The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
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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...
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...
With metal prices stabilizing, physical stockpiles dwindling and demand again on the rise, things are beginning to look up for the beleagered mining industry. Gold's performance over the past several months is a case in point. The World Gold Council reported that during the first quarter, buying of exchange-traded gold funds rose to its highest level since early 2009, wiping out the deep sell-offs of 2014 and 2015 for this instrument. Uncertainties in the fiscal stability of...
Redstar Gold Corp. June 8 reported the start of an exploration program focused on delineating new drill targets at the Shumagin prospect of its Unga gold project, located on Unga and Popof Islands just off the Alaska Peninsula. Past trenching and drilling in the Shumagin prospect area has traced high-grade gold-silver veins for more than 1,200 meters along strike and to a depth of 330 meters. The company said multiple dilation zones and coincident gold-silver bearing breccia...
Redstar Gold Corp. Jan. 25 reported the appointment of Peter Ball as president, CEO and director of the exploration company with gold properties in Alaska, Nevada and Ontario. Ball, who has more than 25 years of mining experience and leadership, is known to have an intense drive, passion and energy required to deliver on the market's expectations. He is joining Redstar from Columbus Gold, where he served as senior vice-president of business and corporate development. Columbus...
RGC: TSX.V Executive Chairman: Jacques Vaillancourt Interim President and CEO: Ken Booth VP, Exploration: Jesse Grady Redstar Gold Corp. got an early start on exploration at its Unga gold project in Southwest Alaska. Located on an island just off the Alaska Peninsula, Redstar's Unga property blankets two parallel trends of high-grade epithermal gold veins that each extend for more than 4.5 miles across the southeast corner of Unga Island. An initial phase of exploration that began in April included an eight-hole drill...
Redstar Gold Corp. Sept. 8 reported the closing of a C$750,000 non-brokered private placement consisting of 18.75 million common shares at a price of C4 cents per share. No finder's fees were paid in conjunction with the financing. Proceeds of the placement will be used to advance the company's Unga Gold project in Alaska and for general working capital purposes. Located on an island just off the Alaska Peninsula, Redstar's Unga property blankets two parallel trends of...
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...
Redstar Gold Corp. July 2 reported that four step-out holes drilled at the Shumagin prospect of its Unga gold project in Southwest Alaska continues to cut high-grade gold in the Shumagin vein as well as tapping a second older system in the footwall. Highlights from the step-out drilling included 5.0 meters grading 9.35 grams per metric ton gold and 27.6 g/t silver, including 1.0 meters of 41.2 g/t gold and 130.0 g/t silver in hole 15SH018. This high-grade intercept was...
With intercepts of up to 5.9 ounces per short ton gold over widths of more than six feet, Redstar Gold Corp.'s first round of 2015 drilling at Unga is reminiscent of the long history of this high-grade gold project in Southwest Alaska. Located on an island just off the Alaska Peninsula, Redstar's Unga property blankets two parallel trends of high-grade epithermal gold veins that each extend for more than 4.5 miles across the southeast corner of Unga Island. The Apollo-Sitka...
The world's mining industry has once again transmogrified itself in the face of changing global metals markets and investor expectations. In a recent Reuters report, several companies, including Newmont Mining Corp., Goldcorp Inc. and Yamana Gold Inc., were singled out as having taken steps to bring smaller, leaner, lower output projects into production to avoid the cost over-runs which have plagued the large multibillion-dollar projects in recent years. The same large mine...
Redstar Gold Corp. June 11 reported multi-ounce gold intercepts from the first two holes of a recently completed eight-hole drill program on the Shumagin prospect at its Unga gold project on the Alaska Peninsula. Hole 15SH011 cut 1.9 meters grading 5.89 ounces per ton gold and 2.4 oz/t silver over 1.9 meters. Hole 15SH012 cut three intercepts: 1.03 oz/t gold and 6.1 oz/t silver over 2.0 meters; 0.49 oz/t gold and 5.3 oz/t silver over 3.0 meters; and 3.88 oz/t gold and 12.3...
Redstar Gold Corp. May 21 reported that all eight holes of a 1,500-meter phase-1 drill program successfully encountered Shumagin-style vein mineralization at expected depths at the company's Unga gold project on the Alaska Peninsula. The 30-day, phase-1 program was designed to target various structural elevations of the Shumagin vein system, ranging from sea level to 140 meters below sea level; and test for continuity of existing known mineralization along strike about 100...
I recently returned from the Geological Society of Nevada's once-every-five-years Symposium in Reno and was surprised to learn a number of things regarding Alaska, despite the symposium's tight focus on the Great Basin of the western United States. First off, mineral exploration guru Brent Cook presented information suggesting we have reached and are "bumping along" the bottom of the current metals market slump. Reminded me of an overloaded fixed-wing aircraft bumping down the...
Redstar Gold Corp. April 29 reported that it has begun the first phase of its 2015 drill program at its Unga gold project, located at the eastern end of the Aleutian Islands of Southwest Alaska. This initial eight-hole (roughly 1,450 meters) program will target the Shumagin gold zone, which is part of the larger Shumagin trend that extends six miles and parallels the six-mile-long Apollo-Sitka trend. This diamond drilling will occur in an area where historically reported holes...
With a mild winter for most of Alaska behind us and an early spring in progress over much of the state, spring fever has once again laid its grip on the mining industry. A number of exploration and development programs are slated for the summer season, suggesting the mining industry has finally started to rise from the three-year miasma that has gripped it worldwide. A couple of macro-scale items also are pointing toward a more robust industry. The U. S. Geological Survey's...
Redstar Gold Corp. March 31 said it plans to start a phase-1 drill program at its Unga Gold project in April. The roughly 1,500 meters of drilling will primarily focus on outlining the high-grade gold mineralization at the Shumagin prospect, the highest priority target among numerous targets on the company's Unga property located in the Aleutian Arc of Southwest Alaska. The drill program is the first to be undertaken since 2011 and will augment the considerable existing...
Redstar Gold Corp. Feb. 25 reported that Ken Booth has resumed the role of interim president and CEO, replacing Toby Mayo who is leaving the company. Booth began his career as a geologist and later embarked on a career in banking and investment banking. He has served as the CEO of several public companies and is currently a director of two exploration companies. Booth is a director of Redstar and served as interim CEO of the company from March to September...
With a new management team in place, roughly C$2 million of cash in the bank and an improved understanding of its high-grade gold mineralization, Redstar Gold Corp. is preparing to launch an early 2015 drill program at its Unga project, found in the Aleutian Arc of Southwest Alaska. Unga - where Redstar's 2014 surface exploration program grabbed rock samples with grades of up to 401 grams per metric ton gold and 266 g/t silver - is a high-grade gold property that encompasses...
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...
At the same time as the EPA is pushing forward on its planned precedent-setting, pre-emptive, pre-permit veto of the Pebble project and the tailings dam failure at the Mount Polley mine in British Columbia, former Gold Fields Ltd. Chief Geologist Rael Lipson published an eye-opening summary of where porphyry copper-gold projects like Pebble, Mt. Polley and dozens of others around the world fit into the future of gold production. The article, appearing in the July 2014...
As is normally the case in high summer in Alaska, news has started to trickle out of the hills on projects where new work is being conducted, and several properties have changed hands or are in the process of changing hands as mining deals are negotiated and announced across the state. Alaska mines are enjoying slight upticks in metals prices, but recent price volatility has left producers cautious about making long-term capital investments in new or existing projects. Regardl...
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. Some Alaska projects are moving forward but most field budgets are small with commensurately reduced goals attached. Larger mining companies, many under new management, are rapidly shedding non-core assets while revising budgets and timeframes for...
At the recent Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada meeting in Toronto, Dr. Richard Schodde, managing director of MinEx Consulting, presented some key factors which affect the time span between a mineral discovery and start-up of commercial mining. The study reviewed about 3,500 nonferrous metal deposits discovered between 1950 and 2013. Dr. Schodde's findings suggest that only 45 percent of all discoveries made since 1950 have turned into mines. The rate is...
