The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
Sorted by date Results 251 - 275 of 615
Caught between an updraft caused by dwindling supply and the gravity of slowing growth in global demand, zinc prices seem to have reached a cruising altitude above US$1 per pound. Recent closures of two large zinc mines - Century in Australia and Lisheen in Ireland - wiped out more than 600,000 metric tons of the world's annual supply of the galvanizing metal. Analysts expected these looming supply deficits to send zinc prices soaring well above US$1/lb. in 2015. While the...
Anniversary celebrations, golden milestones and rising metals prices are providing Alaska's metal miners with plenty to cheer about in 2016. Roughly 1 million ounces of gold will be mined in Alaska this year, when you tally the amount of the precious metal produced at four of Alaska's large metal mines – Fort Knox, Pogo, Kensington and Greens Creek – and the placer aurum produced at the family-scale operations across the state. Fortunately for all these miners, gold shot up...
Aston Bay Holdings Ltd. is focused on unlocking the copper and zinc potential of its Aston Bay property on northwest Somerset Island, Nunavut. Late in 2015, Aston Bay cut a deal with Commander Resources Ltd. that consolidated this 395,000-hectare (976,066 acres) land package that covers the Storm Copper and Seal zinc projects. In return, Commander now owns about 20 percent of Aston Bay shares. After gaining full ownership of the property, Aston Bay Holdings cut a C$40 million deal with BHP Billiton Ltd. to explore Storm...
Under the direction of legendary mining explorer Ron Netolitzky, Skeena Resources Ltd. is investigating the gold and copper potential of three highly prospective properties in the Golden Triangle region of British Columbia - Spectrum, Snip and GJ. In April, Skeena published a maiden resource for Spectrum, a gold-copper project about 37 kilometers (23 miles) west of Imperial Metals' Red Chris Mine. The Central zone at Spectrum hosts 8.95 million metric tons of indicated resource averaging 1.04 grams per metric ton (290,000 oun...
Zinc and copper are among the top commodities sought by Teck Resources Ltd. In Alaska, this work is dedicated to extending the life of the Red Dog Mine by upgrading high-grade zinc resources near the current mine area and seeking out new deposits across land surrounding the Northwest Alaska operation. Going into 2015, Red Dog had 56.6 million metric tons of ore in reserves, averaging 14.6 zinc, 4.1 percent lead and 73.8 grams per metric ton silver. This year, Teck began development of Qanaiyaq, a near-surface deposit that...
When judging the health of global mineral exploration, British Columbia seems to be the perfect model. In 2015, roughly C$272 million was invested in discovering and delineating mineral deposits in B.C., down some C$66 million from 2014. This 19.5 percent drop is in lockstep with the decline in global mineral exploration budgets for the same period, according SNL Metals & Mining's World Exploration Trends report. Likewise, B.C. exploration decreased about 60 percent from the...
Mineral exploration spending in Alaska hit an apex of US$365 million in 2011, but as venture capital for mining explorers dried these expenditures plummeted 78 percent to US$80 million in 2015. However, rising gold prices and a loosening of venture capital in 2016 seems to have marked an end to a painfully long bear market for mining explorers in Alaska. “After taking head shots for the past four years, the industry suddenly came to life over the past month, with new budgets,...
As tangible buoyancy returns to the mining industry, I began to wonder if any of the multitude of forecasters had actually predicted the recent return of stronger metals prices. Since most "forecasters" are actually "hindsighters," I was drawn to a November 2013 summary of gold mines by Roy Sebag of Natural Resource Holdings. The summary, entitled "Global Gold Mines & Deposits 2013 Ranking," indicated that we were nearing peak gold production because the total in-situ ounces...
Skeena Resources Ltd. Dec. 12 released the final results from the 2016 drill program at its Spectrum-GJ and announced the start of s preliminary economic assessment for this newly expanded gold-copper property in the Golden Triangle of northwestern British Columbia. This year's program included 2,872 meters of drilling in eight holes at the Donnelly deposit on the GJ side of the property and 6,279 meters in 22 holes at the Central zone on the Spectrum side of the property. In 2015, Skeena cut a deal to buy full ownership of...
Alaska’s congressional delegation is once again eliciting greater Obama Administration involvement in the potential development of numerous mines being considered on northwestern British Columbia waterways that drain through Southeast Alaska. “Like most Alaskans, we strongly support responsible mining, including mines in Southeast Alaska, but Alaskans need to have every confidence that mining activity in Canada is carried out just as safely as in our state,” the trio of Alask...
What do green energy activism, the Pyramid copper project in Alaska, and taking a Tesla Model S sedan on a road trip across North America have in common? The short answer is Gianni Kovacevic. A self-proclaimed "realistic environmentalist" and chairman of CopperBank Resources Corp., Kovacevic has a foot in each the mining and green energy sectors – industries with a symbiotic relationship that has yet to be fully appreciated. To raise awareness about this symbiotic relationship...
It has been several years since Zazu Metals Corp. has made any significant investments in its Lik zinc-lead-silver project in Northwest Alaska, a situation that is threatening the company’s eligibility to be listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange. According to exchange rules, a company must spend at least C$350,000 on its core projects during the previous year to be eligible to continue listing its shares on the TSX. Zazu, however, has reined in its cash outlay until zinc p...
Kiska Metals Corp. Oct. 4 reported that Teck Resources Ltd. has terminated its option to earn up to a 51 percent interest in Kliyul. As a result, Kiska regains 100 percent interest in the copper-gold project in northern British Columbia. Over the past three years, Teck completed roughly C$3 million on exploration and community engagement programs related to Kliyul. The field work included induced polarization geophysical surveys, archeological surveys, baseline water quality...
Aben Resources Ltd. Sept. 7 reported the start of exploration at its 23,000-hectare (53,830 acres) Forrest Kerr property located in British Columbia's Golden Triangle. The 2016 fieldwork is intended to provide reconnaissance-scale geological exploration across the project, which spans roughly 40 kilometers (25 miles). The newly-constructed access road to Galore Creek, a large copper-gold project being advanced by Novagold Resources and Teck Resources, cuts through the north...
A group of the world's largest mining companies have taken the lead in protecting World Heritage sites and are pushing for global governments to follow suit. "The conservation of World Heritage sites is a collective responsibility we all share, and ICMM wants to see more movement from governments to protect them," said Tom Butler, CEO, International Council on Mining and Metals. ICMM is a coalition of 23 global mining companies that include names familiar to Alaska's mining...
Teck Resources Inc. July 27 reported that its Red Dog Mine in Northwest Alaska produced 152,900 metric tons of zinc and 27,100 metric tons of lead during the second quarter of 2016. This is about a 1 percent drop for zinc and a 13 percent drop for lead, when compared with production during the same period of 2015. The company expects Red Dog's zinc production to continue to trend downward through the balance of 2016, due to lower grades of ore in the mine plan. Despite this...
Kiska Metals Corp. May 31 provided an update on it portfolio of projects, including a planned drill program on its Copper Joe copper-gold-molybdenum porphyry project in Southcentral Alaska. "Kiska is excited to be entering this period of renewed interest in the resource sector with over C$4 million of cash and marketable securities on hand, active option agreements with top-tier companies, drill-ready projects available for option, and a growing royalty portfolio," said Kiska...
Homestake Resource Corp. May 16 agreed to purchase from Teck Resources Ltd. a 2 percent net smelter return royalty on mineral claims forming a portion of the Homestake Ridge property in northwestern British Columbia. Teck also held rights to purchase another 2 percent NSR on other mineral claims from its holder for C$1million within 60 days from start of commercial production from the claims. Homestake also has acquired this right of purchase, ensuring that those claims would...
Teck Resources Ltd. April 26 reported its Red Dog Mine in Northwest Alaska produced record amounts of combined zinc and lead concentrates during the first quarter of 2016. During the first three months of the year, 1.08 million metric tons of ore averaging 17.4 percent zinc and 5.2 percent lead was milled at Red Dog, compared with 1.06 million metric tons averaging 16.5 percent zinc and 4.6 percent lead during the same period a year earlier. As a result, the mine produced...
Novagold Resources Inc. April 4 released its first-quarter financial results and updates for its 50 percent-owned Donlin Gold project in Alaska and its 50 percent-owned Galore Creek copper-gold-silver project in British Columbia. At Donlin Gold, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers continues to collect public comments on the draft environmental impact statement for the gold project. Meetings to collect comments on the draft EIS were held in Anchorage and in communities across the...
Long, grueling, arduous, treacherous and painful are among the many adjectives, and sometimes expletives, used to describe the mining sector's nearly four-year bear market that is showing signs it is ready to hibernate. While Alaska's metal mines have not emerged from this enduring downturn unscathed, the sector remains largely intact and ready to ride metals prices higher. Together, Alaska's mines produced roughly US$2.76 billion of precious and base metals during 2015, down...
Copper Fox Metals Inc. March 30 said the Schaft Creek Joint Venture - Copper Fox (25 percent) and Teck Resources Ltd. (75 percent) have budgeted C$700,000 for the 2016 work program at the Schaft Creek project in northwestern British Colombia. One of the primary focuses of this program will be to update the resource model for the Schaft Creek deposit with an emphasis on gaining a better understanding of the precious metals content of the deposit. The JV also will continue...
Strongbow Exploration Inc. March 7 said it has reached an agreement to purchase Teck Resources Ltd. royalty interest in the Mactung and Cantung tungsten projects located along the border between Yukon and Northwest Territories. Under the terms of the agreement, Strongbow will pay Teck C$1.5 million on closing of the acquisition, and make a further C$1.5 million payment when either there has been a decision to develop Mactung or commercial production resumes at Cantung. "We...
Teck Resources Ltd. Feb. 23 reported the retirements of a number of its senior executives, providing the company an opportunity to consolidate and restructure its senior management in a way that will streamline reporting relationships and further align the organizational structure with the current business environment. Teck COO Ian Kilgour, who has been with the company for five years and worked more than 35 years in the mining industry, will retire on April 30. Rob Scott,...
Although there is plenty of Alaska mining industry news this month, the big dog in the pen is the dramatic and unexpected run-up in the price of gold, which moved from a low of $1,078 per ounce to a high of $1,246/oz., most of which occurred after Feb. 1. Although profit-taking and other factors have caused the price to back off a bit, the move was both dramatic and unexpected. As you might guess, the ether is full of talking heads telling us why it went up, why it either won'...
