British Columbia has resumed the environmental assessment process and First Nations consultation required for the project, following an announcement by the Canadian province's Premier Gordon Campbell Sept. 26 that the power project was back on track. The B.C. government... Full story
The national sucking sound of venture capital exiting the mining industry has now expanded to a worldwide sucking sound as virtually all of the world's economies fight the massive, unprecedented credit crunch which started in the U.S. The mining industry is certainly not alone in feeling the down turn but its effects in Alaska began to be felt last month and continued this month as projects were shortened, plans down-sized or programs cancelled, all in an effort to preserve...
Coeur d'Alene Mines Corp.'s Kensington gold mine project, located about 45 miles northwest of Juneau, is expecting a Supreme Court ruling on its tailings permits in early 2009. If the court upholds the permits, Coeur hopes to complete its tailings facilities and begin gold production by the end of next year. Once in production the mine will employ about 200 people, and produce about 140,000 ounces of gold per year. Proven and probable reserves measure about 1.4 million ounces of gold, and an additional 623,000 ounces...
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,...
NovaGold Resources Inc.'s Rock Creek gold mine began production Sept. 19. Crews began feeding the 6,500-metric-ton-per-day-mill at 25 percent capacity with a ramp-up to full production targeted for year's end. Once in full production, the operation is expected to turn out 100,000 ounces of gold per year. The main pit at Rock Creek has a resource of 500,000 ounces. The company's objective is to increase the resource to 1 million ounces over the next year. The Usibelli Coal Mine is a fourth-generation family-owned business...
The financial markets haven't been kind to junior mining and exploration stocks lately. During the past six months, five of Alaska's junior explorers have lost more than three-quarters of their average stock values. This decimation of junior stocks is not isolated to companies doing business in Alaska and northern Canada, but sweeps the industry across the board. The S&P/TSX Venture Composite Index, which represents about 40 percent of mining companies worldwide, has declined... Full story
Mantra Mining Inc. became a major mineral property landholder in Alaska literally overnight when it agreed to purchase more than 485,000 acres of mining claims from NovaGold Resources Inc. and Rio Tinto PLC. In a C$20 million deal Mantra bought NovaGold's interest in six western Alaska projects including its option agreement to earn a 51 percent interest in the Ambler project about 290 kilometers, or 180 miles, southeast of the Red Dog zinc mine. Mantra has agreed to pay $29... Full story
With termination dust settling ever lower throughout Alaska, the bulk of the 2008 exploration season has been completed, but lots of results are still pending from projects around the state. As the exploration industry winds down, the Rock Creek gold mine started production bringing owner and operator NovaGold Resources Inc. its first operating mine and bringing Nome its first modern lode gold mine. While this was going on in our backyard, the financial markets were starting... Full story
NovaGold Resources Inc. experienced more than a 30 percent drop in stock value when the Vancouver B.C.-based junior reported it is selling more than 485,000 acres of its non-core mining assets in Alaska, and that sale of the entire company is one of the options managers are considering as a "strategic alternative to maximize shareholder value." "We just wanted to signal to the market that we think we are really undervalued here. These assets are high-quality assets in a low... Full story
Assays are beginning to roll in from projects around Alaska with some particularly impressive results from gold exploration in the Livengood District and equally impressive polymetallic results from the Fortymile and Haines Districts. Additional results from gold, copper, base metal and uranium projects are due to come out in the near future as the bulk of Alaska's seasonal exploration programs begin to churn out their results. Although gold, silver and copper prices remain high, lead and zinc prices are down 20 percent in... Full story
NovaGold Resources Inc. July 11 posted its second-quarter financial results and admitted that the company has encountered significant problems getting Rock Creek, its most advanced gold mining project, up and running. NovaGold also outlined plans to sell some of its noncore assets, including its Ambler lead-zinc property near the Red Dog Mine in Northwest Alaska. NovaGold said it initially budgeted about $42 million in fiscal 2008 to complete construction at the Rock Creek mine near Nome. However, significant adverse weather...
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...
Everyone who is planning to work on Alaska mineral projects in 2008 is busy doing just that as the longest day of summer quickly approaches. Programs ranging from grass-roots prospecting to multimillion-dollar feasibility studies are spread over the entire state with the most active areas being Western and Interior Alaska. With the new resources for Donlin Creek now out, my unofficial records show Alaska's total gold resources at more than 169 million ounces, with gold discovery rates during the past 10 years averaging more... Full story
Canada's Federal Court of Appeal has set aside a lower court ruling and confirmed a federal environmental assessment of the Red Chris copper-gold project 18 kilometers, or about 11 miles, southeast of the village of Iskut, east of the Alaska Panhandle in Northwest British Columbia, according to project owner Imperial Metals Corp. In September 2007, the Federal Court Trial Division of Canada ruled in favor of an application by MiningWatch Canada for judicial review of a federal environmental assessment of the Red Chris...
Full Metal Minerals Corp. May 15 said it signed an exploration agreement with an option to purchase 100 percent interest in the Granite Creek Gold Property in southwestern Alaska. The Vancouver, B.C.-based junior said it can earn 100 percent interest in the Granite Creek property from a third-party Alaska resident by paying $375,000 in cash ($50,000 first year), and incurring $3.25 million in exploration expenditures ($200,000 first year). After exercising the option, Full Metal said it will make annual $150,000 advance royal...
Building a power line into northern British Columbia could attract C$3.5 billion in mining investment to the area, according to preliminary findings of an independent study. The Northwest Power Line Coalition, an industry group that took up the idea when B.C. government officials dropped plans for the power line last fall, released the findings in April. They showed that not only would an electricity conduit along Highway 37 in northwest British Columbia help bring at least eight new mining projects to the region, it also... Full story
Last month's perfect storm of news from around the state has blown itself out so that this month we are getting only a drizzle or two. Why? Seems straightforward to me. If you have a budget, you already have started working on it, and you are too busy working to have anything much to report. If you don't have a budget yet, it is unlikely that you will be getting one at this late date so you have even less to say. Time to put boots on the outcrops! Western Alaska NovaGold... Full story
Millrock Resources Inc. has added four significant Alaska gold properties to its portfolio in preparation for substantial exploration in 2008. Millrock is currently working on its 2008 exploration budget, but early estimates are that the company will spend between $3 million and $4 million on its Alaska properties this year. The bulk of the budget will be applied to exploration at the Ketchem, Estelle and Divide properties, Millrock President Greg Beischer told Mining News...
Vancouver-based NovaGold Resources Inc. April 14 assured investors that it has a "clearly defined strategy" to rebuild shareholder value from the setbacks suffered in the market last fall when the company and partner Teck Cominco Ltd. elected to delay development of the Galore Creek Project in northern British Columbia. NovaGold's new strategy is a focus on Rock Creek and Donlin Creek, the junior's gold projects in Alaska. NovaGold also reported earnings of $28 million, or 27... Full story
