The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
Sorted by date Results 476 - 500 of 615
Alaska's mining industry captured the attention, not only of Alaskans but also the country during the past year when a controversy over the proposed Pebble Project in Southwest Alaska bubbled to the surface. Supporters and opponents of a ballot initiative aimed at blocking the mining venture squared off in a vocal and often strident campaign that made headlines nationwide. Alaska Miners Association director Steve Borell cited the contest over development the world-class...
They say when it rains, it pours, and that is just what is happening with news from field programs all over Alaska. Results from summer 2009 programs are pouring in from the Brooks Range to Prince of Wales Island, from Eastern Interior Alaska to Southwestern Alaska. Commodities of interest range from the expected gold, silver, copper, lead and zinc to the nearly unpronounceable, including praseodymium, dysprosium, terbium, thulium, lutetium and yttrium. Go ahead, drop a...
RED DOG MINE - Teck Resources Ltd. and NANA Regional Native Corp. are waiting, with cautious optimism, for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to provide final approval for development of a huge zinc-lead deposit that would extend the life of the Red Dog zinc mine by about 20 years. The partners in the world's largest zinc mine began their quest for approval to mine the Aqqaluk deposit, which is adjacent to the Red Dog Mine near Kotzebue, more than two years ago. Though...
The Province of British Columbia recognized two of Teck Resources Ltd.'s coal operations for excellence in mine safety at the 54th Annual Provincial Mine Rescue, First Aid and Safety Awards ceremony held June 6 at Britannia Beach. Teck Coal's Greenhills Operations won the John Ash Award for achieving the lowest injury frequency rate for mines operating more than 1 million worker-hours in 2008 and the Line Creek Operation received the Edward Prior Award for mines operating between 200,000 and 1 million worker hours, with the...
Teck Resources Ltd. and affiliates of Sumitomo Metal Mining Co. Ltd. and Sumitomo Corp. said they completed the sale of Teck's 40 percent interest in the Pogo Gold Mine in Interior Alaska July 7 after several months of negotiations. The transaction, first announced April 30, required the Japanese conglomerate to pay Teck US$245 million, plus an undisclosed amount of working capital. As a result, Sumitomo Metal and Sumitomo now own 100 percent of Pogo, with the former increasing its share to 85 percent from 51 percent, and...
Zazu Metals Corp. May 28 reported completion of a current NI 43-101 resource estimate for the Lik zinc-lead-silver project in Northwest Alaska that confirms it as being one of the largest undeveloped zinc deposits in the Western Hemisphere. The deposit is located 22 kilometers, or about 14 miles, from the Red Dog mine, the world's largest zinc producer. Teck Resources Ltd. owns and operates Red Dog and is a 50 percent joint venture partner in the Lik Project. Zazu owns the remaining 50 percent and has the exclusive right to...
Spring has arrived in Alaska and the mining industry is heading to the hills to do its work. Compared to last year, the state is a quiet place in the sun due to drastically reduced exploration and development budgets. Alaska's mines continue to benefit from the sharply reduced costs of power, diesel fuel, labor and other goods and services, but worldwide economic uncertainties have dried up the availability of venture capital for smaller exploration companies and have made...
Underworld Resources Inc. struck a much thicker band of gold-rich mineralization in early drilling this season, the company reported May 26. Initial assay results from the Vancouver BC-based junior's second season of drilling into the Golden Saddle zone at the White Gold property in Yukon Territory revealed a new 100-meter-thick band of gold mineralization much deeper than the original near-surface discovery. The new zone, roughly 100 to 200 meters deep, averaged more than 3...
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...
NovaGold Resources Inc. not only survived 2008 - a year marked by skyrocketing development costs, an unstable financial market as well as environmental and mechanical setbacks at its projects - the embattled miner rocketed into 2009 with its core assets intact and cash in its pocket. In NovaGold's 2008 year-end report, the company described the previous 12 months as challenging for precious metals stocks, including its own. Setbacks at NovaGold's Rock Creek Mine near Nome and...
Last month we talked about economic impacts of the Alaska mining industry. This month, the world mineral exploration industry is in our crosshairs. Halifax-based Metals Economics Group reported that 2008 worldwide nonferrous mineral exploration reached $13.2 billion, more than 2.5 times the previous peak exploration spending level reached in 1997. Add uranium exploration expenditures, and the total expands to $14.4 billion. Exploration spending would have been even higher...
There are some new stats out from the State of Alaska that I thought you might like to see. For 2008, the Alaska mining industry accounted for 3,500 direct jobs and 5,500 indirect jobs. The industry doled out US$350 million in payroll with the average salary totaling US$82,600 per year, which is 90 percent higher than the statewide average for all sectors. Mining salaries were higher than all other sectors, except for the oil and gas sector. The industry paid US$105 million in...
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...
Alaska saw robust mining activity in 2008 across the full spectrum of the industry, from small placer operations to major producers, and from exploration programs to advanced development projects. Here is a look at companies reporting significant progress during the year. Placer mining Silverado Gold Mines Ltd. has recovered 26,879 ounces of placer gold from channel and bench deposits in the Nolan Valley through 2007. The largest nugget recovered from the property, located about 280 miles north of Fairbanks, weighed 41.35...
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...
When Greg Beischer and Phil St. George teamed up to form Millrock Resources Inc. nearly two years ago, they set out to make big discoveries that would attract the interest of the world's mining giants. These two exploration geologists now think the Estelle high-grade gold property in Alaska's Rainy Pass district, about 160 kilometers, or 100 miles, northwest of Anchorage could be one such property. The Millrock team has the background to know what global mining companies are...
Reeling from regulatory and operating problems at the Rock Creek Mine 12 kilometers, or 8 miles, from Nome and effects of the recent credit drought, NovaGold Resources Inc. Nov. 24 said it has suspended production at the Rock Creek gold mine for at least six months. The move comes less than three months after production startup at the small gold mining project in September. The Vancouver, B.C.-based fledgling producer blamed its financial troubles on huge unexpected cost...
Rick Van Nieuwenhuyse, president and CEO of NovaGold Resources Inc., said problems facing global markets today as well as his struggling company are the result of society's desire for zero risks. "Today we have a world that is ruled by lawyers, accountants, politicians, and (securities and banking) regulators; and they have made a mess of things lately," Nieuwenhuyse told members of the Alaska Miners Association at their annual convention in Anchorage Nov. 7. "We can't really...
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...
Alaska's mineral industry set a new spending record of about $4 billion in 2007, up 13.3 percent from the value of the industry's expenditures in 2006, according to an 89-page report released Nov. 5 by the Division of Geological & Geophysical Surveys and the Office of Economic Development. The industry's reported value, according to DGGS, is calculated by combining the amount spent on exploration and development with the production value of mines in Alaska. While 2007 was a...
NovaGold Resources Inc. reports that the startup of its first mining operation at Rock Creek near Nome is going smoothly. Production levels at Rock Creek have been higher than the company anticipated, averaging about 50 percent of design capacity during the first month of operation, NovaGold said in its third-quarter financial report. The gold mine's gravity circuits ran at about 80 percent availability and the carbon-in-leach system is in the process of being charged and...
The Northwest Transmission Line along Highway 37 is once again on the front burner in British Columbia, and development of the 517-kilometer-long, or 321-mile-long, power line could provide easier access to Lower 48 markets for power generated in Alaska. British Columbia has resumed the environmental assessment process and First Nations consultation required for the project, following an announcement by the Canadian province's Premier Gordon Campbell Sept. 26 that the power project was back on track. The B.C. government...
Full Metal Minerals Ltd. has 11 exploration projects spanning Alaska. The company's two primary projects are the Lucky Shot high-grade gold property about 90 miles north of Anchorage, and the LWM zinc-lead-silver prospect at its 40 Mile property in eastern Alaska. In a joint venture with BHP Billiton, Full Metal is exploring multiple copper-gold porphyry targets on 88,675 acres of Doyon Ltd. land in eastern Alaska. Full Metal has joint venture agreements with both major and junior mining companies, including Kinross Gold,...
NovaGold Resources Inc.'s Rock Creek gold mine began production Sept. 19. Crews began feeding the 6,500-metric-ton-per-day-mill at 25 percent capacity with a ramp-up to full production targeted for year's end. Once in full production, the operation is expected to turn out 100,000 ounces of gold per year. The main pit at Rock Creek has a resource of 500,000 ounces. The company's objective is to increase the resource to 1 million ounces over the next year. The Usibelli Coal Mine is a fourth-generation family-owned business...
