The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
Sorted by date Results 526 - 550 of 615
The Red Dog Mine, 17 years after startup, is unquestionably the economic and human resources success story of the Northwest Arctic Borough. Zinc and lead prices are strong, and production is up at the mine, which is operated by Teck Cominco Alaska on lands owned by the Alaska Native regional corporation, NANA Regional Corp. But the world's largest producer of zinc concentrate continues to be plagued by issues surrounding its discharge of wastewater. Treated water from the mine is released into tributaries of the Wulik River,...
NovaGold Resources Inc. Jan. 16 announced the appointment of new senior managers for the Galore Creek copper-gold-silver project that it owns jointly with Teck Cominco Ltd. in northwestern British Columbia as the partners launch an effort to re-evaluate and optimize development of the property. The companies suspended construction activities at Galore Creek in November when an independent engineering firm estimated that capital costs for developing a proposed 65,000-metric-tons-per-day mine could climb to $5 billion, more...
The Clean Water Initiatives that could come before Alaska voters in the general election next fall "are dangerous and deceptive proposals that Alaska cannot afford," according to a key executive at NANA Development Corp. Rosie Barr, resources manager for the operating arm of NANA Inc., the Alaska Native regional corporation for Northwest Alaska, spoke out against the initiatives and outlined the economic benefits of the Red Dog zinc-lead mine to Alaska at an industry...
A bold gambit to revive what was once Canada's largest and most profitable zinc-lead mine is still on track thanks to the tenacity and innovation of Tamerlane Ventures Inc., a Blaine, Wash.-based junior mining company led by some of the industry's savviest mining veterans. Located just across Great Slave Lake from Yellowknife about 80 kilometers (50 miles) east of the village of Hay River in the Northwest Territories, the historic Pine Point Mine produced some 4.5 million metric tons of zinc and 2 million metric tons of lead...
A year ago, Vancouver-based NovaGold Resources Inc. triumphantly fought off a hostile takeover bid by Toronto giant Barrick Gold. In 2007, the ambitious junior brought its Rock Creek project near Nome to the brink of production, began construction at Galore Creek in British Columbia and just a few weeks ago sealed a deal with Barrick to end their dispute over the Donlin Creek project in southwest Alaska. On Nov. 7, NovaGold's share price hit a 52-week high of $21.91. Then disaster struck: NovaGold and its new partner at...
For those of you who could not attend the Alaska Miners Association convention in Anchorage in early November, you missed what I understand was a record attendance and presentations on some of the most exciting mining developments in the last decade. In addition, I noticed a lot more business being conducted around the conference hotel than is normally the case. Geologists and engineers from companies large and small could be seen hunkered down over reports and maps with...
Vancouver, B.C.-based NovaGold Resources is progressing rapidly with its Rock Creek and Galore Creek projects - and it looks like the company might get some support from an unexpected quarter. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals held a hearing Sept. 26 in a lawsuit brought by a Nome citizens' group against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and a permit it issued for Rock Creek, and at least one of the three judges was adamantly in favor of the mine. Judge Andrew Kleinfeld repeatedly interrupted attorney Brian Litmans, who with...
The results from Alaska's summer field campaigns continue to pour in from all over the state, while field crews wind down their summer work and kick off their winter programs. If the results released this month are any indication of what is yet to come, 2008 is fixing to be one heck of a year! Western Alaska NovaGold Resources announced that initial testing of their crushing circuit had commenced at their commissioning Rock Creek gold mine near Nome. The operation is...
Federal regulators withdrew approval in late September for a permit that would allow the release of treated wastewater from Alaska's largest mine into waterways near the village of Kivalina, a Northwest Alaska village located 66 miles downstream from the mine. The Environmental Protection Agency says the five-year wastewater discharge permit it issued in March was partly flawed because it used old data on water use and dust emissions at the Red Dog zinc-lead mine in northwest Alaska. An EPA internal review board in...
Even though the concept of global warming is a welcome idea to many companies working in Alaska, its effects are not being felt fast enough to allow companies to complete all of the work they had hoped to finish in 2007. Drills are still turning all over the state, but the first signs of "termination dust" are showing on the higher peaks and the smell of fermenting berries fills the air, giving us all a not-so gentle prod to get ready for winter. Western Alaska Teck Cominco...
A quest by Teck Cominco Alaska Inc. to expand operations at the Red Dog Mine in northwestern Alaska is moving forward as regulators prepare to conduct a series of public scoping meetings Oct. 2-5 in affected communities. Red Dog, the world's largest producer of zinc concentrate, began production in 1989. It is located 82 miles north of Kotzebue on land owned by NANA Regional Corp., the Alaska Native regional corporation for northwest Alaska. Current mining of Red Dog's main deposit is scheduled to wind down between 2010 and...
As the late, great Phil Rizutto used to say when something amazing happened on the baseball field: "Holy Cow!" The last month has seen an explosion of activity across Alaska with companies working in virtually every region on a diverse package of metals including gold, platinum group elements, silver, molybdenum, lead, zinc, copper and nickel. Several new companies have entered the exploration field in Alaska and several new partners have joined forces with previously active...
Alaska's Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell has denied an application for a statewide ballot initiative submitted by three Bristol Bay residents who are concerned about the possible development of the Pebble project. Parnell followed the advice of the Department of Law in a June 21 memorandum to deny a vote on the Alaska Clean Water Initiative. The proposed law would have placed sweeping restrictions on the state's mining industry. The initiative aimed to prevent Alaska's waters from being "adversely impacted" by new large-scale metallic...
Two Vancouver-based companies have announced a partnership to develop British Columbia's largest mining project, Galore Creek, just across the border from Alaska. NovaGold Resources, which has been developing the copper-gold project for the past four years, will go 50-50 with Teck Cominco, the operator of Red Dog and Pogo mines in Alaska, and Highland Valley and Elk Valley mines in British Columbia. To earn its 50 percent interest, Teck Cominco will fund approximately US$478 million in construction costs at Galore Creek,...
Strong markets and solid production powered hardrock mining companies with large operations and investments in Alaska to outstanding performances in 2006. Teck Cominco, operator of the Red Dog zinc-lead mine near Kotzebue and the Pogo gold mine in the eastern Interior near Delta Junction; Kinross Gold Corp., owner of the Fort Knox gold mine near Fairbanks, Hecla Mining Co., part owner of the Greens Creek silver mine in Southeast Alaska; and Coeur D'Alene Corp., developer of the Kensington Gold Project near Juneau, reported...
Okay, the lull is over. It lasted about 25, maybe 30 minutes, after I wrote those prophetic but ill-considered words in late January! Shortly after that point I was in Vancouver for the annual Cordilleran Roundup mining conference, an annual barometer of mining activity in western North America if not the world. What I saw at the 2007 conference was a crowd well in excess of 5,000, populated by two types of people: those who were smiling from ear to ear and those whose terrified eyes reminded me of a whitetail deer in the...
Exploration spending in British Columbia hit a record high of C$265 million in 2006, a figure that the province's mining minister, Bill Bennett was proud to announce at the recent Mineral Exploration Roundup in Vancouver. Unfortunately for Bennett, he probably won't be invited to boast about the industry's successes next year, since he was forced to resign in early February after sending an obscenity-laced email to a gun club member. "British Columbians want good jobs, and they also, frankly, want the tax revenues that come...
In a week when lead and zinc hit record-breaking high prices, it was particularly appropriate for Vancouver-based Teck Cominco's president and CEO, Don Lindsay, to be visiting Alaska for the seventh time. The state is home to the world's largest lead-zinc mine, Red Dog, and the company has further demonstrated its commitment to Alaska with the recent opening of Pogo gold mine, a partnership with Japan's Sumitomo Metal Mining. The Alaska Miners Association presented Teck Cominco with its new mine award this year. Walter Sampso...
Over the last month the Alaska mineral industry continued to report results from 2006 exploration programs including new acquisitions of projects that have been on the back shelf for over 25 years. The industry watched as the American political scene was drastically changed at both the federal and state levels. And despite the fact that the end of the year is nearing, there is no end in sight yet for a number of exploration and development projects while at the same time contracts for work in 2007 already are being inked. If...
The circumstances that led to four deaths in a water sampling shed at the Sullivan mine in southeastern British Columbia May 15-17, resulted from an unprecedented incident caused by an oxygen-deficient atmosphere, according to the province's chief inspector of mines. After producing lead, silver and zinc in vast quantities for nearly 70 years, the Sullivan Mine near the resort community of Kimberley had been decommissioned. Reclamation by mine operator Teck Cominco Ltd. was nearly complete when the fatalities occurred last sp...
Nothing's been built yet, but Vancouver-based Northern Dynasty has already opened the floodgates to a torrent of discussion of the enormous dams the company proposes for the Pebble project. One of the tailings dams would reach an ultimate height of 740 feet and would be at least 4.3 miles long. The largest dam in North America, the Grand Coulee Dam in Washington, is 550 feet tall and almost a mile long. Northern Dynasty had already come under fire before it submitted the proposal for five dams to Alaska's Department of...
Normally at this time of year the mining industry's seasonal peak of activity is over and the paucity of news coming from the bush is a function of the dwindling volume of work going on out there. While there has been the anticipated lull in mining results released to the public in the last month, I can almost hear the deep, slow collective inhalation of breath being taken by the industry as it catches its second wind and launches an unusually diverse series of fall and winter programs. These efforts span the gamut from...
Sherwood Copper Corp. dashed out of the starting gate this spring, racing not only to bring the Minto project in northern Yukon Territory to production as early as the second quarter of 2007, but also to boost anticipated copper production from the tri-mineral deposit to 40 million to 50 million pounds per year. Sherwood, a Vancouver, B.C.-based junior mining company, is eager to capitalize on high metals prices, especially for copper, and a projected worldwide shortage of at least 100,000-120,000 tons a year of that...
The game is afoot! The last month has seen the start of a number of field programs in Alaska, marking the beginning of the traditional "field season" in the Great Land. With demand for metals remaining extraordinarily high, Alaska's mining industry is operating at capacity but well below demand. An acute shortage of drills and drillers, geologists and engineers and helicopters to move them all around is affecting exploration, development and production plans around the state. For the first time in my career, money is not in...
The Nome area in northwest Alaska is famous for its gold, but less well-known is the fact that it is also home to the largest uranium deposit so far discovered in the state. Abandoned by an oil company when the price of uranium plummeted along with other natural resources in the early 1980s, Boulder Creek (formerly known as Death Valley) is now being explored again by two Vancouver-based juniors in a joint venture, Full Metal Minerals and Triex Minerals. Full Metal Minerals is one of the most active exploration companies in...
