The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
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A growing imbalance in the supply and demand for rare earths is creating a challenge for the companies that produce this suite of technology elements and an opportunity for the scientists seeking ways to leverage their unique properties in new and intriguing ways. While it is true that the global transition to zero-carbon energy and transportation is creating new rare earths demand that threatens to outstrip the global supply, the real disparity has more to do with which of...
As the White House continues to dole out hundreds of billions of dollars to position America as the global leader in clean energy and digital technologies, Beijing initiates a strategy to put America in check with the global economy equivalent of pawns. These pawns in the technology chess match between the U.S. and China are gallium and germanium, a pair of semiconductor metals used to make the computer chips essential to every facet of modern life. Before all the major news o...
From rare earths in Northern Maine to lithium in Southern California and graphite in Alaska, the U.S. Geological Survey is on a mission to discover minerals critical to the nation's economy and clean energy goals on American soil. Or, more accurately, under American soil. This nationwide endeavor is officially called the Earth Mapping Resources Initiative, but is better known as Earth MRI, a clever moniker that reflects the earth penetrating scans that are providing...
Powering nearly 10% of the world's energy needs and roughly 20% of America for over 50 years, nuclear energy is a highly controversial power provider that ticks all the boxes for zero-emission electricity. Much like most contemporary fuels, running these reactors takes something dug from the earth – uranium. In 2017, the United States Geological Survey was charged with identifying which minerals and metals are critical to the U.S. Its original list of 35 critical minerals, f...
As the cracks in the wall continue to chill the bones of an ill-prepared American clean-energy economy, attention has been paid to nearly every facet imaginable to obtain the minerals critical to fuel a zero-carbon future; however, all has seemingly been quiet on the unconventional front. Repeated time and time again during the ongoing transition, U.S. policymakers are becoming increasingly concerned about the overreliance on China for the minerals and metals essential to...
North Arrow Minerals Inc. Aug. 28 announced the latest channel sample assay results from its DeStaffany lithium property in Northwest Territories, which maintain the significant lithium potential of this northern Canadian hard rock lithium project. Acquired by North Arrow in January, DeStaffany is an early-stage exploration project roughly 18 kilometers (11 miles) northeast of Vital Metals Ltd.'s Nechalacho rare earths mine and approximately 115 kilometers (71 miles) from...
North Arrow Minerals Inc. July 11 announced its 2023 field exploration program at its DeStaffany lithium project in Northwest Territories, Canada, has confirmed the discovery of two new pegmatites – doubling the known spodumene pegmatite bodies found on the property. "We've had a strong start to what is really the first full evaluation of the lithium potential of the DeStaffany property," said North Arrow President and CEO Ken Armstrong. Acquired by North Arrow in January, D...
Alaska mining and Washington policy leaders gather to discuss forging a path forward to critical minerals in US's Arctic state. Building upon the discussions and strategic ideas set in motion during the 2022 "Alaska's Minerals: A Strategic National Imperative" summit, the U.S. Department of Energy's Arctic Energy Office co-hosted a two-day summit this week to advance policy recommendations for development of critical mineral resources in the North American Arctic. For the Unit...
The world's leading mining companies have a big problem – with the industry being transformed by a mad rush to acquire raw materials supporting the worldwide energy transition, and mining companies' sweeping moves to drastically reduce their own carbon footprints, the future of labor is becoming more of a hybrid of specialized technical skillsets and traditional experience. Just as the average miner no longer counts a pick and shovel among his toolkit, the miner of today w...
Merged company will hold several world-class gold, copper assets in Northern BC's Golden Triangle. In a deal that will bring together several world-class copper and gold projects in British Columbia's Golden Triangle, Newmont Corp. and Newcrest Mining Ltd. have agreed upon a merger worth A$28.8 billion (US$19.3 billion) to Newcrest shareholders. "The combination of Newmont and Newcrest represents an exceptional value proposition for shareholders and other stakeholders," said N...
North Arrow Minerals Inc. May 18 announced that it has raised roughly C$2.7 million to fund exploration of its lithium projects in northern Canada, which will primarily be focused on the company's newly acquired DeStaffany lithium project in Northwest Territories. The company raised the cash through a C$2.4 million private placement financing and the sale of 0.5% royalty interests in its Loki diamond project in Northwest Territories' Lac de Gras region for C$374,000. With the...
A growing and increasingly vocal group of Alaska Native leaders are joining the 49th State's delegation in Washington DC on pressing the Biden administration to carry out a timely review of the proposed 211-mile road to the Ambler Mining District in Northwest Alaska. "We are asking lawmakers in Washington to listen to the voices of the people who have lived on these lands and stewarded Alaska since time immemorial," said Naasri Fred Sun, president of the Shungnak Tribe in the...
Li-FT Power Ltd. April 19 announced that it has entered into a preliminary agreement with the Yellowknives Dene First Nation ahead of a 42,000-meter drill program that it plans to carry out this year on its newly assembled Yellowknife Lithium project about 60 kilometers east of Yellowknife, Northwest Territories. Li-FT is a new junior exploration company formed early last year that is focused on lithium, a metal that is in high demand due to its use in the batteries powering...
The Northwest Territories capital city of Yellowknife is emerging as a northern link in North America's electric vehicle supply chain. Already home to Canada's only rare earths mine, a 160-kilometers (100 miles) area around this northern mining town happens to be enriched with the lithium and cobalt that is in massive demand for EV batteries, along with numerous other minerals critical to both Canada and the United States. A roughly 9,600-square-kilometer (3,700 square miles)...
Vital Metals CEO resigns after just 4 months; Ucore adds former Vital top executive to its growing team. With former Vital Metals Ltd. Managing Director Geoff Atkins joining the team at Ucore Rare Metals Inc. and John Dorward tendering his resignation as director and CEO of Vital, this week saw a carousel of executive changes at rare earths companies with ties to the North of 60 Mining area. Under Atkins' leadership, Vital transformed the Nechalacho deposit in Northwest...
Minto Metals Corp. March 16 announced that it will not be shipping Minto Mine copper concentrate through the ore terminal in the Southeast Alaska port town of Skagway for at least the next two years. Concentrates enriched with copper, gold, and silver produced at Minto have been shipped out of Skagway since the 2007 start of production at the Yukon mine. The Skagway Ore Terminal, which is only about 110 miles (175 kilometers) south of the Yukon capital city of Whitehorse and...
North Arrow Minerals Inc. March 30 reported that its ongoing data review has identified eight lithium targets on its newly acquired DeStaffany project in Northwest Territories. Acquired by North Arrow in January, DeStaffany is an early exploration project about 18 kilometers (11 miles) northeast of Vital Metals Ltd.'s Nechalacho rare earths mine that hosts two known lithium-tantalum-niobium bearing pegmatites – Moose 1 and Moose 2 – with some historical prospecting and sam...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska: Gathering together leaders, decision-makers, and experts toward the common goal of understanding the value of Alaska's mineral endowment and how to unlock it for America's net-zero emission goals, the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management hosted a two-day workshop bringing attention to carbon management and critical minerals and how the Last Frontier will be a keystone in achieving the country's lofty ambition. Held at...
More gold, strong zinc prices helped push value higher; critical minerals could add a boost moving forward. Alaska mines produced approximately $4.51 billion worth of nonfuel minerals last year, a 16% increase over the $3.89 billion in 2021, and an impressive 42.7% jump over the $3.16 billion of mined products during 2020, according to the U.S. Geological Survey's Mineral Commodity Summaries 2023 report. The rise in Alaska mine production value is largely due to increased...
In a move that helps provide a tangible link between the rare earth elements produced in Northwest Territories and the green technologies they enable, Cheetah Resources is sponsoring an electric vehicle rideshare cooperative in the NWT capital of Yellowknife. The YK Car Share Co-op allows members to rent an EV charged with the predominantly hydroelectricity that feeds the power grid in Yellowknife for $10 per hour. "Electric vehicles and car sharing reduces the environmental...
The increasing number of electric vehicles charged with renewable energy, connected to 5G networks, and boasting the computing power of 200 laptops to autonomously traverse global highways is creating a meteoric rise in demand for the minerals and metals critical to clean energy and high-tech. Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, the foremost authority on lithium battery supply chains, estimates that more than 300 new mines will need to come online by 2035 – just to produce the c...
Less than three years after bringing its ambition to mine rare earth elements to Canada, Vital Metals Ltd. is rapidly establishing its presence on the world stage as one of few miners of rare earth minerals outside of China. In July 2021, the Australia-based company became the first to extract rare earth-rich material for commercial processing from the ground in Canada – a country known to host vast undeveloped quantities of the coveted resources. Vital Metals is also only t...
Mining activity in Northwest Territories held steady in 2022 despite constraints imposed by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic as a cadre of mainly junior mining companies took up the international challenge to seek out large deposits of critical minerals. Early in the year, government officials noted that industry interest in diamonds, gold, and especially critical minerals boded well for the NWT economy in the coming year. "An exciting new chapter is emerging for mining in the...
Following an AU$45 million (US$31.6 million) infusion of cash in July, Vital Metals Ltd. has gone through some significant changes that are being reflected in a new strategy that slows the ramp-up of production at the company's rare earths separation plant in Saskatchewan and focuses the company's resources on expanding production at its Nechalacho Mine in Canada's Northwest Territories. Shortly following this financing anchored by AU$30 million (US$21 million) contributed by...
Honored for local hire and business opportunities at Canada's first rare earths mine. Cheetah Resources Corp. Nov. 20 announced that it has been honored with the 2022 Northwest Territories Mining and Exploration (MAX) economic leadership award for its innovative Indigenous and northern employment and procurement at Nechalacho, as well as the rare earth mine's contribution to the mining and export sectors of the NWT economy. "Vital has successfully developed an entire...
