The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
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Over the past six months, the single-most common question I have gotten asked about Alaska's mineral industry is, "Have there been any significant new discoveries?" While there may be an as-yet unannounced new discovery in Alaska, it seems the above question is being asked more frequently in other parts of the world as well and the most common answer is a simple "no." While information on new discoveries in other sectors of the mining industry is out there, it's not as...
An employment forecast published by the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development in October pegged the state's mining sector job growth from 2010 to 2020 at 19 percent. That is second only to health care, at 31 percent, and outpacing the 12 percent average growth across all Alaska industries. Expansion of current operations coupled with prospects of building mines at the world-class Livengood and Donlin gold deposits were cited as drivers behind adding new miners t...
FARO - Legendary mineral explorer W. Douglas "Doug" Eaton hurried forward to greet the group of visitors clambering out of the MD900 helicopter as its whirring blades whipped miniature cyclones of dust in the air. Eaton - unlike many of the geologists, engineers and mining executives the group would meet during a weeklong tour of mine sites, exploration camps and conferences around Yukon Territory - grinned from ear to ear. The early part of the territory-wide mining tour also would include visits to the Einarson Project...
Putting Alaska on the map as a domestic source of rare earth elements and other strategic and critical minerals is a priority of Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell. During the 2012 budget cycle, Alaska lawmakers approved US$498,000 proposed by the administration to begin a statewide REE evaluation. This year's budget includes US$2.7 million for a three-year project to continue this initiative. "Alaska can become America's source for rare earth elements," Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell...
As the scope and tenor of a long-predicted shortfall in zinc supply begins to take shape, proponents of advanced mine projects in northern Canada with substantial deposits of zinc, along with lead, copper and/or other metals, are busy refining development strategies aimed at achieving production by the end of the decade. Near the front of the line are Tamerlane Ventures Inc., which is advancing the Pine Point Project in Northwest Territories, and Selwyn-Chihong Mining Ltd., which is working to develop the giant Selwyn...
While most juniors are cinching their belts and scaling back programs, Millrock Resources Inc. has C$7.5 million of exploration slated for its array of gold and copper-gold properties in Alaska in 2012, not to mention a healthy C$4.5 million budget for its copper-gold prospects in Arizona. Millrock President and CEO Greg Beischer said the scarcity of venture capital available to the junior exploration sector was palpable at the Cambridge House World Resource Investment...
David Mate, chief geologist for the Canada Nunavut Geoscience Office, is part of a team of scientists venturing this field season into relatively unknown territory. Mate refers to the Hall Peninsula where he will be working this summer as "white space" on modern geological maps. "This is very exciting for a geologist. It's also interesting because it's in my backyard," Mate told Mining News April 22. Nunavut is Canada's northernmost and least-explored territory. About 1 ½ times the size of Alaska it is generally regarded as...
Worries about the ongoing sovereign debt crisis in Europe, uncertainty about where the U.S. economy is headed and a slowing of growth in China is prompting miners to favor gold over industrial and luxury minerals such as nickel and diamonds. Some 62 percent of mining executives from 802 global mineral exploration and development companies said they expect gold prices to increase by at least 20 percent over the next two years when responding to questions about future...
The Yukon Chamber of Mines recently signed a memorandum of understanding with the First Nation of Na-cho Nyak Dun and the Tr'ondëk Hwëch'in to create a framework within which the industry and aboriginal groups will work together for their respective goals. The First Nations said they seek to preserve a way of life that is based upon an economic and spiritual relationship with the land, while the Chamber of Mines said it aims to promote a vibrant, healthy, safe and responsible mining and exploration industry in the Yukon. T...
Much of Alaska's resource wealth is locked up in more than 350,000 square miles (906,000 square kilometers) west of the state's contiguous road system. Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell has included some US$50 million in his fiscal 2013 state budget proposal to support measures aimed at gaining access to much of the state's abundant oil, gas and minerals resources including three roads that would trek westward. "Better transportation corridors will open up petroleum and mining...
The winter convention season is upon us, and the first of many such events is sponsored by the Alaska Miners Association each November. This year's convention was filled with the customary excitement. The papers were excellent and well received. Attendance was at record levels. The conversations were focused on the successes of the past season and the plans for next year. In brief, the convention was similar to all recent ones, save the banquet, which was unique. After 22...
A thriving minerals industry is essential for Alaska's economic growth. If Alaska were a country, we would be among the top 10 countries in the world for coal, zinc, copper, lead, zinc, and silver resources. By responsibly developing these resources, we have the potential to support the economies of entire regions of the state and help secure a stable domestic supply of minerals. The Parnell Administration is focusing on ways to advance mining opportunities in Alaska in an environmentally responsible way. A major step in...
Whether it is multimillion-ounce gold discoveries, copper deposits that measure in the billions of pounds or massive ore-bodies of 20 percent zinc, Alaska is renowned for its mammoth deposits. The prospect of finding another Donlin, Pebble or Red Dog continues to draw explorers to this vast and underexplored corner of the United States. In the Survey of Mining Companies: 2010/2011, conducted by the Fraser Institute, top executives from 494 mining and mineral exploration...
AXI: TSX-Venture President and CEO: John Gingerich, P. Geo VP Engineering and Technology: Florin Gheorghiu, Ph.D. Vice President, Exploration: Steve Roebuck Advanced Explorations Inc. is aggressively exploring its Roche Bay and Tuktu iron ore projects in Nunavut, along with promising West Melville Peninsula nickel and copper showings and an iron sands project on the northwest coast of the Alaska Peninsula about 700 kilometers (434 miles) southwest of Anchorage, Alaska. Advanced Explorations plans to produce iron products...
ATC:TSX-V President: Robert C. Carne, M.Sc., P.Geo. Chief Executive Officer: Graham N. Downs Ian J. Talbot: Chief Operating Officer Atac Resources Ltd., a member of the Strategic Exploration Group, is an exploration-stage company concentrating as much effort as possible on the Rackla Gold Project including Rau and Nadaleen geological trends situated at the northern edge of the Tintina Gold Belt in the Mayo Mining District of east-central Yukon Territory. The project encompasses more than 8,000 mineral claims and covers 1,600...
Frontrunners in the Yukon mineral exploration rush in 2011 spent more than C$12 million each, with at least one company pouring C$25 million into its program. These companies include Atac Resources Ltd., Kaminak Gold Corp., Capstone Mining Corp., Alexco Resource Corp., Golden Predator Corp., Ryan Gold Corp. and Silver Range Resources Ltd. At least another 14 companies shelled out more than C$5 million each to search for precious and base metals, using virtually every modern exploration technique from sampling to drilling....
Alaska officials are seeking to turn the national challenge of securing domestic supplies of critical minerals into an opportunity. "Alaska has accepted the challenge," Gov. Sean Parnell told participants in the Strategic and Critical Minerals Summit held Sept. 30 in Fairbanks. "Where China has said, 'We're going to curtail exports,' Alaska is accepting the challenge of saying, 'We've got them here, and we want to provide them to our nation and to the world beyond." The Department of Natural Resources organized the...
As termination dust settles over Alaska, the diversity of mineral exploration, development and production news this month covers the entire spectrum of mining industry activities. The last of the seasonal early-stage exploration projects are reporting in, a major producing company has entered the state for the first time, Alaska finished its first off-shore mineral lease process in more than a decade, several projects reported on resource definition and feasibility studies, a gold deposit was sold, a ballot initiative aimed...
Leveraging its global dominance in the realm of rare earth elements, China has set in motion a strategy to gain supremacy in manufacturing the vast array of technologically advanced products that depend on these metals. "China can exploit rare earths that they control all the way out to electric cars, wind turbines, whatever it is - and that is the grand strategy," American Elements Chairman and CEO Michael Silver told some 200 participants in the Alaska Strategic and...
The Mackenzie Valley Environmental Impact Review Board released an external report in early October that potentially could lead to significant improvements in the environmental assessment process for mineral exploration and development in a large, natural resources-rich region of the Northwest Territories. The report, commissioned by the Review Board and dated June 2011, was prepared by Stantec Consulting Ltd. of Yellowknife, NT and focuses on opportunities to improve the timeliness of the regulatory board's environmental...
While Advanced Explorations Inc. is focusing mainly on its two massive iron ore projects in Nunavut this summer, the aggressive exploration company is also continuing to explore promising West Melville Peninsula nickel and copper showings and to study an iron sands project it recently optioned in Alaska. The Toronto-based junior plans to produce iron products initially from the C Zone, one of four zones on the 3,730-hectare (9,213 acres) Roche Bay property, which is located in one of the world's largest developing iron ore...
With analysts forecasting improved prices, earnings and cash flows for platinum group and base metals producers in 2011, more juniors are searching for these minerals in northern Canada. Prophecy Platinum Corp. reported results of a NI 43-101-compliant report and mineral resource estimate in mid-July for its Wellgreen platinum group element-nickel-copper property located about 35 kilometers (22 miles) northwest of Burwash Landing in southwestern Yukon Territory. Caribou Copper Resources Ltd. and Alix Resources Corp. July 20 s...
The last month has seen a massive transition in Alaska from planning to execution, from getting ready to go to the field to boots on the outcrop and drills in the ground. Each year the hustle and bustle of the Alaska summer exploration season subsumes virtually everything else (except the Stanley Cup) as field programs launch around the state. This year has been no different with base metal programs in the Brooks Range, gold programs in Interior Alaska and the Seward...
As the United States scrambles to fill the rare earth elements supply shortage caused by China's export restrictions on these technologically important metals, Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Rep. Doug Lamborn, R-Colorado, each have introduced legislation on Capitol Hill that seeks to revitalize domestic production of the minerals most critical to maintaining military security and a robust economy. "It is critical that we have a national policy, and we are behind the...
There are some new stats out regarding mining's impact on Alaska that the McDowell Group Inc. produced for the State of Alaska. For 2010, the Alaska mining industry accounted for 3,500 direct jobs and 5,500 indirect jobs. The industry paid US$350 million in payroll with the average salary totaling US$95,000 per year, which is double the statewide average for all sectors. Mining salaries were higher than all other sectors except for the oil and gas sector. The industry paid...
