The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
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Somehow, for those of us who follow the mining industry in Alaska, the first full week of November marks not the end but the beginning of the mining New Year. AMA conventions have occurred in this window for at least the last 45 years, and every year, although always different, in a larger sense, it is always the same. Miners and support industry entities gather in Anchorage to compare notes and make deals that will govern their activities for the ensuing year. It is a hugely...
Manh Choh is more than an economic opportunity and the promise of jobs. It is a legacy project for my people and the surrounding region. This vision goes back to 2008 when the late Chief Danny Adams and the village council members made it their priority to develop an economic future for their people. Chief Danny was a well-respected Tanana Chiefs Conference Executive Board member and a visionary leader in the Upper Tanana region. With the development of this mine, we will be...
Coming together to recognize the potential Alaska can bring to the table for the global transition to renewable energy, the 2023 Alaska Sustainable Energy Conference invited leaders in government, academia, industry, and investment from across the globe to participate in discussions and to be educated on the challenges and opportunities that the Last Frontier State presents as it looks forward to the next century of energy. Alaskans often remark about their home being a state...
Being cynical by nature, and having a solid distrust of the integrity of the popular press, it crosses my mind that the political determination of the United States and its NATO allies to dump our sacred treasure, if not our blood, into the defense of Ukraine precipitates a serious question: Why? When all else fails, I tend to fall back on the wisdom of the ages as generally manifested by bumper sticker memes like "follow the money." In the case of Ukraine (not unlike...
Noted Alaskan prospector Rudy Vetter once told me, "At my age, I don't even buy green bananas anymore." I heard this sage remark during a mineral property lease negotiation after I offered Mr. Vetter a production royalty, rather than the cold, hard cash he wanted. Mr. Vetter was in his 80s at the time and clearly knew his own investment risk timeline. He also clearly knew that Alaskan mines require a number of years to move from discovery to production. So not surprisingly,...
Modern society depends on the responsible development of a wide variety of minerals and metals. These commodities are used in numerous consumer products, such as cellular phones, computers, televisions, and automobiles. They are also extremely important for powering the transition from a fossil fuel-based economy to one in which renewable energy is a major part of the energy mix. Many of these commodities have been designated as "critical minerals" by the U.S. federal...
The $469 billion energy and climate spending agreement struck between Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Joe Manchin (D-WV), if successful in getting passed in Congress, will be the biggest legislative win for the clean energy movement since the Clean Air Act and represents the single largest federal clean energy investment in U.S. history. This energy and climate agreement details that a $27 billion 'clean energy technology accelerator' will be created to ensure...
With the recent rash of opinions handed down by the U.S. Supreme Court this spring, there has been a great deal of conversation about whether the 'democracy' is at risk. Whether we are a republic or a democracy, of course, depends on how one defines the terms. Some would say that a democracy is when two wolves and a sheep vote on what to have for dinner. Our national Constitution guarantees a "republican form of government," and presumably, our forefathers meant that the...
I know, I know, I promised to shut up and go away a long time ago. But I lied, so sue me! Just be glad I didn't title this ramble "Is it time for Format-C?" after all, most of the young-uns would have to Google that term to see what in tarnation it meant! And even then, many would ask "what is a hard drive?" But I digress, which by the way, has a Latin derivation that means "step away," which I supposedly did some time ago (see above). Ironic, eh? But I am digressing about...
Last week my good friend and colleague Curt Freeman wrote an article titled: "Is it time to press the reset button?". The article made me laugh and got me thinking – and rather than just falling in line with all the Dorothy's out there and just whine about it or blame COVID, Putin, Biden or the Billionaires club, I decided to proffer a few tangible suggestions that I believe are within reach and importantly - largely within our control, say within the next ten years; we j...
Since World War II there may not be a more urgent time to produce Alaska's rich mineral resources. Our nation's immediate defense needs and commitment to clean energy all require a healthy, vibrant mining industry to give our country the security of domestic critical mineral production and the bridge to future clean energy technologies. Crisis brings clarity, and quickly subordinates ideology to real-world practicality. Today we see our globe reeling under the actions of...
When most people think about the metals driving the alternative energy revolution, lithium, vanadium, cobalt and rare earths spring to mind. As recently reported by EE Times Europe, "Copper is an important raw material for the electronics industry, being the most widely used conductor for PCB, wiring, and connector manufacturing. The average person, however, might not realize this, thinking that copper is some kind of old metal on which there is no progress to be made." There...
I write today to share my perspective on the "Pebble Tapes," next steps for the project, and why I agreed to return to the Pebble Project as CEO. Many have asked me why, at 77 years old, I chose to do this. Many also asked why I took on the challenge years ago when I left the cruise ship industry to lead Pebble for the first time. The answer is that I believe in the Project and what it represents for Alaskans. I also believe in the people who have worked so diligently to get...
Next year will mark the 175th anniversary of one of the greatest institutions in the world – the Smithsonian in Washington D.C. and certainly the pride of our nation's capital. The patron of this American Institution was a geologist who willed its creation with $500,000 in gold despite the fact that he had never stepped foot in the United States. The story behind the Smithsonian is an interesting one, but the gold that funded its founding tells an equally intriguing tale of fi...
As COVID-19 continues to create global economic hardship, it is reassuring to see steady progress on a project offering immediate and long-term benefits to Alaska's economy. The Ambler Mining District Industrial Access Project, or Ambler road, would help bring jobs and new revenues for the Northwest Arctic Borough and the State by lowering the cost to explore, build and operate future mines in the area. We have known of the Ambler district's vast copper and base metal...
On April 6, President Donald Trump issued an executive order for the United States government to work with industries on moving forward with space exploration, and the exploitation of minerals and water discovered to further that cause. This of course has raised concerns from other nations, primarily Russia and China, who tout the Moon Treaty drawn up by the United Nations in 1979. This widely unpopular pact states that space resources are "global domain," which means they...
In November 1996, a little over 23 years ago, I began writing quarterly mining news summaries for the Society of Economic Geologists (SEG). Shortly after that, I began writing monthly summaries for this publication's ancestor, Mining News Alaska, and have continued both monthly, quarterly and annual mining news summaries ever since. With this summary, I have written my last Alaska update for North of 60 Mining News. When I wrote my first summary, Greens Creek was milling only...
As the year winds down, mineral industry evaluations for 2019 are being published at a rapid rate. One of the most interesting such global reviews is EY Global Mining and Metals' annual "risk radar" for mining and metals, outlining what mining companies perceive as the top ten risks facing them in the near future. This publication stated that, for the second straight year, "social license to operate" remains the number one risk facing mining companies in 2020. This was...
An abnormally long fall has allowed the Alaska mining industry to extend seasonal work well into mid-October, creating a lot of new information about project work conducted around the state. Exploration efforts, in particular, benefitted from this additional field time. Based on information available to date, 2019 exploration expenditures are expected to be in the $135-140 million range, well ahead of the $120-125 million exploration spending tracked for 2018. In addition,...
If you have watched the metals markets over the last month, you know why Alaska's mineral industry has surged, stalled, swerved, swooped, slowed, shelved and stuttered, sometimes all at the same time! Gold has gone above US$1,500 per ounce; copper pundits are predicting an increasingly dour future; zinc markets are looking to dive below $1.00 per pound; tin markets have marched strongly upward due to supply disruptions; and silver bulls are calling for annual worldwide...
As the rest of the country suffers through the Dog Days of summer, Alaska is approaching the end of a topsy-turvy summer season that saw unseasonably hot, dry weather in some parts of the state during some parts of the summer, while other parts of the state have seen record rainfall and unseasonably early snowfall. Gold prices have skyrocketed over the $1,500 per ounce mark and silver prices have moved strongly up, now trading at a one-year high. However, copper and zinc are a...
Earlier this month Reuters reported that several agencies within the U.S. Federal government were "rapidly assessing" our domestic ability to mine and refine rare earth elements and utilize those 17 super cool elements in value-added products needed for a wide and ever-growing array of consumer and national defense products. Not surprisingly, mining industry officials demurred when quizzed about supplying information on where rare elements might be mined in the U.S. and how...
Earlier this month S&P Global put out a summary indicating that during the first quarter of 2019 metals like copper, zinc and nickel were up quarter over quarter by 11 percent, 22 percent and 25 percent, respectively. More recently gold has skyrocketed beyond the $1,400-per-ounce mark for the first time in many months. Correspondingly, the mining industry's aggregate market cap also rebounded strongly in the period after four bearish quarters, rising 12 percent to $1.43...
In the famous words of Sherlock Holmes, the game is afoot! After seasonally slower news from Alaska's mining industry in March and April, the dam has broken with over two dozen Alaska mining project news releases issued in the last month. Including those projects moving forward that have not released their 2019 plans, Alaska has become a very busy place under the sun. All of our major metal mines reported strong performances in the first quarter, several of Alaska's most...
Every four years Americans get the delicious treat of a Presidential campaign during which contenders for leadership of the free world get to stand before the electorate and pontificate about matters they perceive to be of interest to the nation. My perpetual reaction to this humorous exercise is to recall the infamous words of Winston Churchill who noted that "Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others." Of course, thankfully, we do not live in a...
