The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
Sorted by date Results 51 - 75 of 220
ATAC Resources Ltd. focused its 2021 mineral exploration largely on the East Goldfield project in Nevada and the Connaught project in western Yukon, a departure from more than a decade of primarily exploring its district-scale Rackla Gold property in the Yukon. This shift in jurisdictional and project focus followed the Yukon government's rejection of the company's application for a permit to build a private road that would support advanced exploration and potential mine...
It is hard to quantify which is more impressive, the sheer size of the estate owned by Doyon Ltd. or the rich and underexplored mineral potential on the lands owned by the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act regional corporation for Alaska's Eastern Interior. Running the breadth of Alaska between the Brooks Range to the north and Alaska Range to the south, the Doyon region blankets a mineral-rich swath of Alaska's Interior that is nearly the size of Texas. Doyon owns 12.5...
The Koniag Inc. region covers the Kodiak Archipelago, a group of islands off the southern coast of mainland Alaska better known for their enormous brown bears than vast mineral potential. The Alutiiq people that arrived on Kodiak, Afognak, and surrounding islands more than 7,500 years ago were skilled mariners who were deeply connected to the ocean for food and supplies. Over the millennia, these roaming seafarers settled into whaling and fishing villages that sheltered...
From the advancements of technology during the Bronze Age to the computers and telecommunication systems of today's Big Data Era, tin has been critical to human progress for at least 5,500 years. Sometime around 3500 BC, Sumerians living in modern day Turkey and Iran discovered that mixing a little tin with copper created bronze, an alloy that produced much more durable weapons and tools than those cast from copper alone. This cutting-edge discovery offered a strategic and...
Alaska contains minerals essential to the national defense, renewable energy and electronics industries. Finding those minerals, however, can be difficult in such a vast and geologically challenging state. Hyperspectral imagery can help as Alaska's summer exploration season approaches. The University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute has the only hyperspectral imaging facility in the state at its Hyperspectral Imaging Laboratory created in 2014 as the brainchild of...
The ultimate goal for most junior exploration companies is to discover and advance a mineral deposit to the point that it is large and rich enough to attract the attention of a major mining company to swoop in and nab a stake through an investment in the project or even an outright buyout of the junior. Sometimes, if the global market conditions are right and the project shows enough promise, majors will invest in a project long before an economically viable mining project...
Rio Tinto Canada Inc. is investing C$25.6 million (US$21.2 million) to acquire a roughly 8% stake in Western Copper and Gold Corp. and a foothold in the exploration company's Casino copper project in Canada's Yukon. "The investment by Rio Tinto, a leading global mining group which operates in 35 countries around the world, and whose purpose is to produce the materials essential to human progress is a strong endorsement of the Casino project," said Western Copper and Gold...
Racing to become Canada's first miner of rare earth elements, Vital Metals Ltd. had clocked another milestone by producing a 12-kilogram sample of rare earth carbonate in a bulk sampling program at its Nechalacho rare earths project located 100 kilometers (62 miles) southeast of Yellowknife, the capital of Northwest Territories. Vital is hoping to begin production of rare earth oxide at Nechalacho in the second quarter of 2021, with early production from a North T starter...
From a world-class graphite deposit in the Northwest to rare earths on the Southeast Panhandle, Alaska has the potential to offer a sustainable and secure supply to meet the coming explosive demand for the minerals and metals crucial to the renewable energy and electric vehicle sectors in North America and around the globe. International Finance Corporation, part of the World Bank Group, estimates that this shift to low-carbon energy and electric mobility will create nearly...
Golden Predator Mining Corp. and Viva Gold Corp. have agreed to a merger that will bring two advanced stage gold mine projects – Brewery Creek in the Yukon and Tonopah in Nevada – under one roof. "This transaction brings together all of the key ingredients required to build a premier junior gold producer – two advanced stage gold development projects ready for permitting and development, exploration upside, excellent mining jurisdictions, strong management skillsets, a solid...
Rockhaven Resources Ltd. is advancing its high-grade Klaza gold-silver project in southwestern Yukon towards permitting and development. A preliminary economic assessment completed mid-2020 envisions a mine at Klaza that would produce roughly 750,000 ounces gold and 13.8 million oz silver over a 12-year mine life. The Klaza mine outlined in the PEA is calculated to generate a post-tax net present value (at a 5% discount) of C$378 million and a 37% internal rate of return. The...
ATAC Resources Ltd. continues to focus its exploration on Rau, a 660-square-kilometer (255 square miles) project at the western end of the company's enormous 185-kilometer- (115 miles) long Rackla Gold property in the Yukon. Early in 2020, ATAC published the results from an updated preliminary economic assessment for a mine at Tiger, a carbonate replacement gold deposit that anchors Rau. Based on 4.53 million metric tons of measured and indicated resources averaging 3.19...
Cans, cups, roofs, and foil hats are likely the first things that come to mind when thinking about tin – none of which conjure images of a metal that should be considered critical to a modern country like the United States. According to a study carried out by Massachusetts Institute of Technology, however, tin is the metal expected that be most impacted by new technologies. Commissioned by Rio Tinto, the MIT study found that tin beat out more likely technology metals candidate...
While the United States consumes roughly 5% of the chromite mined globally, none of this chromium mineral comes from domestic mines. Instead, America relies on foreign sources for approximately 72% of its supply and the balance of this vital ingredient in stainless steel and many superalloys comes from recycling. Nearly all America's chromite imports come from one country, South Africa. This heavy reliance on one country, coupled with a dearth of alternatives for this vital...
America's supply of tungsten, an extremely durable metal that is vital to a broad range of American industrial sectors, is at high-risk. A recent U.S. Geological Survey assessment to identify which mineral commodities are most at risk to supply disruptions ranked tungsten near the top of the list – alongside rare earth elements, cobalt and graphite, platinum group metals and tungsten. Like many of its neighbors at the top of the mineral commodity supply risk list, much of the...
Due to their vital importance to American manufacturing and the fact that 100% of U.S. supply comes from overseas, primarily China, rare earth elements top the list of minerals and metals deemed critical to the United States. When the U.S. Geological Survey plugged in 52 critical mineral commodities into a recently developed supply risk tool, six rare earth elements – dysprosium (No. 1), yttrium (No. 2), neodymium (No. 3), lanthanum (No. 5), cerium (No. 6) and praseodymium (...
In addition to dealing a major blow to the economy, the COVID-19 pandemic has shined a spotlight on a chink in the United States' economic and security armor – an overreliance on foreign countries for the minerals and metals that lie at the frontend of American supply chains. "The COVID-19 pandemic has shown how delicate our supply chains are and that should be a wakeup call for all of us," Senate Committee on Energy & Natural Resources Chair Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, said dur...
Doyon Ltd. is seeing a resurgence of mineral exploration on its lands across Interior Alaska, especially on gold properties held by the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act regional corporation. Running the breadth of Alaska between the Brooks Range to the north and Alaska Range to the south, the Doyon region blankets a mineral-rich swath of Alaska's Interior that is nearly the size of Texas. Doyon itself, owns 12.5 million acres of land within this vast region, making it the...
Nickel Creek Platinum Corp. March 11 said it plans to carry out exploration drilling, geophysics and sampling at its Nickel Shäw (formerly Wellgreen) nickel-copper-cobalt-platinum group metals project in southwestern Yukon. To fund this work, as well as permitting and other expenses, the company plans to raise C$4.4 million through a proposed non-brokered private placement being supported by a C$2.2 million commitment from Electrum Strategic Opportunities Fund L.P., Nickel Cre...
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,...
If you have watched the metals markets over the last month, you know why Alaska's mineral industry has surged, stalled, swerved, swooped, slowed, shelved and stuttered, sometimes all at the same time! Gold has gone above US$1,500 per ounce; copper pundits are predicting an increasingly dour future; zinc markets are looking to dive below $1.00 per pound; tin markets have marched strongly upward due to supply disruptions; and silver bulls are calling for annual worldwide...
Home of the famed golden beaches of Nome that have captured the imagination of millions over the past 120 years, the Bering Straits Native Corporation (BSNC) region covers the Seward Peninsula and coastal lands arcing around the eastern and southern coast of the Norton Sound in the far western reaches of Alaska. While this region may be 300 miles beyond North America's highway system, it has served as a crossroads for human activity for at least 15 millennia and will continue...
The Koniag Inc. region covers the Kodiak Archipelago, a group of islands off the southern coast of mainland Alaska better known for their enormous brown bears than vast mineral potential. The Alutiiq people that arrived on Kodiak, Afognak and surrounding islands more than 7,500 years ago were skilled mariners who were deeply connected to the ocean for food and supplies. Over the millennia, these roaming seafarers settled into whaling and fishing villages that sheltered...
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$249.4 million, made up of C$...
ATAC Resources Ltd.'s 2019 exploration focused primarily on Rau, a 660-square kilometer (255 square miles) property at the western end of the company's 185-kilometer- (115 miles) long Rackla Gold property in the Yukon. Rau is anchored by Tiger, a carbonate replacement body with 5.68 million metric tons of measured and indicated resources averaging 2.66 g/t (485,700 oz) gold. This project, however, hosts numerous styles of mineralization rich in copper, silver, zinc, lead and t...
