The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
Sorted by date Results 76 - 100 of 104
Usibelli Coal Mine has secured a sales contract for a second shipment of coal to Chile with Glencore Ltd. The ship was scheduled to begin loading approximately 45,000 metric tons on Dec. 21. This load, Usibelli said in a Dec. 20 press release coal is destined to be burned in a different company's power plant than the cargo shipped to Chile in August. "Preliminary indications are that the first customer will take an additional" cargo load of coal in January, Usibelli said. The company attributed the significant interest in... Full story
Pebble copper-gold mine in Alaska's Bristol Bay region is still on the drawing board, but a debate is already raging in the state Legislature over the best way to oversee the project. Although Vancouver-based Northern Dynasty has said it won't submit permit applications for Pebble for another year, while it assesses new drill results, mine opponents have launched a multimedia advertising campaign in an effort to drown out the voices of supporters and those who prefer a wait-and-see approach. The House Resources Committee...
A report on the economic impact of Alaska's mining industry published in February provides a comprehensive look at the varied benefits mining brings to the state. The Alaska Miners Association commissioned the McDowell Group to prepare the report and distributed it to state legislators. Presentations to the Legislature by the AMA and the Alaska Minerals Commission in the same week emphasized the positive aspects of Alaska's mining resurgence and the importance of a stable tax regime. Much of the information in the McDowell...
Usibelli Coal Mine in Healy, Alaska, has achieved an all-time safety record for no lost time injuries. The company said Jan. 17 that from Jan. 27, 2004, to the present, Usibelli's employees have collectively achieved more than 720 days of continuous operations without a lost time injury. "This is a significant accomplishment considering the challenging conditions we work in every day, while maintaining an impressive on-time delivery schedule to our customers," said Keith Walters, Usibelli's general manager. "We have produced...
Metals high: Gold up 77% from January 2002, silver 94%, platinum 87%, copper 206%, nickel 429%, lead 174%, zinc 141% - exploration and development plans for Alaska focused on all of these metals in projects stretching from the Brooks Range to far southeastern Alaska, from the Alaska-Yukon border to the Seward Peninsula n a welcome respite from the madness of most of 2005, the last month has seen a slowing of information from companies and individuals exploring and developing A...
The stars may be in alignment at long last for a huge coal project that has been languishing for decades just 50 miles from Anchorage. Developer Bob Stiles has renewed confidence that a mine will be built to exploit the Beluga-Chuitna coal fields, as he said in a presentation to the Alaska Miners Association convention in Anchorage Nov. 4. (See related story on cover of Nov. 20 Petroleum News.) The deposit on the west side of Cook Inlet, 10 miles from the Native village of Tyonek, contains an estimated 1 billion tons of...
Alaska's Department of Natural Resources may not have seen the last of Bob Loeffler. When he resigned as director of the Division of Mining, Land and Water in November, it was the third time he had quit the department that he first joined in 1978. He kept returning because he likes the work, Loeffler told Mining News. This loyalty is much like his loyalty to Alaska: He came to the state in 1977 with the U.S. Geological Survey for one year and never left. The position of director has now been filled by the former deputy direct... Full story
A Homer electric cooperative is eyeing the closed Healy Clean Coal Plant as a future source of power. The $300 million state-owned plant, located 78 miles southwest of Fairbanks, was built in the mid 1990s to tap the Usibelli Coal Mine and demonstrate environmentally conscious coal-burning technology. The state shut down the plant after the Golden Valley Electric Association, which tested the facility, refused to operate or buy it, saying the plant was "fatally flawed." Now Homer Electric Association Inc. is hoping the...
Alaska Gov. Frank Murkowski appointed Bartly Coiley, Usibelli Coal Mine's environmental affairs manager, to the Alaska Minerals Commission in August. Coiley fills the seat vacated by another Usibelli employee, Charles Boddy. The commission makes recommendation to the governor and Legislature on ways to mitigate the constraints on development of minerals, including coal, in the state. There are 11 members of the commission, five of whom are appointed by the governor, three by the president of the Senate and three by the...
An ambitious plan by Canadian junior Cash Minerals could bring 1.2 million tonnes of coal per year to Southeast Alaska's Skagway Ore Terminal for export to Pacific Rim markets. Cash has begun talks with the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority, the contractual owner of the ore terminal, about the logistics that would be involved in using the facility. The coal would be mined over a 20-year period at Cash's Division Mountain deposit in Yukon. The Skagway Ore Terminal was constructed in the 1960s by the White...
Other mining projects may be jumping on the bandwagon, but Teck Cominco still leads the race to find local gas reserves to feed the voracious appetite of a large-mine power plant in Alaska. Seven years after discovering gas deposits in shale near the Red Dog lead/zinc mine, the owner of the huge Northwest Alaska mine is ready to drill a two-well exploration program in hopes of replacing costly diesel fuel it must barge in every year. Though oil companies have developed gas reserves to power production facilities on the North...
There aren't many places in the United States where you drive on the left side of the road, but Usibelli coal mine is one of them. When you arrive at the gates to the mine in Healy, Alaska, you have to switch to the left because that makes it easier for the drivers of the 150-ton Caterpillar 785 haul trucks to get a clear view of the road. And when you are passing by a 150-ton truck loaded with coal, at the wheel of a small car, avoiding a head-on collision is a priority. In such a case it certainly isn't the truck that...
Red Dog's unenviable position at the top of the Environmental Protection Agency's national Toxics Release Inventory doesn't mean that the world's largest zinc mine is a dangerous polluter, according to the state of Alaska. The Teck Cominco-operated mine in the Arctic, near Kotzebue, released 487.4 million pounds of toxic chemicals in 2003, the newly published TRI reported. The TRI does not indicate whether, or to what degree, the public has been exposed to toxic chemicals, the EPA points out. Greens Creek polymetallic mine...
Since the Pebble project began hitting the headlines, Bob Loeffler has been asked some strange questions. People accost the mild-mannered director of the Alaska Department of Natural Resources' Division of Mining, Land and Water and demand to know why he issued permits for the Pebble project and when it is going to break ground. Loeffler is puzzled, because he hasn't issued any permits for the Pebble project. The developer, Northern Dynasty, won't even submit its permit applications until next year. Loeffler spoke to the Newh...
The report of the 2005 Alaska Minerals Commission, published in January, stresses the urgent need to overcome the twin obstacles of permitting and lawsuits at a time when the mining industry is experiencing a dramatic upsurge in activity. Since its creation in 1986 the commission has made annual recommendations to the governor and Legislature on ways to mitigate constraints on the development of minerals, including coal, in the state. "Despite the improvements in 2004, the industry continued to be dogged by an array of...
Alaska's Usibelli Coal Mine began talks in January with Matanuska Electric Association about the possible construction of a coal-fired power plant. Usibelli is looking for a customer in the Railbelt and MEA serves nearly 50,000 people in the Matanuska and Susitna valleys north of Anchorage. The Mat-Su location would be an alternative to Usibelli's proposed 200 megawatt Emma Creek project, a power plant close to the mine at Healy. "If our talks are successful, we could have a plant in service as early as January 2015," MEA spo...
December, January and February are normally a time when the mining industry can stop and catch its collective breath, look into its often cloudy but well-used crystal ball and prepare for the coming year. Not so the last December, January and February! While 2004 results continued to pour in from projects large and small, plans for 2005 are well advanced and in some cases, already in full swing. Metals prices remained strong and even the most pessimistic prognosticators...
Management and employees at the Red Dog zinc mine near Kotzebue expect a decision from the National Labor Relations Board in February on holding a union election there. The mine's electrical workers have asked to join the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, but owner Teck Cominco opposes the move. The company believes the group of 16 electricians is too small to unionize by itself. "The company would prefer the workforce to stay non-union, but at the end of the day it's up to the employees," Red Dog's general...
What a difference a year makes ... along with a few things like rebounding metals prices, China's voracious appetite for minerals and investors' enduring love affair worldwide with gold. That's the assessment of Alaska officials after reviewing the state's annual report on mining industry activity in 2003, released in late October. The cumulative value of Alaska's mining industry in 2003 dipped slightly to $1.067 billion, down about $6 million from the $1.073 billion reported in 2002, according to the report, the 23rd in an...
After seeing his daughter Lisa elected to the U.S. Senate, the first place Alaska Gov. Frank Murkowski headed to on Nov. 3 was the Alaska Miners Association convention in Anchorage. Perhaps because of his good mood, Gov. Murkowski promised to request a $700,000 addition to next year's budget for enhanced airborne geophysical surveys. In a speech to the convention two days later, Alaska Department of Natural Resources Commissioner Tom Irwin confirmed the state's enthusiasm for the mining industry. "Men and women of the Alaska...
Neither the heat and smoke from wildfires, nor excruciatingly low winter temperatures could deter miners from expanding their operations in Alaska this past season. Representatives of several companies described their achievements in the "Development and Mine Operations" session at the Alaska Miners Association convention on Nov. 5. NovaGold Resources' Rock Creek John Odden from NovaGold Resources began with a presentation on Rock Creek, which is located on the Seward Peninsula, seven miles north of Nome. Part of it is on...
A coal-fueled power plant could help meet the growing energy needs of Alaska's Railbelt, Usibelli Coal Mine Inc. believes. But the company faces a bumpy road to the realization of its Emma Creek Energy Project, with some electric utilities skeptical about the idea. At a meeting of the Alaska Support Industry Alliance in Anchorage on Oct. 20, Usibelli's vice president for business development, Steve Denton, gave a multimedia presentation on Emma Creek, promoting coal as a clean and cost-efficient alternative to oil and...
After years of contentious debate, lawsuits and sporadic negotiations, the two major players involved in the Healy Clean Coal Project, an experimental coal-fired power plant built with $300 million in state and federal funds and shuttered since 2000, have terminated their relationship. During a July 23 meeting in Anchorage involving the project's players as well as state politicians and Alaska Gov. Frank Murkowski, power plant owner Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority formally announced that the state agency... Full story
Usibelli Coal Mine Inc., Alaska's only commercial coal producer, will send a shipment of its Healy coal south this fall to be test burned in a power plant operation in Chile, opening the door to a potential new international market. The test supply contract was signed with Glencore Ltd., a leader in the international coal trade business, the company said in a July 20 press release. Usibelli currently ships about 400,000 tons of coal to South Korea for consumption in an electric generation plant. This international customer...
Long the symbol of a "dirty" economy and seemingly destined for oblivion in the age of global warming, coal is making a resurgence in the United States and Canada, propelled by the big blackout last summer and the volatility of natural gas prices. It is a small advance, but 4,900 megawatts of coal-fired generation is under construction or in advanced development in the United States and another 11,000 megawatts is in early development, according to a Standard & Poor's report in March. Beyond that, 90 new coal-fired power... Full story
