The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
Sorted by date Results 26 - 50 of 57
Barrick Gold Corp. and Cisco Systems Inc. have formed a partnership that will likely influence every facet of Donlin Gold, a world-class mine project in Alaska on pace to go into production in 2022. The collaboration, announced Sept. 12, aims to apply Cisco’s cutting-edge digital expertise to Barrick’s current and future world-class gold mines. At this envisioned 21st Century gold mine, shift supervisors are quickly apprised with real-time updates and videos delivered to a han...
Over the last month the inevitable termination dust has begun to show up across Alaska, bringing with it completion of mineral exploration programs and transition of development and production projects to winter operational modes. Explorers, developers and miners will soon be gathering to compare notes at the annual Alaska Miners Association Convention in Anchorage, an event that always overlaps national and local election night. Alaska's mineral industry outlook brightened...
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,...
The owners of Alaska’s five large metal mines – Sumitomo Metal Mining Pogo, Hecla Mining Company, Kinross Gold Corp, Teck Resources Ltd. and Coeur Mining Inc. – accounted for nearly half the US$92 million of exploration spending in the state during 2014 and similar investments by these companies is providing solid footing for the Far North state’s mineral exploration sector this year. Avalon Development President Curt Freeman said he is seeing more mining majors shopping for d...
Mineral exploration spending in Alaska will likely struggle to top US$80 million for 2014, a dramatic fall from the US$365.1 million pinnacle reached in 2011. "The din of mineral industry activity that is normally a part of the summer months in Alaska is decidedly muted this year as the global mining industry attempts to lift itself off the bottom of a plus-18-month-long slump," Avalon Development President Curt Freeman opined in a June column written for Mining News. Unlike 2...
Over the past month, three of Alaska's large mines reported strong quarterly results; two projects in advanced permitting and pre-feasibility reported recent progress; and three exploration properties changed hands. The latter is a trend putting 2015 on course to be one of the most active years for new acquisitions in the past decade. Placer gold production has all but ceased for the year; however, output from Alaska's placer mines is not likely to be known with any certainty...
If you have ever played or followed sporting events, you are probably familiar with that bizarre and often game-changing event known as the "change of momentum". This is when the team that was on the ropes suddenly comes to life and often roars to victory, putting smiles on the faces of coaches, fans and bookies alike. Well, unless I am mistaken, the Alaska mining industry has been the beneficiary of just such a change of momentum over the past month. After taking head shots...
As a follow-up to last month's realization that once again "the game is afoot" in the mining industry, major gold producer Goldcorp recently presented some arresting statistics at the Bank of America Merrill Lynch Global Metals, Mining and Steel Conference. The presentation showed gold discovery and production information for the global mining industry that indicated that peak gold discovery occurred in 1995, this despite three periods between 1995 and 2015 when exploration...
CopperBank Resources Corp. March 7 said it has hired DOWL, an Alaska-based engineering firm, to provide initial infrastructure planning for Pyramid, an advanced exploration project on the Alaska Peninsula that hosts 172.8 million metric tons of inferred resources, averaging 0.35 percent (1.34 billion pounds) copper, 0.02 percent (74.4 million lbs) molybdenum and 0.09 grams per metric tons (488,000 ounces) gold. “Three very important components of any copper project of merit are geology, location and access to i...
Kiska Metals Corp. May 31 provided an update on it portfolio of projects, including a planned drill program on its Copper Joe copper-gold-molybdenum porphyry project in Southcentral Alaska. "Kiska is excited to be entering this period of renewed interest in the resource sector with over C$4 million of cash and marketable securities on hand, active option agreements with top-tier companies, drill-ready projects available for option, and a growing royalty portfolio," said Kiska...
Although there is plenty of Alaska mining industry news this month, the big dog in the pen is the dramatic and unexpected run-up in the price of gold, which moved from a low of $1,078 per ounce to a high of $1,246/oz., most of which occurred after Feb. 1. Although profit-taking and other factors have caused the price to back off a bit, the move was both dramatic and unexpected. As you might guess, the ether is full of talking heads telling us why it went up, why it either won'...
Millrock Resources Inc. Jan. 29 reported that partnership agreements on its Alaska Peninsula and Estelle copper-gold exploration properties in Alaska have been allowed to lapse. After reviewing the results from the first round of drilling, First Quantum Minerals has elected not to renew its option to acquire a joint venture interest in the Alaska Peninsula property. No mineralization of significance was discovered in drilling at the Mallard Duck Bay prospect. Mineralization...
Earlier this month, the Alaska Miners Association held its annual convention in Anchorage amid plummeting metals prices and an over-all atmosphere of economic uncertainty now stretching into its fourth year. Individuals from around North America and beyond were present and conversations outside of the technical sessions seemed to gravitate toward how best to climb out of the doldrums that seem to grip the mining industry on a global scale. One individual was heard to say that...
FM: TSX / FQM: LSE Chairman and CEO: Philip Pascall President: Clive Newall Principal geologist, generative projects: Tim Ireland With seven mines in operation and five mineral projects under development, First Quantum Minerals Ltd. is a growing, diversified miner with a particular focus on copper. Its operating mines and development projects are located in Africa, Australia, Finland, Spain, Turkey and Latin America. Yet the company has no foothold in North America. Carrying forward a relationship built between Inmet and...
MRO: TSX.V President and CEO: Gregory Beischer Chief Exploration Officer: Philip St. George Through careful execution of the project generator model, Millrock Resources Inc. has built a portfolio of grassroots mineral prospects in Alaska, New Mexico and Mexico. In finding joint venture partners to help fund exploration, the project generator model lessens Millrock's need to raise money in tight equity markets, minimizes the risks involved with grassroots exploration and exposes shareholders to a larger amount of exploration e...
Kiska Metals Corp. Oct. 6 provided an exploration update on its Copper Joe property in Alaska as well as its Kliyul and Chuchi properties in British Columbia. In partnership with First Quantum Minerals, Kiska recently completed a geological mapping program and a magnetotelluric geophysical survey at Copper Joe, a porphyry copper-gold-molybdenum exploration project located roughly 110 miles (175 kilometers) northwest of Anchorage. Kiska said this work has defined two compelling...
Mining is a notoriously cyclical business that generally ebbs and flows with the overall state of the global economy, and these cycles are amplified for junior mining companies charged with scouring the globe for the next generation of mines. Following a bull market that reached a crescendo at the end of 2010, the current bear market has been especially deep and painful for even seasoned mining sector veterans. "This has been a particularly treacherous bear market," longtime...
Less than three months after a pending sale of its Whistler property in Southcentral Alaska fell through, Kiska Metals Corp. has found a new buyer for the advanced-stage copper-gold exploration project. Under a binding agreement announced last week, Brazil Resources Inc. will issue Kiska 3.5 million shares in exchange for full ownership of Whistler, including the mining claims and other assets belonging to the project. Brazil Resources' shares were trading at C46 cents per...
Kiska Metals Corp. July 21 reported the signing of a binding agreement to sell its Whistler copper-gold project to Brazil Resources Inc. Under the purchase agreement, Brazil Resources will issue Kiska 3.5 million shares in exchange for full ownership of Whistler, including the mining claims and other assets belonging to the project. Brazil Resources' shares were trading at C46 cents per share on the Toronto Venture Exchange on July 21, making the deal worth roughly C$1.61 mill...
The 40-million-ounce Donlin Gold project is more than midway through a roughly five-year permitting process, but gold prices are dipping to lows not seen in nearly five and a half years and trending downward. Will project owners Barrick Gold Corp. and Novagold Resources Inc. be willing to pull the trigger on development once the hard-earned permits are in hand? The Donlin Gold partners say it depends on where gold prices are headed and what the equity costs are for raising...
Over the past month Alaska's mining industry has suffered a perfect storm of manmade and natural issues that read like something from a pulp fiction novel. On the man-made side of the ledger, gold, silver, copper, and lead prices have all hit 5-year lows and zinc prices continue to slide lower. Mining equity markets are still in severe decline, making it extremely challenging for junior exploration companies to raise the risk capital necessary to explore their Alaska...
First Quantum Minerals Ltd. has agreed to invest US$2 million on a drill program aimed at further investigating the potential of Millrock Resources Inc.'s highly-prospective copper-gold project in western Alaska. The roughly 500,000-acre property extends about 75 miles from Stepovak Bay near the southwestern end of the Alaska Peninsula to a few miles north of Chignik Bay, one of the primary ports in the area. Millrock optioned the property in 2012 from Bristol Bay Native...
Slipping metals prices and investors' ongoing reluctance to risk venture capital in the junior mining sector is hitting Alaska's mineral exploration sector hard; and the Far North state is not the only mining jurisdiction reeling from this one-two punch. "After another year of strong headwinds in 2014, and with lower demand and overproduction continuing to depress metals prices, the mining industry's outlook for 2015 is unpromising at best," SNL Metals & Mining wrote recently...
The nearer your destination, the more you slip sliding away." As 2014 quickly slip-slides away, these normally melancholy lyrics by Paul Simon take on a surprisingly upbeat meaning for Alaska's mining industry. Unlike watching most years slip by, seeing 2014 in the rearview mirror will bring a smile to most in the mining industry, not only in Alaska, but worldwide. This was our third consecutive year of declining commodities prices, near-zero investor interest and the...
Since buying out its mining rival Inmet Mining Corp. in early 2013, First Quantum Minerals Ltd. has shown a keen interest in Alaska's copper potential. With seven mines in operation and five mineral projects under development, First Quantum is a growing, diversified miner with a particular focus on copper. Its operating mines and development projects are located in Africa, Australia, Finland, Spain, Turkey and Latin America. Yet the company has no foothold in North America....
