The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
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Stratabound changes name to Lode Gold Resources Ltd.; plans to spinout Canadian gold assets and reports 2024 exploration strategy. In recent market buzz about the emerging gold district in southeastern Yukon, one junior says its promising assets have been largely overlooked by investors, resulting in its shares being significantly undervalued. Lode Gold Resources Ltd., known until January as Stratabound Mineral Resources Corp., says its name change signals ongoing growth and...
American West Metals Ltd. May 5 reported strong copper mineralization in the first four holes of its 2023 drill program at the Storm Copper project on Somerset Island in the northern reaches of Nunavut, Canada. Since optioning the Storm Copper and adjoining Seal Zinc from Aston Bay Holdings Ltd. in 2021, Australia-based American West has been systematically exploring the high-grade, near-surface copper and deeper stratabound sedimentary hosted copper on this land package along...
Though effects of the COVID-19 pandemic lingered, mineral explorers rushed to the Yukon like moths to a flame during 2022. Mining's most daring sector rallied to generate the busiest field season seen in Canada's westernmost territory in years. In June, Natural Resources Canada projected mineral exploration and deposit appraisal spending in Yukon during 2022 to total C$157.9 million, up 14.5% from C$135.1 million estimated for 2021 and nearly double C$83.6 million in 2020....
Stratabound Minerals Corp. August 11 announced the end of its 2022 summer field program at the company's Golden Culvert and recently added Win gold projects in southeast Yukon. After optioning Golden Culvert in 2017, Stratabound has spent several years establishing its foothold in the Yukon by advancing this underexplored property that neighbors Seabridge Gold Inc.'s high-grade 3 Aces gold project. Found within the Hyland Gold Belt, a geologic extension of the Tombstone Gold...
Rhenium is exceptionally resistant to heat and wear, characteristics that make it a vital ingredient in superalloys used in jet and industrial gas turbine engines. "The high-temperature properties of rhenium allow turbine engines to be designed with finer tolerances and operate at temperatures higher than those of engines constructed with other materials," the United States Geological Survey penned in a fact sheet on the critical metal. "These properties allow prolonged engine...
One of few mineral explorers active in Yukon Territory during the mining industry's 2020 beleaguered field season recently reported encouraging results that give credence to the idea that a new gold camp may be on the verge of emerging in Canada's North. Stratabound Minerals Corp. completed a late-season exploration program last year on its 84-square-kilometer (32.4 square miles) Golden Culvert property, along a 24 kilometer- (15 miles) long mineralized trend in Southeastern...
Ten years ago, Yukon Territory witnessed a minor stampede of mineral explorers, hoping to cash in on new gold discoveries in the White Gold District south of Dawson City. A decade later, gold hunters are again targeting prospects across the northern Canadian territory, drawn by the recent successful startup of a new gold mine at Victoria Gold Corp.'s Dublin Gulch Property east of Dawson City in central Yukon as well as discoveries of other rich aurum deposits in Yukon....
An abnormally long fall has allowed the Alaska mining industry to extend seasonal work well into mid-October, creating a lot of new information about project work conducted around the state. Exploration efforts, in particular, benefitted from this additional field time. Based on information available to date, 2019 exploration expenditures are expected to be in the $135-140 million range, well ahead of the $120-125 million exploration spending tracked for 2018. In addition,...
WESTERN ALASKA Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd. announced that it had finalized a surface right of way agreement with Alaska Peninsula Corporation for use of that latter's lands for the construction and operation of transportation infrastructure associated with the Pebble copper-molybdenum-gold project. Alaska Peninsula Corporation is an Alaska Native village corporation with extensive land holdings proximal to the Pebble site and more than 900 shareholders, many of which live...
Gold explorers are rushing to several regions of Yukon Territory, particularly areas where significant discoveries of the precious metal have been reported in recent years. But only a few lucky companies could advance gold projects in Southeast Yukon during the 2018 field season. The reason: A large swath of the mineral-rich Tintina Gold Belt – favorable geological terrain that sweeps northward through Yukon in a boomerang-shaped arc to Alaska from British Columbia – is off...
With a melting point of 5,756 degrees Fahrenheit and a heat-stable crystalline structure, rhenium is extremely resistant to both heat and wear. This durability makes it a vital element in superalloys used in jet and industrial gas turbine engines. "The high-temperature properties of rhenium allow turbine engines to be designed with finer tolerances and operate at temperatures higher than those of engines constructed with other materials," the United States Geological Survey...
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...
Though mineral exploration in Yukon Territory this year lagged the pace seen in 2018, mine development projects advanced at a steady clip in 2019, while several past-producing mines moved toward resuming output. Yukon ranked fourth in Canada for projected spending on mineral exploration and deposit evaluation for 2018, according to statistics distributed by Natural Resources Canada. Spending for mineral exploration and deposit evaluations totaled C$249.4 million, made up of C$...
With a melting point of 5,756 degrees Fahrenheit and a heat-stable crystalline structure, rhenium is extremely resistant to both heat and wear. This durability makes it a vital element in superalloys used in jet and industrial gas turbine engines. "The high-temperature properties of rhenium allow turbine engines to be designed with finer tolerances and operate at temperatures higher than those of engines constructed with other materials," the United States Geological Survey...
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...
Fortune Minerals Ltd. is advancing two mineral projects involving three different jurisdictions of Canada and doing much of it with the same timeframe. On the heels of development of its Nico gold-cobalt-bismuth-copper project in Northwest Territories, Fortune is also targeting commercial production at the Arctos Anthracite Project, formerly Mount Klappan Anthracite Coal Project, in Northwest British Columbia within the next four years. Management is shooting for the last half of 2015 and the first quarter of 2016 for...
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...
As the first cooler days and termination dust start appearing across Alaska, seasonal exploration activities are winding down and operating mines are preparing for another winter. To be sure, less money was spent on fewer projects by the mineral industry exploring and developing Alaska's mineral resources in 2012 versus 2011. 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...
Government and industry officials agree that mining exploration and development in recent years have brought substantial positive change to Nunavut, Canada's newest and least explored territory. Ongoing and new exploration, however, are rapidly advancing understanding of this vast Arctic land's mineral potential. "In this industry, it seems that all of the best and worst of times were compressed into less than two years (between 2008 and 2010)," said Peter Taptuna, minister of Economic Development & Transportation for the Gov...
As the long-awaited summer solstice comes and goes, Alaska's mining industry is deep in the midst of its summer exploration, development and production programs. Mineral exploration programs are under way from far Southeast Alaska to the Brooks Range, from eastern Interior Alaska to the Seward Peninsula. The commodities being explored for, developed and mined are equally diverse and include gold, silver, copper, nickel, lead, zinc, platinum and palladium. Two new exploration...
As Alaska's mining industry moves into the frenetic summer exploration and development season, the rest of the world is being buffeted by wild financial and commodity "mood swings" that are affecting the metals markets. The big markets shake the little markets and the little markets shake Alaska. Perfect example: the World Gold Council recently reported that China's growing middle class is expected to double its demand for gold for jewelry and investment purposes over the...
Metals markets continue to climb out of the basement as the world demand for metals resumes its upward trend. Fueled by this growing demand, numerous Alaska precious, base and rare metal projects reported results of their 2009 exploration, development and production programs. The recent Alaska Miners Association Convention in Anchorage felt this surge of interest with the highest attendance in more than a decade. The atmosphere at the conference was charged with optimism, a co...
Although Alaska's summer field season is quickly coming to an end, the mineral industry continues to gain momentum thanks to rapidly increasing metals prices, fueled in part by growing industrial demand and an astonishing increase in investment demand for metals like gold and silver. Goldfields Mineral Service reported that for the period 1993 to 2000, world gold investment averaged about 383 metric tons of metal per year, while annual gold investment for the period 2001 throu...
Let me start this month's mining update by saying I am not a chartist nor do I believe economic cycles are controlled by cosmic forces known only to the mystics. That said, I do believe in cycles because I have lived and worked through more cycles in the mining industry than I care to remember. So a couple of observations seem in order as we plummet down the slope off another peak into what looks to be a pretty deep, chilly valley. First off, what goes up, must come down with...
Last month's perfect storm of news from around the state has blown itself out so that this month we are getting only a drizzle or two. Why? Seems straightforward to me. If you have a budget, you already have started working on it, and you are too busy working to have anything much to report. If you don't have a budget yet, it is unlikely that you will be getting one at this late date so you have even less to say. Time to put boots on the outcrops! Western Alaska NovaGold...