The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
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U.S. Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service, and the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority have signed documents that provide a 50-year right-of-way across federal lands for the Ambler Mining District Industrial Access Road. "This right-of-way is the culmination of years of research, planning, and collaboration," said AIDEA Executive Director Alan Weitzner. "The signing of this permit is a major milestone. It's the first step in a multi-year phase of...
Since acquiring a 70% interest in Imperial Metals Corp.'s Red Chris Mine, Newcrest Mining Ltd. has become increasingly excited about the potential of this porphyry copper-gold asset at the northern end of British Columbia's Golden Triangle. The Australia-based miner bought a majority stake of Red Chris with the idea that it could unlock the full value of this operation by applying its expertise in block cave mining, a bulk tonnage underground mining technique that involves...
Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd. viewed the start of gold production from its Amaruq and Meliadine mines in Nunavut during 2019 as an inflection point that marked a new era for the company's endeavors in this geologically blessed, politically attractive, and stable northern Canadian Territory jurisdiction. The Toronto-based gold miner, however, did not envision this new era starting with a global pandemic that would suspend operations at its new mines and change the modus operandi at...
Whether it is the exponential growth in electric vehicles traveling global highways, the massive need for storing energy at solar and wind electrical generating facilities, or cutting the cords on our electronic devices, the world is becoming increasingly dependent on lithium-ion batteries. And this is driving up the demand for cobalt, a critical safety ingredient in the cathodes of these energy storage cells. "Globally, the leading use is in the manufacture of cathode materia...
Cans, cups, roofs, and foil hats are likely the first things that come to mind when thinking about tin – none of which conjure images of a metal that should be considered critical to a modern country like the United States. According to a study carried out by Massachusetts Institute of Technology, however, tin is the metal expected that be most impacted by new technologies. Commissioned by Rio Tinto, the MIT study found that tin beat out more likely technology metals candidate...
Traditionally used to create stronger, lighter, and more durable steels, vanadium is emerging as a potential game changing element in the grid-scale batteries needed to store renewable energy. Known as vanadium redox flow batteries, or VRFBs, this emerging electrical storage technology takes advantage of vanadium's ability to exist in solution in four different oxidation states as electroactive elements, instead of separate elements for the cathode and anode. The amount of ene...
Considering the global shift to low-carbon energy and electric mobility, copper is the most vital metal not on the United States Geological Survey's list of 35 minerals and metals considered critical to America's economic wellbeing and security. Copper's importance is due to the rapidly emerging electric vehicle, wind turbines and photovoltaic (PV) solar technologies need a lot more copper than the combustion cars and power plants they are replacing. It is estimated that the...
The six platinum group elements – platinum, palladium, rhodium, ruthenium, iridium, and osmium – have one foot firmly planted in the realm of precious metals while the other is firmly established in the industrial sectors. While being amongst the rarest metals on the planet already makes PGE's highly valued for jewelry and bullion, their applications in the automotive, petrochemical, and electronics industries are catalysts that drive the price of these industrious pre...
America's supply of tungsten, an extremely durable metal that is vital to a broad range of American industrial sectors, is at high-risk. A recent U.S. Geological Survey assessment to identify which mineral commodities are most at risk to supply disruptions ranked tungsten near the top of the list – alongside rare earth elements, cobalt and graphite, platinum group metals and tungsten. Like many of its neighbors at the top of the mineral commodity supply risk list, much of the...
The United States imported more than 90% of the 1.4 million metric tons of titanium minerals it consumed during 2019. What the mass majority of this critical mineral was used for, however, may come as a surprise. While titanium's lightweight and extreme durability make it an excellent material for aircraft and high-performance sporting equipment, more than 90% of this mineral mined each year is used to impart a stark whiteness to a surprisingly wide variety of consumer goods w...
Western Copper and Gold Corp. Dec. 14 announced the start of a new preliminary economic assessment that will consider mining a much larger resource at its Casino project in Canada's Yukon. A feasibility study completed in 2013 envisioned utilizing both a mill and heap leaching to recover the copper, gold, silver, and molybdenum found at Casino. Western Copper, however, has more than doubled the size of the Casino deposit since that study was completed. According to a...
Newcrest Minerals Ltd. and Imperial Metals Corp. Dec. 10 reported results from 12,652 meters of drilling completed at the Red Chris copper-gold mine property in Northern British Columbia since the end of September. This drilling included six holes focused on the discovery of additional zones of higher-grade mineralization within the Red Chris porphyry corridor and two geotechnical holes. Newcrest reports that all six exploration holes encountered mineralization. One of the...
Fireweed Zinc Ltd. Nov. 23 announced that it has nearly doubled its land position in the Macmillan Pass area of eastern Yukon through the acquisition of two claim blocks that cover zinc, lead and silver targets to the west of its already large mineral exploration project. To acquire this western extension of the Macmillan Pass project, Fireweed entered into two separate agreements – one with QuestEx Gold & Copper Ltd. for approximately 74 square kilometers (18,300 acres) of m...
As a private company, Western Alaska Copper & Gold Company has done a great job steadily advancing the multiple precious and base metals deposits and targets across its 34,000-acre Illinois Creek Mining District property in western Alaska. Given the success of this work, especially a 2020 program that indicates the viability of resuming operations at the historic Illinois Creek gold-silver mine, management is taking the exploration company public on Canada's TSX Venture Exchan...
When Granite Creek Copper Ltd. decided to refocus its energies on finding copper in Yukon Territory in October 2018, it swung into action, aggressively tackling its vision of becoming a leading copper exploration company. Just over two years later, the junior has acquired the advanced Carmacks Copper Project and is hoping to establish a mineral resource estimate on its larger Stu Project next door. To begin its transition, the junior changed its name from Granite Creek Gold...
As the price of gold reaches historic highs and silver tops US$24 per ounce, Western Alaska Copper & Gold and Piek Exploration are investigating the potential of restarting operations at the past producing Illinois Creek Mine near the Yukon River about 65 miles southwest of the town of Galena and 120 miles north of the Donlin Gold Mine project. In 2018, Western Alaska Copper & Gold and Piek Exploration formed a joint venture to consolidate the entire Illinois Creek district,...
Newcrest Mining Ltd. July 23 said COVID-19 has not affected the production of copper and gold at its Red Chris mine in northwestern British Columbia. During the second quarter 2020, Red Chris produced 8,401 metric tons (18.5 million pounds) of copper, which is an 18% increase over the 7,128 metric tons (15.7 million lb) produced during the first quarter; and 15,440 ounces of gold, which is a 27% rise over the 12,199 oz produced during the previous quarter. Newcrest attributes...
The U.S. Department of Interior issued two decisions that mark a major milestone along the path of permitting a road to the incredibly rich and strategically important Ambler Mining District in Northwest Alaska. On July 23, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the National Park Service (NPS) with the U.S. Federal Highway Administration, issued a record of decision that authorizes a right-of-way for the proposed 211-mile-long road...
ATAC Resources Ltd. July 15 announced that the initial phase of its 2020 exploration program is now underway at Rau, an intriguing precious and base metals project at the western end of the 185-kilometer- (115 miles) long Rackla Gold property in the Yukon. ATAC's phase-one 2020 exploration program will include excavator trenching, 1,500 meters of rotary air blast (RAB) drilling, mapping and prospecting to develop diamond drill targets at the Airstrip target, which hosts an...
Western Copper and Gold Corp. July 13 announced that the tonnage of measured and indicated mill resources at its Casino copper-gold project in the Yukon has more than doubled. A 2013 feasibility study for developing a mine at Casino envisions utilizing both a mill and heap leach to recover the copper, gold, silver, and molybdenum found there. According to the new calculation, Casino now hosts 2.17 billion metric tons of millable measured and indicated resources averaging...
Like working a giant jigsaw puzzle, Western Copper and Gold Corp. has gradually pieced together components of the Casino Mine project in Yukon Territory, hoping to usher the project into production within the next few years. For 14 years, the industrious junior has chased the dream of producing copper, gold, molybdenum, and silver from the Casino deposit, known as one of the most prospective mineral concentrations of its type in the world. But with the turn of a drill a year a...
Western Copper and Gold Corp. June 4 said it plans to drill at least 43 holes this summer at its Casino copper-gold project in the Yukon. Slated to get underway by mid-June, this drill program will test three targets identified last year – High Gold, Northern Porphyry and Canadian Creek. Western's primary 2020 drill target is High Gold, a zone of higher grade gold mineralization with the potential to significantly bolster the economics of a mine at Casino. One particularly h...
White Gold Corp. is gearing up for another season of systematically advancing the dozens of exploration targets identified across its more than 1-million-acre (422,730 hectares) land package in Yukon's White Gold District. On May 15, the Yukon-focused gold exploration company announced that longtime strategic partners and new institutional investors are participating in a C$6 million financing that involves the issuance of 6.67 million flow-through shares at C90 cents each. Go...
Rau, an intriguing precious and base metals property at the western end of the 185-kilometer- (115 miles) long Rackla Gold property in the Yukon, will continue to be the primary focus of ATAC Resources Ltd.'s exploration efforts in 2020. Last week, the company published the results from an updated preliminary economic assessment (PEA) for Tiger, a carbonate replacement gold deposit that is the most advanced project on the 660-square kilometer (255 square miles) Rau property....
Following the pouring of the 4 millionth ounce of gold at the Pogo Mine, Northern Star Resources Ltd. Executive Chairman Bill Beament sat down with Mining News to talk about what this milestone means for the Interior Alaska gold mine; the Australia-based mining company's progress since acquiring Pogo; keys to Northern Star's success; and the vast mineral potential at Pogo and across Alaska. Q. Over the past decade, Northern Star Resources Ltd. has grown from a single-asset...
