The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
Sorted by date Results 1151 - 1175 of 3020
Contango ORE Inc. co-founder Brad Juneau ventured to Alaska seeking natural gas; today, his Texas-based company is sitting on a gold-copper-silver deposit at its Tetlin project with an initial 1.1 million-ounce gold-equivalent resource and a 760,000-acre land package with enough "blue sky" potential to keep a mineral exploration company busy for decades. Following five years of systematic exploration, Contango ORE Jan. 23 reported an indicated resource of 5.97 million metric... Full story
If you believe what you see in the press, Alaska's mineral industry was recently given a Christmas gift that trumps even the high-grade anthracite coal that most Alaskans were dreaming of during the last 40-below cold snap. The Alaska Dispatch reported on a recent presentation at the fall 2013 meeting of the American Geophysical Union titled, "Critical Metals in Western Arctic Ocean Ferromanganese Mineral Deposits," by James Hein, a senior scientist at the U.S. Geological... Full story
Spurred by a record-setting pace at Kinross Gold Corp.'s Fort Knox Mine, Alaska gold production topped 1 million ounces during 2013, a golden milestone not achieved by Last Frontier gold miners since 1906. Though more than a century lies between these monumental milestones, they are linked by a discovery made by Felice Pedroni, an Italian immigrant better known to Alaskans as Felix Pedro. It was Pedro's gold find in an Interior Alaska stream in 1902 that sparked the Fairbanks...
Striving to mix up a batch of lemonade from the unrelenting string of lemons dished out recently by the chronically depressed capital markets, three junior mining companies with promising assets in Yukon Territory are joining forces to protect those interests and pave the way for continued exploration. Redtail Metals Corp. and Northern Tiger Resources Inc. are merging their interests and acquire the Yukon assets of Americas Bullion Royalty Corp. (formerly Golden Predator Corp.) in a multifaceted transaction that will produce... Full story
Is Rio Tinto about to take out Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd. and gain 100 percent of the enormous Pebble copper-gold-molybdenum project in Southwest Alaska? That is among the options management and directors will have to consider as they carry out a strategic review of the company's share holdings in the Vancouver, B.C.-based junior. Rio Tinto, through a wholly-owned subsidiary, owns 18.15 million common shares of Northern Dynasty, representing roughly 19.1 percent of the 95... Full story
International Tower Hill Mines Ltd. rang in 2014 with a new chief executive leading a streamlined Alaska-centric company focused on optimizing and safeguarding Livengood until a partner steps up to continue the advancement of the 20-million-ounce gold deposit. Tom Irwin, who ascended to the role of president and CEO of International Tower Hill Mines on Jan. 1, will lead the company's efforts to develop a mine at the world-class Livengood gold project that would contribute to...
The final rendition of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Bristol Bay Assessment does not opine on whether large-scale mining should be allowed in the Bristol Bay watershed; the report does, however, provide "an important tactical resource" for those opposed to developing the world-class copper-gold-molybdenum deposit at Pebble. "The assessment is a technical resource for governments, tribes and the public as we consider how to address the challenges of large-scale...
Like 2013, this year is expected to be another banner year for mining in British Columbia. An increasingly important industry in Canada's westernmost province, mining takes up a very small portion of British Columbia's vast 944,735 square kilometers (364,764 square miles) land mass - less than one percent - but the industry makes a tremendous impact on the province's economy. Today, British Columbia has 19 operating mines (nine coal and 10 metal). By comparison in 2001, the province had 15 operating mines (seven coal and...
With devolution around the corner and a well-reasoned mineral development strategy in place, government and industry officials in Northwest Territories are making a concerted effort to alert the world to the mineral resource and investment opportunities to be found in Canada's Far North, especially in the jurisdiction that boasts the third-richest diamond resources in the world. In addition to three operating diamond mines and the sole tungsten producer in the West, NWT currently has six well-advanced mine projects working...
Like most mining jurisdictions worldwide, Yukon Territory encountered numerous challenges in 2013, including the prolonged drought in the capital markets. But the territory still managed to attract investment in more than 100 mineral exploration projects, most of which were follow-ups to campaigns in earlier seasons. The Yukon Geological Survey, in its annual exploration overview to be released Jan. 26, estimates exploration expenditures throughout the territory in 2013 to total about C$45 million, down dramatically from...
Business and civic leaders banded together to demonstrate their support for Taseko Mines Ltd.'s proposal to develop New Prosperity, an enormous copper-gold project situated near Williams Lake, British Columbia. "We've come together to send a clear message to Ottawa: Our province needs this project," said John Winter, president and CEO of the BC Chamber of Commerce. Taseko's original plan to mine the estimated 13.3 million ounces of gold and 5.3 billion pounds of copper at...
I recently attended the 119th Annual Meeting of the Northwest Mining Association in Reno and came away feeling better about Alaska than when I arrived. Alaska Miners Association Director Deantha Crockett chaired and spoke in a session that covered everything from small mining operations and new exploration discoveries to advanced exploration projects and operating mines. The 8 a.m. session was surprisingly well-attended, despite the fact that the hotel was host to 1,000 explor...
After two seasons of exploration, Prophecy Platinum Corp. envisioned building a conventional, diesel truck-shovel open pit mine at its 64.5-square-kilometer (25 square miles) Wellgreen Project in southwestern Yukon Territory. The junior released a preliminary economic assessment in 2012 that happily outlined plans for a 32,000-metric-tons-per-day operation with a 37-year of mine life. With initial capital expenditures of C$863 million and an average strip ratio of 2.57:1, the company anticipated producing a suite of highly...
The Government of Northwest Territories has adopted a new mineral development strategy as it prepares for the advent of devolution in 2014. The strategy, released Nov. 19, establishes a comprehensive plan aimed at ensuring long-term growth of a robust and sustainable mining industry the northern territory that will create jobs and economic opportunities for its residents. Strengthening and diversifying the NWT economy was identified as a priority of the territory's 17th Legislative Assembly, and officials have worked since...
The Government of Yukon has bestowed the prestigious Robert E. Leckie awards for 2013 on two small mining operations in honor of their exceptional mining practices, especially in a year when they were plagued by scarce capital and tough financing conditions. Placer miners Ben Warnsby and Alex Seely, owners of recently acquired claims in the Dawson mining district of central Yukon, and Ryan Coe and Jeff Bridge of Regent Ventures Ltd. accepted the honors Nov. 18 at the 41st Annual Geoscience Forum banquet in Whitehorse. "The... Full story
Miranda Gold Corp. has tied up a 20-year lease on the Willow Creek project, a road-accessible, high-grade gold property located a short 75 miles (121 kilometers) north of Anchorage, Alaska. The 8,700-acre (3,520 hectares) property blankets a large portion of the Willow Creek mining district, including the historical Lucky Shot and War Baby mines. It is estimated that from 1918 until being shut down by the War Production Board in 1942, these two underground operations,... Full story
ANCHORAGE - "Mining in Alaska: Build it, keep it, grow it" was the theme of the Alaska Miners Association 2013 Convention, but "screwed by the federal government" was an underlying refrain that permeated conversations from chats over coffee to keynote speeches at the annual gathering. "If there is a poster-child for being screwed by the federal government, Alaska is the one," Rep. Doc Hastings, R-Washington told the mining community during his Nov. 6 opening speech at the convention. The latest in this series of posters... Full story
For those of you that could not attend, the annual Alaska Miners Association Convention and Trade Show was well-attended, with most people pleasantly surprised by the strong turnout. Compared to a year ago, more companies are planning to get back in the field with exploration and development programs in 2014, a sentiment making up one of the few bright spots in a recent IntierraRMG resource sector exploration summary. This report and a similar snapshot of the exploration... Full story
Splayed across several steep slopes that plunge into the Yukon River some 78 kilometers (48.4 miles) south of Dawson City in Yukon Territory, the early-stage QV Project is beginning to answer some geological questions that surfaced at least four years ago. That's when Underworld Resources Inc. captured international attention with the discovery of the Golden Saddle gold deposit on its White Gold Project nearby and touched off a modern-day gold rush to the Yukon. Underworld since has been acquired by Kinross Gold Corp., and th...
While Pretium Resources Inc. continues to explore for gold at its Brucejack Project in northern British Columbia, a disagreement between the junior's two technical consultants, Snowden Mining Industry Consultants of Perth, AU and Toronto-based Strathcona Mineral Services Ltd. and the resignation of Strathcona in early October has ignited a firestorm of controversy over the validity of the gold resource reported for the project's Valley of the Kings zone in 2012, and sparked a flurry of class-action lawsuits against the...
The Alaska Miners Association's annual convention marks the changing of seasons for junior exploration companies with mineral projects in Alaska. As a blanket of snow hides outcropping rocks and the water needed for drilling crystalizes, geologists who have spent the long summer days investigating the vast mineral endowment across the Far North trade in their hammers, backpacks and hiking boots for suits, ties and PowerPoint presentations that show off the achievements of their latest field programs. While the 2013... Full story
In the wake of the departure of its former option partner, De Beers Canada Inc., Peregrine Diamonds Ltd. has reported discovery during the 2013 summer exploration program of three new kimberlite bodies at the Chidliak diamond project located 120 kilometers (75 miles) northeast of Iqaliut, the capital of Nunavut. Discovered in 2008, the Chidliak Project covers 7,480 square kilometers (2,888 square miles) on South Baffin Island. Peregrine acquired 100 percent ownership of the project in February 2012, buying out the 51 percent... Full story
Miners in Alaska make good money! How good? Well, a report recently published by the McDowell Group found that the 329 direct employees at the Pogo gold mine averaged a whopping US$116,916 before benefits during 2012. Roughly 217 of these six-figure paychecks were brought home by Alaskans, including about 167 going to employees living in the Interior region of the state where the high-grade underground mine is located. "Mining is good for Alaska and Pogo, specifically, is an... Full story
The ongoing scarcity of venture capital available to junior companies coupled with a retreat in metals prices has landed a one-two blow that sent mineral exploration spending in Alaska plunging for the second straight year. A handful of big-budget projects scattered across Alaska, though, is softening the hit to exploration spending across the Far North State during 2013. Mineral exploration expenditures in Alaska, which were a meager US$23.8 million in 2001, topped US$365...
Coeur Mining Inc., the new brand for Coeur d'Alene Mines Corp., is emblematic of the transformations the silver-gold mining company has made since Mitchell Krebs' ascent from chief financial officer to president and CEO in 2011. "We have really taken a major overhaul of the business; this work is ongoing and will continue. The status quo, in our view, is just not acceptable and so we have worked at retooling our business over the past couple of years," Krebs explained during... Full story
