The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
Sorted by date Results 1026 - 1050 of 3020
7 marks the 25-year anniversary of the Red Dog Mine in Northwest Alaska being among the largest producers of zinc on the planet. For the more than 13,600 Inupiat who are shareholders of NANA Regional Corporation, owners of the land where Red Dog is found, this world-class mine's success is measured by more than the amount of zinc shipped to world markets every summer. "It has been a revolutionary thing for our region economically and demonstrates the kind of development...
Mineral exploration spending in Alaska will likely struggle to top US$80 million for 2014, a dramatic fall from the US$365.1 million pinnacle reached in 2011. "The din of mineral industry activity that is normally a part of the summer months in Alaska is decidedly muted this year as the global mining industry attempts to lift itself off the bottom of a plus-18-month-long slump," Avalon Development President Curt Freeman opined in a June column written for Mining News. Unlike 2...
From the bold fortune hunters at the close of the 19th Century to the hopeful miners starring on 21st Century "reality" television programs, placer gold mining in Alaska conjures images of "Gold Rush." In truth, however, neither of these are accurate representations of the hard work and careful planning that lends to success at a contemporary placer gold mining operation in the Last Frontier. To paint a clearer picture of today's placer miner in the Far North State and to...
The nearer your destination, the more you slip sliding away." As 2014 quickly slip-slides away, these normally melancholy lyrics by Paul Simon take on a surprisingly upbeat meaning for Alaska's mining industry. Unlike watching most years slip by, seeing 2014 in the rearview mirror will bring a smile to most in the mining industry, not only in Alaska, but worldwide. This was our third consecutive year of declining commodities prices, near-zero investor interest and the...
Sabina Gold & Silver Corp. made considerable progress in 2014 in advancing its Back River Gold Project located in southwestern Nunavut toward production. If the project continues development on its current track, the junior could pour first gold as soon as 2018 and quickly rival Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd.'s Meadowbank Gold Mine in size, producing 300,000 to 400,000 ounces of gold annually for 10-15 years. The Back River project comprises seven properties covering 48,563 hectares (120,000 acres), located 520 kilometers (322.4...
Thanks to recent progress in development of several major projects in 2014, the outlook for diamond mining in Northwest Territories is suddenly a lot brighter. This is especially good news for the territory's mining industry, which is largely dependent on the production of diamonds now and in the foreseeable future. This point was driven home most forcefully in "Measuring Success 2014: NWT Diamond Mines Continue to Create Benefits," a report recently released by the NWT & Nunavut Chamber of Mines. An update of a January 2013...
The nearly operational Red Chris Mine is plugged into the electrical grid, and Imperial Metals Corp. is readying all the components for operations in anticipation of final approvals from the local Tahltan First Nation and Government of British Columbia. By the end of October, the final leg of the power line that connects Red Chris to the affordable and clean power delivered by the 287-kilovolt Northwest Transmission Line was complete. This milestone is allowing Imperial...
The Supreme Court of Yukon Dec. 2 struck down a land use plan crafted by the Government of Yukon for the territory's vast Peel River Watershed region that could have ripple effects throughout Yukon and beyond. The Peel Watershed, roughly the size of Ireland, sprawls across 77,000 square kilometers (30,000 square miles) of mountainous terrain situated at the northern end of the Rocky and Mackenzie mountains. Though about 10 percent of the watershed lies across the border in Northwest Territories, some 68,000 square kilometers...
Since buying out its mining rival Inmet Mining Corp. in early 2013, First Quantum Minerals Ltd. has shown a keen interest in Alaska's copper potential. With seven mines in operation and five mineral projects under development, First Quantum is a growing, diversified miner with a particular focus on copper. Its operating mines and development projects are located in Africa, Australia, Finland, Spain, Turkey and Latin America. Yet the company has no foothold in North America....
As the year winds down, financial information has begun to trickle in quantifying just how tough 2014 was on the mining industry. Industry analyst SNL Metals & Mining announced that the total estimated global budget for nonferrous metals exploration dropped another 25 percent in 2014, to US$11.36 billion, from US$15.19 billion in 2013. Perhaps even more arresting is the precipitous fall in just the past two years from an all-time high of US$21.5 billion in nonferrous metal exp...
The following summary overview of the history of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act was presented at the Alaska Miners Association Convention held in Anchorage earlier this month as part of the celebration of the association's 75th anniversary. The history of ANCSA is rooted in the occupancy of Alaska by Russia in the early 18th century. The Russian authority in Alaska was first decreed in 1766 when the Russian government declared the natives of Alaska to be Russian...
Harlan Meade, Ph.D. is a member of a very exclusive club - professional miners who have shepherded multiple Yukon Territory mines and mining projects through the rough patches of development to production or near-production. First, with Yukon-Zinc Corp.'s currently producing 1,700-metric-ton-per-day Wolverine volcanogenic massive sulfide mine in Southeast Yukon and a few years later, with the giant Selwyn lead-zinc project located in Howard's Pass near Yukon's eastern border with Northwest Territories, Meade harnessed his ext...
Areva Resources Canada has submitted the final environmental impact statement for its Kiggavik Project to the Nunavut Impact Review Board, outlining an ambitious uranium mine project, potentially the first of its kind in Nunavut. Located 80 kilometers (50 miles) west of Baker Lake, Nunavut, Kiggavik is a proposed uranium mining and milling operation owned by Areva (64.8 percent), JCU (Canada) Exploration Co. Ltd. (33.5 percent) and Daewoo Corp. (1.7 percent), and is operated by Paris-based Areva, one of the world's leading...
In the race to deliver heavy rare earth metals to western markets, Ucore Rare Metals Inc.'s Bokan Dotson-Ridge property in Southeast Alaska may sprint to the front of the pack with the help of an award-winning industrial process. Ucore recently completed a successful test in which it produced a heavy rare earth concentrate from material found in the deposit, using Molecular Recognition Technology, a proprietary process developed by IBC. The concentrate, which is 99 percent rare earth elements, was extracted from a...
Valued at US$4 billion per year, Alaska's mining industry is as healthy as it has ever been. Much of this success is owed to the Alaska Miners Association, which celebrated its 75th anniversary during its annual convention and trade show held in Anchorage Nov. 3-9. The anniversary event also highlighted many of the challenges the association and its constituents face going forward. Under the stewardship of AMA, Alaska boasts six large-scale operating mines churning out gold,...
To further strengthen neighborly bonds, British Columbia Minister of Mines Bill Bennett met with miners, fishermen, legislators and state regulators during an early November trip to Alaska. "I hope, and I believe, that we will be able to continue to work closely with Alaska on all of the issues that we share," Bennett said during a Nov. 5 presentation at the Alaska Miners Association 2014 Convention. These shared issues are part and parcel of a common border that stretches...
Like an iceberg, it appears the 4.75 million metric tons of massive sulfide mineralization outlined so far at the Glacier Creek deposit near the top of Mt. Morlan at Constantine Metal Resources' Palmer project in Southeast Alaska may be just a glimpse of the precious metals enriched copper-zinc mineralization that lies below. To find out, Dowa Metals & Mining Co. Ltd. has agreed to invest US$6.2-million on a 2014 exploration program that included at least 10,000 meters of...
Continuing its success in finding new deposits of high-grade gold in the shadow of the mill at the Pogo Mine located in Interior Alaska, Sumitomo Metal Mining Pogo - a joint venture between Sumitomo Metal Mining Company (85 percent) and Sumitomo Corp. (15 percent) - ramped up exploration spending at its Interior Alaska operation to US$17 million in 2014. "Some of the companies are reducing their exploration costs; we aren't doing that," Sumitomo Metal Mining Pogo General...
AXR:TSX / AXU:NYSE-MKT President and CEO: Clynton Nauman Executive Vice President and COO: Brad Thrall Vice President, Exploration: Alan McOnie Alexco Resource Corp. owns the Bellekeno silver-zinc-lead mine, as well as a number of other mineral properties within historical Keno Hill Silver District of central Yukon Territory. Bellekeno began commercial production at the beginning of 2011, but was temporarily suspended late in 2013 due to lower silver prices. The company said developing additional feed for the mill from the pr...
Mineral and coal exploration in British Columbia, which peaked at C$680 million in 2012, retreated to roughly C$476 million in 2013. This drop is on par with the roughly 30 percent decrease in exploration expenditures worldwide. The dynamics that led to the decrease - tight capital markets that continue to challenge the ability of junior explorers to raise money, senior miners keeping tight reins on exploration spending and softer gold prices - have remained in play during...
ATC: TSX-V President: Robert Carne Chief Executive Officer: Graham Downs Chief Operating Officer: Ian Talbot Atac Resources Ltd. continues to build upon ongoing success at it Rackla Gold project in east-central Yukon Territory. The initial phase of the 2014 exploration program targeted recent Carlin-type gold discoveries at the Osiris and Anubis areas within the Nadaleen Trend, a 50-kilometer- (30 miles) long subset of the company's east-west extending land package that blankets an area more than 185 kilometers (114 miles)...
Over the past decade, Seabridge Gold Inc. has outlined 9.9 billion pounds of copper and 38.2 million ounces of gold in reserves at its Kerr-Sulphurets-Mitchell project in northwestern British Columbia. While the gold reserves are the largest for any yet to be developed project on Earth and the copper reserves are themselves of world-class status, Seabridge believes that the results of exploration in 2014 could surpass all previous years of drilling at the project more...
After ushering in devolution in concert with implementing the first phase of a well-reasoned mineral development strategy, the Northwest Territories is eager to attract new mineral resource investment in 2014 in hopes of building on an uptick in exploration activity in recent years. "The Canadian North is the next frontier in mining and mineral development and nowhere is this more evident than in the NWT," said NWT Industry, Tourism, and Investment Minister David Ramsay. Home to the third-richest diamond resources in the...
AVL: TSX President and CEO: Donald Bubar Senior Vice President, Metallurgy: Dave Marsh Vice-President, Exploration: William Mercer Avalon Rare Metals is focused on developing a mine at its Nechalacho rare earth elements deposit at Thor Lake in Northwest Territories. During 2014, the company is continuing exploration while optimizing a feasibility study completed in 2013. Drilling in 2013 identified high-grade rare earth mineralization near the proposed access ramp location, with one hole intersecting 12.1 meters averaging...
Since being spun-out of Mountain Province Diamonds Inc. in the summer of 2012, Kennady Diamonds Inc. has had a singular focus - find a next-generation Northwest Territories diamond mine at its Kennady North diamond project located 280 kilometers (174 miles) northeast of Yellowknife. Receiving a highly prospective diamond property enveloping three sides of the Gahcho Kué diamond mine project and C$3 million in seed money in exchange for slightly more than 16 million common...
