The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
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With the goal of filing for permits by the end of the year, the Pebble Limited Partnership has agreed to a budget of roughly US$80 million for Pebble in 2013, which will push the total investment in the Southwest Alaska copper-gold-molybdenum deposit above US$750 million. "By the time the Pebble Partnership triggers permitting under NEPA (National Environmental Policy Act), more than US$700 million will have been invested to ensure a robust project design from a technical,...
VANCOUVER, B.C. - British Columbia, Alaska and Yukon Territory - the headliners of the Association for Mining Exploration British Columbia's 2013 Mineral Exploration Roundup - tallied more than C$1 billion of mineral exploration spending in 2012. This marks the second year running that these neighboring jurisdictions at the northwestern extent of the North American Cordillera topped the C$1 billion mark. But unlike the 2012 Roundup, a year in which explosive exploration...
Ending a streak of robust growth, mineral exploration spending in Alaska during 2012 took a downward turn from the record US$300 million spent a year earlier. "More advanced-stage projects that added ounces or pounds to their resource base had a better go of it than early-stage exploration projects which have taken a hard right cross to the jaw!" Curt Freeman, a well-known Alaska geologist and president of Fairbanks-based Avalon Development, observed in September. This blow de...
The Pebble Limited Partnership is spending some US$107 million to advance the enormous Pebble copper-gold-molybdenum project in 2012, with the objective of initiating permitting under the National Environmental Policy Act in 2013. Work programs include environmental studies focused on fish and marine resources, water quality and groundwater hydrology; continued engineering analysis to finalize a project description; geotechnical and exploration drilling; and workforce and...
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...
What's the rush?" This is the question the Pebble Partnership and a growing number of lawmakers, resource development advocates and state officials are asking the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in regard to the regulator's assessment of the Bristol Bay Watershed. Companies hoping to develop promising mineral deposits in the United States typically spend several years and millions of dollars to gather environmental baseline information needed to initiate a long and...
The Pebble Limited Partnership has approved a budget of about US$107 million to advance the enormous Pebble copper-gold-molybdenum project in 2012, with the objective of readying to initiate permitting under the National Environmental Policy Act. Work programs for the coming months will include ongoing environmental studies focused on fish and marine resources; water quality and groundwater hydrology; continued engineering analysis to finalize a project description;...
Though the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency emphatically denies it has predetermined whether to exercise its authority under Section 404(c) of the Clean Water Act to prohibit or restrict large-scale mining in the Bristol Bay watershed, a draft assessment published by the regulatory agency surmises that development of Pebble and other promising copper deposits in this vast expanse of state-owned land in Southwest Alaska may pose a threat to a world-class salmon fishery...
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...
The state finds itself in a 'damned if you do, damned if you don't" situation,' Alaska Attorney General Michael Geraghty wrote in a April 17 letter to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 10 Administrator Dennis McLerran. The letter is the third in a series of correspondence between Geraghty and McLerran regarding the EPA's authority to conduct an assessment of the potential risks that large-scale development projects may pose to the Bristol Bay Watershed of Southwest...
The Pebble Limited Partnership has published a long-anticipated environmental baseline document for the enormous Pebble copper-gold-molybdenum project situated in the Bristol Bay region of Southwest Alaska. This marks a major milestone on the path to permitting, estimated to begin by mid-2013. "The release of the EBD comes after one of the most exhaustive environmental study programs in the history of U.S. mineral development," said Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd. President...
There are some new statistics just out from the Alaska Miners Association that I thought you might like to see. For 2011, the Alaska mining industry accounted for 4,500 direct jobs and 9,000 indirect jobs. The industry paid US$620 million in payroll with the average salary totaling US$100,000 per year, which is double the statewide average for all sectors. The industry paid US$148 million in rents, royalties, taxes and other fees to the State of Alaska (up 170 percent over...
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...
KGC: NYSE/K: TSX Chairman: John Oliver President and CEO: Tye Burt Director of North America Exploration: Al Kirkham From the humble beginnings of a greenfield copper-gold project in Southwest Alaska to adding years of gold production to its Fort Knox Mine in the heart of the Tintina Gold Belt, Kinross Gold Corp. is spending some US$17 million in search of valuable minerals in the Yukon Territory and the neighboring Far North state. About US$8 million of Kinross' 2011 exploration budget was earmarked for seeking new sources...
Opponents of the controversial Pebble Project and the companies that hope to someday develop the massive copper-gold-molybdenum deposit in the Bristol Bay region of Southwest Alaska, each claimed a recent victory in the high profile struggle that has been cast as world-class mine versus a world-class salmon fishery. The win for the Pebble Limited Partnership - a 50-50 joint venture between Anglo American plc and Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd. to explore and develop the...
Alaska boasts some of the largest metals deposits on earth as well as vast quantities of coal, oil and natural gas. Ironically, companies such as Donlin Gold LLC (formerly Donlin Creek LLC) and Pebble Limited Partnership are looking overseas to find a reliable source of natural gas as they study the economics of building global-scale mines at their projects. "My guess is, our base case will be imported LNG. Which seems sort of weird to import natural gas into the State of...
Some months ago I was talking to a senior exploration manager regarding the lack of new discoveries worldwide in the last few years. The subject came up of just how rare a +1-million-ounce gold deposit really was. Then last week one of our project geologists lays a publication in front of me entitled "How Rare are One Million Ounce Gold Deposits?" by Natural Resources Holdings, Ltd. Although this publication comes at the question from the standpoint of which new deposits are...
The Pebble Partnership - an equally-owned joint venture formed between Northern Dynasty Ltd. and Anglo American plc to advance the exploration and development of a colossal copper-gold-molybdenum deposit in Southwest Alaska - has approved a budget of US$91 million for 2011, a 25 percent increase over the US$72.9 million spent at the project in 2010. This extensive program will largely center on the ongoing environmental studies and the engineering work needed to complete a...
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency released additional information in early May about its plan to conduct a scientific assessment of the Bristol Bay watershed in hopes of better understanding how future large-scale development projects may affect water quality and Bristol Bay's world-class salmon fishery. The EPA announced the study in February, saying it was undertaken in response to concerns from Alaska Native groups, including the Bristol Bay Native Corp., and others...
Knowing that porphyry deposits like Pebble are seldom an isolated occurrence, explorers are wondering if another enormous copper-gold deposit of this type lies hidden under the glacial gravels that cover much of Southwest Alaska. That was a question tackled by Pebble Partnership Chief Geologist Jim Lang at the 2011 Minerals Exploration Roundup in Vancouver, B.C. The geologist told the crowd that Pebble may not have an unknown identical twin, but by looking for similar traits,...
President Barack Obama heralds green renewables as key to a strong economy and energy independence, but without vigorous domestic copper production, his goals will be difficult to reach. Copper, the world's preeminent electricity and heat conductor, is a necessity. The average American home contains an estimated 400 pounds of copper in wire, plumbing, and fixtures; the average automobile requires 50 pounds. The Northwest Mining Association estimates that a typical child born today will use 1,500 pounds of copper throughout...
Alaska legislators are at odds on how to proceed with a state-funded study of the Pebble Project and what effect building a mine at the enormous copper-gold-molybdenum deposit will have on the people and environment of the Bristol Bay region of Southwest Alaska. With US$750,000 appropriated in the fiscal 2011 Alaska state budget to advance such a study, the Alaska Legislative Council formed a subcommittee to move the review forward. Chaired by Alaska House Speaker Mike...
As termination dust falls across most of Alaska, the curtain has come down for the bulk of the exploration projects around the state; however, mine development programs as well as mine-site exploration continue apace as does some exploration work in tropical Southeast Alaska. With few exceptions, preliminary conclusions drawn from 2010 work indicate that 2011 is going to be a busy year. And though a lot of exploration and development is still going on for gold, copper...
The Last Frontier, as Alaska has long been labeled, is as applicable a moniker today as it was to prospectors who ventured to the territory at the end of the 19th century. Alaska is considered one of the most mineralized provinces on Earth, but due to an inter-related combination of Arctic weather, rugged terrain, limited infrastructure and high exploration costs, the state's vast mineral potential remains at the edge of exploratory expansion. Though the Far North state...
As the Pebble Limited Partnership approaches the completion of an extensive feasibility study for the Pebble Project, it is investigating the Southwest Alaska property beyond the bounds of the 80.6 billion pounds of copper, 107.4 million ounces of gold and 5.6 billion pounds of molybdenum known to exist in the massive deposit. "Until the latter part of last year, we hadn't drilled a hole outside the Pebble deposit proper - other than geotechnical or engineering drill holes,...
