The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
Sorted by date Results 76 - 100 of 167
Alaska Department of Natural Resources April 19 announced that it is taking steps to reestablish the Bristol Bay Advisory Group, originally created to provide input on the 1984 Bristol Bay Area Plan. By reestablishing the group, DNR said it intends to foster dialogue on land use, resource management, and regulatory matters under state purview in the Bristol Bay region of Southwest Alaska. Plans to develop a mine at the Pebble copper-gold-molybdenum deposit on state lands in th...
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers believes it can get to a decision on the Environmental Impact Statement for the proposed Pebble Mine project in Southwest Alaska by spring of 2020, or a little more than two years after the Pebble Partnership submitted permit applications. "If things progress as we see, a decision will be made no earlier than the spring of 2020," said Sheila Newman, deputy chief, Regulatory Division, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers – Alaska District. While this is a...
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers – Alaska District March 28 published a Notice of Intent to prepare a draft environmental impact statement (EIS) for review of the Pebble Limited Partnership's application to discharge fill material into waters of the United States for the purpose of developing a mine at its world-class copper-gold-molybdenum project in the Bristol Bay region of Southwest Alaska A 30-day public scoping and public comment period is set to begin April 1. This s...
Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd. Feb. 23 announced a slight bump in the resource for its Pebble copper-gold-molybdenum-silver deposit in Southwest Alaska. The Pebble deposit now hosts 6.46 billion metric tons of measured and indicated resource averaging 0.4 percent (56.9 billion pounds) copper, 0.34 grams per metric ton (70.6 million ounces) gold, 240 parts per million (3.4 billion lb) molybdenum and 1.7 g/t (344.6 million oz) silver. Additionally, this world-class deposit...
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Jan. 26 decision to not lift its proposed restriction on Pebble does not prevent the world-class copper mine project from being thoroughly vetted under federal permitting process. While EPA has chosen to leave the 2014 pre-permitting restrictions it attempted to impose against Pebble on the table, these limits do not prohibit the permitting process. A federal judge ordered a stay on the implementation of EPA's proposed determination...
As we transition from 2017 into 2018, the weight of evidence pointing to a long-awaited mining industry up-tick is being trumpeted from every financial institution, brokerage house and mining pundit across the globe. For example, RBC Capital Markets' newly released "2018 New Year Preview" has this to say: "We are in the mid-stages of a stock market recovery and the early stages of an economic cycle recovery. Gold is already in a phase where it out-performs other financial...
The permitting process for the world-class Pebble copper-gold-molybdenum mine in Southwest Alaska is officially underway. With this monumental milestone comes the first real look at the new Pebble Mine plan, an engineering feat that the Pebble Partnership believes strikes a balance between environmental footprint and sound economics. "There is a sweet spot in which you can drive down the footprint size and still reach a rate-of-return that makes sense," Pebble Partnership CEO...
With rising metals prices helping to bolster the state's mining sector, Alaska mine leaders had good news to deliver to Alaska Senate and House resource committees during a Feb. 13 trip to Juneau. "I am happy to report that after four years of declining metals prices things started to improve in 2016, so we are able to report better economic numbers for 2017," Council of Alaska Producers Executive Director Karen Matthias informed members of the resource committees. The strong...
Mineral exploration spending in Alaska hit an apex of US$365 million in 2011, but as venture capital for mining explorers dried these expenditures plummeted 78 percent to US$80 million in 2015. However, rising gold prices and a loosening of venture capital in 2016 seems to have marked an end to a painfully long bear market for mining explorers in Alaska. “After taking head shots for the past four years, the industry suddenly came to life over the past month, with new budgets,...
Pebble Limited Partnership and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency are on the cusp of reaching a settlement of the longstanding legal dispute over the federal agency's attempt to use Section 404 (c) of the Clean Water Act to place pre-emptive restrictions on permits needed to develop a mine at the Pebble copper-gold-molybdenum project in Southwest Alaska. The federal court where the lawsuit was being heard granted a stay of proceedings until May 4 to provide Pebble and...
Alaska’s current fiscal crisis has highlighted the need to diversify the state’s economy and being one of the richest minerals jurisdictions on the planet, mining is an industry that could play a major role in future wealth creation in the Last Frontier. Alaska Gov. Bill Walker touched on mining’s role in the state’s future during a Nov. 15 address at the Alaska Resource Conference. “We have six large scale mines in Alaska, we would like to have 12,” he told the business le...
Earlier in November, the Alaska Miners Association held its annual convention and trade show in Anchorage and as always, the well-attended convention overlapped with election Tuesday. While the lead up to, and results of, the national and state elections were hot topics throughout the week, one comment I heard from a colleague on the morning after the elections distilled the feelings of a lot of people at the conference. When asked what he thought of the election results, he...
With the addition of Mark Hamilton as executive vice president of external affairs, the Pebble Limited Partnership continues to build upon an impressive team of Alaska-based leaders as it prepares to advance the world-class Pebble copper mine project towards permitting. "I'm delighted to join the Pebble team as we begin the long and rigorous journey toward permitting a mine engineered to protect the environment and the world-class fisheries of Bristol Bay," Hamilton said....
In a framework agreement announced on Dec. 18, First Quantum Minerals Ltd. was revealed as the major mining company that will complete the Pebble Limited Partnership. "We have made good progress in the partnering process and are very pleased to be in advanced-stage discussions with First Quantum, an industry leader in mine development and management," Ron Thiessen, president and CEO, Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd., currently the sole owner of the Pebble Partnership. While the...
Strong metals prices and a pro-jobs businessman who vows to inject “new American metal into the spine of this country” preparing to set up his office in the White House bodes well for Alaska’s mining sector going into 2017. While a renaissance of Alaska’s mining sector may not be at the top of President-elect Donald Trump’s to-do list, pouring coal on the fire of America’s economic engine – both literally and figuratively – is. The figurative coal important to Alaskan miners...
Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd. March 8 said Pebble Limited Partnership has selected HDR Alaska, Inc. to serve as lead regulatory and permitting consultant for the world-class Pebble copper-gold-molybdenum project in Southwest Alaska. HDR will assist in preparing the documentation Pebble Partnership will need to initiate federal and state permitting by the end of the year, in anticipation of a successful outcome of the company's strategy to address the U.S. Environmental...
Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd. May 20 reported the Pebble Limited Partnership and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency have filed a joint motion in federal court to extend a stay of proceedings to May 4 in ongoing litigation under the Federal Advisory Committee Act. In 2014, the Pebble Partnership had filed a suit, alleging EPA violated FACA by working inappropriately close to anti-Pebble groups as the regulatory agency built a case for placing restrictions on yet to be applied for permits for the development of a mine...
With the opening late last month of a public comment period for the environmental impact statement on the proposed Ambler Mining District Industrial Access Project, I am cautiously optimistic that this time, Sisyphus will get the boulder up the hill. As a lowly graduate student at the University of Alaska Fairbanks back in 1979, I helped a crew from Anaconda Minerals color township-size blocks on a huge paper map of the Brooks Range. At the time, Anaconda and numerous other...
Alaska Department of Natural Resources April 11 announced significant new requirements in a land-use permit authorizing the Pebble Limited Partnership to continue care, maintenance and reclamation on its mining claims in the Bristol Bay region. The regulatory agency said this decision follows the review of more than 2,000 public comments and an exhaustive analysis. During the comment period on Pebble's application for the permit, questions arose on the condition of certain drill holes and whether hundreds of these holes...
With winter programs winding down and summer efforts rapidly ramping up, it is becoming clear that 2017 will be a much more vigorous year for the Alaska mining industry than the 2013 to 2016 period. For example, my internal estimates are already pushing $75 million for exploration activity alone and a significant number of projects that have announced exploration plans have not yet announced budgets for 2017, so that number is likely to rise. Compare this to estimates of less...
After five long years of battling inside and outside of the courtroom, Pebble Limited Partnership and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency have negotiated an agreement that opens the door for the enormous Pebble copper-gold-molybdenum project in Southwest Alaska to enter the permitting process unencumbered by predetermined restrictions. “This settlement represents a major step forward for the Pebble project,” said Pebble Partnership CEO Tom Collier. “It allows us to start...
Now that the Pebble Partnership has settled its dispute with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the company is focusing its attention on readying the world-class Pebble copper-gold-molybdenum project for permitting. The first move towards attaining this goal was to assemble an advisory committee that will provide valuable insights from a broad range of perspectives, including those that voiced concerns about building a large mine in the Bristol Bay region of Southwest...
If there is anyone still on the fence wondering if the minerals industry has started a recovery from the doldrums of the past four years, this month’s mineral industry activity in Alaska should settle the question with authority. During the past month, we have seen two merger/acquisitions occur, one by Solitario Exploration & Royalty Corp., which acquired Zazu Metals Corp. and its interest in the Lik lead-zinc-silver deposit. Then we also had Coventry Resources acquire V...
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has set in motion plans to completely do away with the pre-permitting restrictions it attempted to impose against Pebble in 2014. If fully implemented, these Obama-era Clean Water Act restrictions would have seriously reduced the size of any mine that could have developed at the world-class Pebble copper-gold-molybdenum deposit in the Bristol Bay region of Southwest Alaska. A federal judge ordered a stay on the implementation of EPA's...
In a framework agreement announced on Dec. 18, First Quantum Minerals Ltd. was revealed as the major mining company that will complete the Pebble Limited Partnership. "We have made good progress in the partnering process and are very pleased to be in advanced-stage discussions with First Quantum, an industry leader in mine development and management," Ron Thiessen, president and CEO, Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd., currently the sole owner of the Pebble Partnership. While the...
