The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
Sorted by date Results 201 - 220 of 220
I have been reading the tea leaves and think there is an extremely important sequence of events unfolding that represents a golden opportunity for Alaska. Please bear with me as I try to wade through the logic of this and you can tell me what you think. About two months ago, Brent Cook, a well-known mining analyst and owner of Exploration Insights, published a rather illuminating article entitled "Where Have All the Gold Mines Gone?" The upshot of his article was that most...
A gold mining group looking north from Nevada where it has been focused in recent years is seeing what many other explorers have noticed before them - the Tintina Gold Belt that stretches across Interior Alaska and Yukon Territory offers the handsome prospect of a major gold discovery. But the difference for Golden Predator Royalty & Development Corp. is that it is prepared to back up its conclusions with the hard work and financial capital necessary to not only find the gold but bring it into production in short order....
Advances in high technology, especially the recent drive to produce increasingly efficient hybrid automobiles, is spurring demand for rare earth elements and energizing a little-known mining sector with at least one known Alaska mineral deposit. Thanks to analysts touting the virtues of investing in rare earth mining, two companies, Commerce Resources Corp. and Rare Element Resources Ltd. listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange have seen gains in their stock price of 32 percent and 37 percent, respectively, this spring,...
At least 11 companies have either staked claims in the vicinity of the recent White Gold discovery by Underworld Resources Ltd. in western Yukon Territory, or been inspired by Underworld's exploration success to become involved in exploration programs in the region this year. Underworld May 26 reported the discovery of 103 meters averaging 3.4 grams per metric ton gold at the White Gold Property. Among the companies flocking to the area: MPH Ventures Corp. June 19 said it has entered into an agreement to acquire the Quartz...
Since Mantra Mining Inc. emerged in September as the vehicle in which NovaGold Resources Inc. would spinoff its non-core assets, the Vancouver B.C.-based junior has positioned itself to become a major player on the Alaska mining scene. Over the past eight months, Mantra has acquired whole or part interest in more than 417,000 acres of mining properties in western Alaska, assembled an impressive management team and board of directors (including two Thayer Lindsley award winners...
As mineral-rich Nunavut Territory celebrates its 10th anniversary, Canadians and others are assessing changes made in the past decade and debating what the future will hold for Canada's newest territory. Nunavut, which means "our land," is a vast, frozen expanse of tundra laced with lakes, inlets and bays in the eastern Arctic. Spanning three time zones, it covers 1.9 million square kilometers, or one fifth the land mass of Canada. It also dwarfs Alaska by nearly 200,000 square miles. The territory is home to only 31,000...
Yukon Territory has one producing mine, the Minto copper-gold-silver operation near the Yukon River north of Whitehorse. During 2008, more than 150 active hardrock exploration projects in the territory, 73 of which recording spending greater than C$100,000, and 22 posted outlays greater $1 million. Here's a look at some of the mining companies active in Yukon Territory. Producing mines Sherwood Copper Corp., now a part of Capstone Mining Corp., took the Minto Mine, Yukon Territory's only producing hard rock mine, to new...
The Northwest Territories has four operating mines: three diamond producers and one long-running tungsten operation. Exploration and development activity was brisk in 2008 with the most advanced projects located in the Slave Province. Here's a look at mining companies active during 2008 in the Northwest Territories: Producing mines BHP Billiton Diamonds Inc. (80 percent) and partners C. Fipke (10 percent) and S. Blusson (10 percent) produced about 3.5 million carats of rough diamonds at the Ekati diamond mine in 2008, making...
Producing mines Thompson Creek Metals Co. operates the Endako Mine, a molybdenum producer for more than 40 years. Located near Fraser Lake in northern British Columbia, Endako includes three open pits, a mill and a roasting facility, and is operated as a joint venture, with Thompson Creek holding a 75 percent interest and Japan-based Sojitz Corp. having the remaining 25 percent. The miner produced 25 million to 26 million pounds of moly in 2008. Due to a sharp drop in molybdenum prices last year, Thompson Creek decided...
The Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada is set to recognize Richard Garnett and NovaGold Resources Inc. for their role in the discovery and exploration of the multimillion-ounce Donlin Creek gold deposit in Southwest Alaska. The Thayer Lindsley Award for an international mineral discovery will be presented to the explorers March 2 at the organization's 2009 International Convention, Trade Show and Investors Exchange. This annual award, which honors the memory of...
NovaGold Resources Inc. is beginning 2009 with an infusion of cash. In two separate deals, the Vancouver B.C.-based miner sold enough of its equity to raise $75 million, funds it will use to pay debt and to advance three projects. During a Jan. 12 interview, NovaGold President and CEO Rick Van Nieuwenhuyse told Mining News that moving its huge gold project at Donlin Creek in southwestern Alaska into permitting will be the company's focus in 2009. NovaGold is a 50-50 partner wi...
North Arrow Minerals Inc. has discovered a large, lithium-rich pegmatite in the Aylmer Lake area of the Northwest Territories, about 70 kilometers, or about 43 miles, east of existing winter road infrastructure that services the Ekati and Diavik diamond mines. The Vancouver, B.C-based junior is focused on exploration of a diverse group of gold-silver-base metal-and-diamond-prospective properties in the Northwest Territories and Nunavut Territory. North Arrow Sept. 18 said the northwest trending "Big Bird" pegmatite dike is...
Chinese investors are gradually building inroads into ownership of mining companies operating in Yukon Territory as part of a worldwide push to acquire reliable sources of precious and base minerals. According to a report released by PricewaterhouseCoopers in March, mining merger and acquisition activity in 2008 is set to top 2007's record $158.9 billion total as the number and size of deals escalate. The report also noted the emergence of Chinese and Russian companies as major players in the acquisition hunt. Companies from...
The exploration season has started but not before a bevy of new corporate competitors have entered the Alaska mineral scene and not before a number of past producing mines have been dragged into the 21st century. During the last month, three new companies have acquired properties in Alaska and two old Alaska producers have been brought out of mothballs to have new exploration done on them. This month's commodities of interest include gold, copper, lead, zinc, silver, uranium,...
Vancouver-based NovaGold Resources got some encouraging news on all three of its major projects recently. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers reissued its permit for Rock Creek; Galore Creek received its British Columbia Environmental Assessment Certificate; and Donlin Creek expanded its resources by an impressive amount. But progress has come at a cost: the company had a net loss of $30.5 million in 2006, compared with a net loss of $5.8 million in 2005. Most of the additional expenditures - $21 million - went to fighting off...
Ever since prospectors rushed to the Yukon seeking gold more than a century ago, miners have been guilty of extracting the mineral riches in the North and doing a vanishing act when the veins petered out or prices fell. These miners often left behind environmental messes that occasionally became regulatory nightmares. Now that modern-day prospectors are again venturing to the far North, many of them are seeking out old mining claims. But before new exploration can occur, the old mine sites often must be cleaned up. That's...
Alaska's Resource Development Council members were treated to three different perspectives on the Pebble project at their annual meeting in Anchorage June 13. Several hundred people had a rare chance to hear in person from the chairman of Vancouver-based Hunter Dickinson, the group that owns Northern Dynasty and several other mining companies. Bob Dickinson usually relies on Northern Dynasty COO Bruce Jenkins and Environmental Project Manager Ella Ede to get the message across within the state. After Dickinson's...
The indigenous Koryak people called this place Levtyrinyvayam, meaning "there is something in the creek." That something was a modest-looking grey metal, unusually heavy, but lacking the instant allure of the gold that could be found elsewhere in the region. Soviet geologists would later confirm that it was platinum, and the deposit became the first in the Russian Far East's Koryak region to be developed after the break-up of the USSR. Today KoryakGeoldobycha, KGD, boasts more than a decade of placer mining at this site near...
The Kamchatka peninsula in Russia's Far East was off-limits to mining in the Soviet era. Exploration took place, but no mines were built because Kamchatka - a short hop across the Bering Sea from Alaska - was home to numerous military bases. After the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, a group of geologists and investors formed a company, KoryakGeoldobycha, KGD, hoping to take advantage of the region's vast mineral potential. But they had to fight to prevent some of it from being closed again: this time because of the creation o...
Despite the drop in gold prices since a month ago, exploration activities in Alaska are picking up. Two drill programs have already kicked off in Interior Alaska and more are likely to be completed before the end of March. Contracts for drilling rigs, helicopters and experienced geologists are being finalized at a rate not seen here in half a decade. In addition, Alaska's new political administration is aggressively encouraging infrastructure development and making regulatory...
