The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
Sorted by date Results 401 - 425 of 451
The story of Illinois Creek gold mine has a moral (or two) and a happy ending. So for Bob Loeffler it was the perfect note on which to end his employment at Alaska's Department of Natural Resources, where he was director of the Division of Mining, Land and Water from 1999 until early November this year. Loeffler resigned with DNR Commissioner Tom Irwin and other officials because of a disagreement over Gov. Frank Murkowski's gas pipeline plans. Earlier this fall Loeffler visited Illinois Creek mine, on state land 50 miles...
As expected, results from the summer field programs have begun to roll in from all over the state. Discoveries from base and precious metals properties were reported in September and several properties previously explored in the Carter administration were rediscovered and are turning out promising results. Metals prices remain robust with gold pushing the $475 per ounce mark. While Alaska's mining industry is still trying to catch its breath from this year, many companies...
Whether the Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd. Pebble project in Southwest Alaska is economic to develop is a question for others, but Pebble field geologist Richard Moses is certain of one thing: The rocks at and around the Pebble prospect are the richest he has seen in his long career. Questions of economic viability rest on a host of educated assumptions regarding factors such as market values of copper, gold and molybdenum over the life of the mine; the cost of transportation and transportation infrastructure to the remote...
Rock Creek will be one of Alaska's most straightforward mining projects, if all goes according to plan for Vancouver-based NovaGold Resources. The company is developing what will be its first producing mine eight miles outside Nome, and the local power utility will provide the required five to seven megawatts. The open pit mine is expected to produce 100,000 ounces of gold annually and capital costs are estimated at $55 million to $60 million. "Infrastructure is excellent, certainly by Alaska standards, the road goes right... Full story
The Grace property in British Columbia appears so far not to contain any significant gold or copper, but its surface could still be extremely valuable to Vancouver-based NovaGold Resources. In a pre-feasibility level study for the Galore Creek mine that NovaGold expected to make public in late October, part of the 2,400-hectare Grace property may be a potential location for tailings disposal facilities. Another Vancouver company, Pioneer Metals, which owns the sub-surface rights, has upped the ante by commencing legal action... Full story
As expected, news has begun to trickle in from projects being worked on across the state. Some of the news is good, some not so good and some makes one scratch the head and wonder what it all means. Two new corporations entered the Alaska exploration industry in August, a trend started late last year as metal prices began their climb to current levels. August also saw the start of several new programs on a wide range of projects spread from the Seward Peninsula to southern Southeastern Alaska. The tally of the good, the bad...
I have had numerous people ask me the same question over and over again for the last month - "What's going on in Alaska; everyone is so quiet?" My response has been and remains the same - everyone is too busy breaking rocks, drilling holes or crushing ore to be bothered with new releases and grandiose public announcements. After all, it is high summer in the high north, a time of seasonal frenetic activity that makes the lot of us look and feel like a mouse in a habitat wheel! Despite the fact that a dozen or so companies... Full story
One of British Columbia's largest advanced exploration projects has taken a leap forward this summer, with the camp at Galore Creek expanding from 75 people to 175 people. Vancouver-based NovaGold Resources, well-known in Alaska with its Donlin Creek and Rock Creek projects, now has seven core drillings rigs and two geotechnical rigs in operation at Galore Creek. The 74,000-acre property is located within the historic Sitkine Gold Belt of northwest British Columbia, about 90 miles east of Wrangell, Alaska. "The program has... Full story
In case you have not heard, Alaska's mineral industry is cooking! Over the last month two new companies have acquired mineral properties in Alaska and most of the existing projects kicked off their summer programs in earnest. One of Alaska's major mining projects received its final permits to allow mine construction to begin and several others are conducting preliminary and final feasibility studies. Drilling rigs are scarce as hen's teeth and the helicopters to lift them and the people who run them are booked from now until...
On the cusp of what promises to be one of the busiest mineral exploration and development seasons in the last 20 years, the mineral industry is madly preparing its personnel and equipment all across the state. Despite the late season snows and unusually cool temperatures being experienced as this summary is being written, many of Alaska's exploration programs are either under way or will be sometime in early May. Competition for funds within and between companies remains fierce as projects in the U.S., Canada, Europe,...
Power, lime and logistics are the three major challenges Placer Dome needs to address this year as it moves ahead with the Donlin Creek gold project in southwest Alaska, project geologist James Fueg told a meeting of the Alaska Miners' Association and Society of Mining Engineers in Anchorage April 13. Placer Dome is the operator of the project, which is a joint venture with NovaGold Resources. Both companies are based in Vancouver. In terms of the power supply, there is no regional grid or generating capacity. The project is... Full story
The chief of the mining section within the Alaska's Department of Natural Resources, Stan Foo, has taken a senior position with Placer Dome. Foo, 48, left DNR in mid-March, having worked there since 2001. He will now be Placer Dome's project manager for Alaska, representing the Vancouver-based company in the state and heading the Donlin Creek project, a joint venture with NovaGold. Foo spent 15 years of his career with Placer Dome and was an independent resource consultant for two years before moving to DNR. He started... Full story
Many Alaska state legislators have a personal connection with mining, and perhaps none more so than Richard Foster, Nome's Democratic representative. Foster, 58, grew up on his father's mine, 100 miles north of Nome. Today he is glad to see Vancouver-based NovaGold developing its Rock Creek project in his district, but he also regrets the disappearance of "mom and pop" mining operations like the one where he worked as a child. "NovaGold has been very aggressive in trying to develop their gold and also their boundless...
The Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys and the Department of Commerce and Economic Development have released their annual preliminary report on Alaska's mining industry for 2004. As expected, investment in all categories was up significantly over previous years. Exploration spending in 2004 was estimated at $63.7 million, up from $27.6 million in 2003. The 2004 expenditures were the highest in the state since 1981. Development expenditures jumped to $105.6 million vs. $39.2 million in 2003, thanks largely t...
Mining giant Placer Dome Inc. announced a 24 percent growth in earnings in 2004 to $284 million, partly due to "a number of tax items resulting in a net tax recovery of $130 million," the company said in a press release in mid-February. Sales revenue increased 7 percent to $1.89 billion on gold production of 3.65 million ounces and copper production of 413 million pounds. Gold cash and total costs were $240 and $298 per ounce, respectively, while copper cash and total costs were 55 cents and 70 cents per pound, respectively....
A recent Dow Jones report puts a slightly more definite timetable on what NovaGold Resources has been telling Alaskans for the last year: That it's getting ready to make the leap from explorer to mine operator when it starts production at what will be both its first producing mine and the Seward Peninsula's first hard rock gold mine since World War I. NovaGold President and Chief Executive Officer Rick Van Nieuwenhuyse told Dow Jones in late January that if all goes according to schedule the company's Rock Creek project...
Neither the heat and smoke from wildfires, nor excruciatingly low winter temperatures could deter miners from expanding their operations in Alaska this past season. Representatives of several companies described their achievements in the "Development and Mine Operations" session at the Alaska Miners Association convention on Nov. 5. NovaGold Resources' Rock Creek John Odden from NovaGold Resources began with a presentation on Rock Creek, which is located on the Seward Peninsula, seven miles north of Nome. Part of it is on...
The month of November started off with a bang with favorable results for the mining industry from both the state and federal elections standpoint. As it closes the price of gold is flirting with $450 per ounce, the highest price for this metal since mid-1988. The Alaska Miners Association convention was very well attended in early November and results were revealed there from many of Alaska's exploration, development and production properties. A quick tally of spending across... Full story
It's still a few years off, but if NovaGold Resources Inc. turns the Ambler prospect into an operating mine, it could open up a mineral belt with a total of $12 billion in reserves - at 1982 prices. That $12 billion figure comes from a 1982 state report listing 10 major volcano-derived deposits in northwestern Alaska, from the operating Red Dog Mine all the way to the border of Gates of the Arctic National Park. Perhaps the biggest and richest concentration is the Arctic deposit 150 miles east of Kotzebue near the villages...
Despite the fact that winter has arrived over much of Alaska, exploration efforts continued at record pace throughout the state in October. Late summer programs are now competing for people and drills with early winter programs in a number of areas, a problem not normally encountered in Alaska. In a further sign of the strength of the rebound in the metals markets, a number of companies are already tying up people, drills, camp equipment, analytical services and helicopter... Full story
In case you hadn't noticed, one of the busiest but quietest Augusts in the last 10 years just slipped into the pages of history. Mineral exploration, development and production maintained a low profile in just about every region of the state during August. Drills continued to turn and samples continued to stream in from programs searching for gold, silver, copper, lead, zinc, nickel, platinum and palladium. The hot spots continued to be the Iliamna District, the Goodpaster...
Late summer rains and cooler temperatures, usually the norm for Interior Alaska, did not materialize this year, allowing wildlands fires to continue burning and spreading throughout the region in August. According to state and federal fire reports posted Sept. 3, a total of 6,378,692 acres of land in Alaska has burned during this summer's wildlands fires, reportedly the most ever in a single season. Statewide, 648 fires were reported and more than 80 fires remain active, even in early September when fire crews typically...
NovaGold Resources appears to have hit another prospecting grand slam one year after optioning the Galore Creek project in a remote section of northwestern British Columbia. The Vancouver, British Columbia-based junior in August released "exceptional" drill results, the first from this summer's planned 20,000-meter (60,000-foot) program, and an economically positive scoping study for developing the large gold-silver-copper deposit as an open-pit mine. Four drill rigs were working on the property in late July, and a fifth was...
One of the most bizarre summers in Alaska's recent history is in full swing and only the snows of winter will dampen things. I am speaking of course of the impact that Alaska's plus-4 million acres of wildfires have had on mineral exploration, development and operations in the central and eastern parts of the state. The fires came along with an unusually dry and warm summer for virtually all of the state. In addition to the usual problems of who's AWOL after the Fourth of... Full story
Already a giant-sized deposit containing lots of gold, silver and copper, Galore Creek's allure is in its undefined expansion potential, according to the property's developer. NovaGold Resources and its Canadian subsidiary, SpectrumGold, have started drilling work this summer to find out how much more of those precious metals remain to be discovered. Three drill rigs are currently turning at the remote Galore Creek, a gold-silver-copper porphyry deposit optioned by the Vancouver, British Columbia, junior last year. Last...
