The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
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Following a couple of quiet months where Alaska's mining industry focused on its work, the last month has seen an explosion of new info come out regarding that effort, some of it profound in its potential immediate, near-term and long-term implications. For example, one of Alaska's largest mines was sold to a new owner at a surprisingly low cost per ounce. The results of a robust new preliminary economic analysis were tabled by an advanced gold-silver exploration project... Full story
The verdict is in – the economics of developing an open-pit mine at Peak Gold look tantalizing and Royal Gold Inc. is committed to being involved with this Eastern Interior Alaska gold-silver project for the long haul. Discovered by Contango ORE Inc. in 2009, the Peak Gold project hosts two skarn deposits – Main Peak and North Peak – on an underexplored property that covers roughly 850,000 acres west and south of Tok, a crossroads town on the Alaska Highway. A preli...
Contango ORE Inc. Aug. 30 said a preliminary economic assessment (PEA) for the Peak Gold (formerly Tetlin) project in eastern Alaska is slated for completion by the end of September. Being advanced by a joint venture between Contango ORE (60 percent) and Royal Gold Inc. (40 percent), the Peak Gold project hosts two parallel gold-rich skarn deposits – Main Peak and North Peak – and 850,000 acres of underexplored and highly prospective land. The two Peak skarn deposits host a g...
An early spring coupled with low snow fall in many parts of Alaska have combined to enable companies large and small to start their summer field programs early this year. As expected, competition is stiff for people, drills, helicopters, heavy equipment and related services, awarding those who committed budgets early and penalizing those who did not or could not commit early. For the first time in half a decade, projects with money at hand may not be able to get the services t... Full story
There has never been anything ordinary about the Peak Gold (formerly Tetlin) project, or the companies that are exploring the high-grade gold skarn deposits found there. In a move that continues this tradition of extraordinary, Royal Gold Inc. has acquired a 13.6 percent stake in Contango ORE Inc. Neither of these companies are your prototypical mineral explorer and their involvement in the Peak Gold project continues to defy the norms for the industry and their own operating...
Contango ORE Inc. April 4 announced that Peak Gold LLC, a joint venture between Contango and Royal Gold Inc., has budgeted US$9.1 million for an initial phase of exploration at the Peak Gold (formerly Tetlin) project near the town of Tok in eastern Alaska. Contango ORE discovered the metals potential of Peak Gold while surveying the area for natural gas in 2008 and by 2014 had outlined a high-grade skarn deposit at the Peak zone with more than 1 million gold-equivalent...
Seven days of near-continuous rain did nothing to dampen the mood at the recently concluded Cordilleran Roundup Convention in Vancouver. The event was buoyed by a realistic optimism we have not seen in over five years. This change from half-empty to half-full glasses is due to a number of things including strong commodities prices, increasing global demand for metals and current or looming supply shortfalls in many of the metals produced by this industry. The event was... Full story
Thanks largely to increased investments from Aussie mining explorers, mineral exploration spending across Alaska topped US$100 million in 2018. This is well above the roughly US$95 million invested last year and nearly double the US$58 million spent at the bottom of the market in 2015. "Canadian and Australian companies continue to be the source for the bulk of funds spent in Alaska in 2018, together comprising well over 80 percent of the exploration expenditures earmarked... Full story
Peak Gold, a joint venture between Contango ORE Inc. (60 percent) and Royal Gold Inc. (40 percent), is beginning to investigate the economics of mining the gold-rich Peak and North Peak skarn deposits that it has outlined at Peak Gold (formerly Tetlin), an extensive land package near the crossroads town of Tok in Alaska's Eastern Interior. The 2018 program also includes exploring for new skarn deposits near the Peak deposits, as well as evaluating the potential for porphyry... Full story
Contango ORE Inc. Sep. 8 announced the discovery of West Peak Extension, a new zone of gold mineralization northwest of the Main Peak deposit, during the second phase of 2017 drilling at the Tetlin project near Tok, Alaska. Tetlin is being explored by Peak Gold, a joint venture between Contango ORE and Royal Gold Inc. In June, the Peak Gold partners published an updated global resource for Main and North Peak – measured, indicated and inferred – of 15.65 million metric ton...
Peak Gold, a joint venture between Contango ORE Inc. and Royal Gold Inc., completed roughly US$11.8 million of exploration in 2017 at Peak Gold (formerly Tetlin), an extensive land package in Eastern Interior Alaska located near the crossroads town of Tok. The Peak Gold property hosts high-grade skarn deposits with gold, silver, copper and other metals. Contango ORE discovered the metals potential of Peak Gold while surveying the area for natural gas in 2008. After a...
Alaska's minerals exploration sector is on an upswing, thanks to Australian mining explorers looking north and mining majors upping their activities in the state. South32 Ltd., a Perth, Australia-based miner spun out of BHP Billiton Plc, is the largest mining company from Down Under to express an interest in Alaska's mineral potential this year. South32, which has eight operating mines in the Southern Hemisphere, secured an option to acquire a 50 percent interest in Trilogy... Full story
Contango Ore Inc. Feb. 2 said the first phase of 2017 drilling at the Tetlin gold project in Interior Alaska was underway. Peak Gold LLC, a joint venture between Contango Ore and a wholly owned subsidiary of Royal Gold Inc., invested roughly US$10.6 million on exploration at Tetlin in 2016, which included the first winter drill program at this project located just south of the Alaska Highway near Tok. Royal Gold, which is the operator of the JV, can earn up to a 40 percent...
Contango ORE Inc. Jan. 19 reported results from the final 11 holes completed during the third phase of 2016 drilling at the Tetlin gold project in Interior Alaska. Overall, the 2016 program at Tetlin - conducted by Peak Gold, LLC, a joint venture between Contango Ore and a wholly owned subsidiary of Royal Gold Inc. - included 20,523 meters of drilling in 118 holes. The phase-3 drill program, which included 37 holes, focused on the North Peak zone at Tetlin. Highlights from...
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...
The year just past was many things for the mining industry, but one of the bright spots came from the Mine Safety and Health Administration, an agency not known for awarding happy faces or gold stars. In 2016, the mining industry experienced only 25 deaths in U.S. mines, the lowest level ever recorded. This, despite the industry having more than 330,000 miners working in 13,000 mines across the country. The leading cause of death in both coal and metal/nonmetal mines was...
With roughly US$5 million of exploration being carried out on its projects in Alaska, British Columbia and Mexico this year, Millrock Resources Inc. is beginning to reap the benefits of the upswing in the mining sector. "During the industry downturn, Millrock moved boldly to grow its property portfolio," said Millrock President and CEO Greg Beischer. "Now that metal prices and investor sentiment have improved, we are ramping up exploration efforts significantly." This ramp up...
Contango Ore Inc. May 9 reported that 5,236 meters of drilling was completed in 47 holes during the initial phase of drilling at the Tetlin gold project near Tok, Alaska. Carried out by Peak Gold LLC, a joint venture between Contango Ore and an Alaska subsidiary of Royal Gold Inc., this program tested the boundaries of the North Peak deposit and an outlying prospect known as Blue Moon. "The phase 1 2017 drilling program finished up in early April 2017, consisting primarily of...
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...
While the mineral exploration season in Interior Alaska typically runs from the time the ground dries in the spring, usually mid-May, until snow and cold weather make logistics too cumbersome and expensive in October, an increasing number of explorers are carrying out successful winter programs in this especially frigid region of the Far North State. Without a doubt, mounting a successful exploration program in temperatures cold enough to make metal brittle and with only...
The summer solstice has come and gone, but the Alaska mining industry has paid little attention to the decreased amount of daylight because it is high summer in the high latitudes, time to be out completing work programs that have been in the planning since last fall. Exploration drilling programs have sprouted in the Brooks Range, Interior, Alaska Range, Southeast, Southwest and the Alaska Peninsula. In addition, the sounds of tire-kicking are being heard over a wide area of... Full story
Millrock Resources Inc. July 6 announced the start of a sampling and prospecting program at its Liberty Bell gold project in the Bonnifield Mining District of Interior Alaska. In March, Kinross Gold Corp. entered into an option agreement with Millrock on Liberty Bell. To earn a 70 percent joint venture interest in the property, Kinross must fund US$5 million of exploration and maintenance costs over five years; pay up to US$145,000 in fees for any project management carried out by Millirock; and pay advanced royalty payments...
Contango ORE Inc. Nov. 10 reported that Royal Gold Inc. has invested US$28.7 million into the Peak Gold project in eastern Alaska, which nears the US$30 million required to earn a 40 percent joint venture interest in the project. Once Royal Gold has earned its interest, Contango ORE will pay 60 percent of the expenditures at Peak Gold, formerly known as the Tetlin project, and Royal Gold will pay 40 percent. Contango ORE recently raised US$1.2 million through the exercise of...
For the first time in five long years, the mood at the recently held Alaska Miners Association Convention in Anchorage was buoyant, the result of a slow but steady turnaround on mineral investments in the state. Additional new corporate interest in the state emerged during the past 30 days, and sources of exploration funds coming to Alaska continue to shift, with estimates for 2017 suggesting that 62 percent of this financing comes from Canadian concerns, 18 percent from... Full story
As the first snows of the coming winter began to fall at high elevations across Alaska, results of summer programs likewise began to trickle in from far-flung areas of the state. Meanwhile, second- and third-quarter production data began to show up and mining industry analysts released a series of reports covering a wide range of industry-wide trends. For example, SNL Metals and Mining Research released information on how long it takes to move a new discovery to production.... Full story
