The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
Mining Explorers 2024 - January 15, 2025
Massive stibnite (antimony mineral) collected from the Stibium prospect on Nova Minerals' Estelle property in Alaska.
The proposed Ambler Road would connect a mineral-rich region of Northwest Alaska to the state's highway system.
Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy (right) with U.S. GoldMining CEO Tim Smith at the Whistler copper project in Alaska's emerging West Susitna Mineral District.
The U.S. Department of Defense views Alaska as a rich source of secure critical minerals such as antimony and graphite.
Graphite Creek is the first link in an all-American mine-to-EVs graphite supply chain spearheaded by Graphite One.
Donald Trump
Rick Van Nieuwenhuyse
As a state rich in gold, silver, copper, and 49 out of the 50 minerals deemed critical to the United States, Alaska is poised to benefit from rising precious metals prices and America's ambitions to become more self-reliant when it comes to producing the minerals and metals essential to the nation's economy and security.
Donald Trump
The importance of Alaska's rich natural resource endowment is recognized by incoming President Donald Trump, who addressed Alaska just two days after being confirmed for his second term in the White House.
"During my second term, we will continue the fight for Alaska like never before," he said during a Nov. 8 address to Alaskans. "We will maximize Alaska's mining potential."
A White House fighting for Alaska and its mining potential is a shift in the political pendulum for mineral resource development in the state.
"It has been a bit of a frustrating four years," Alaska Sen. Dan Sullivan said during a Nov. 6 address to mining leaders gathered for the annual Alaska Miners Association (AMA) convention in Anchorage.
This frustration is due to the 67 executive orders and actions imposed by the Biden administration to restrict resource development and land use in Alaska, including pulling previously issued permits to build a road to the critical mineral-rich Ambler Mining District.
Sen. Sullivan calls these executive actions against Alaska – more than were imposed on Iran during Biden's term in the White House – a war on Alaska's working families and economy.
"Not only is there going to be a ceasefire but that war is going to stop on Jan. 20," the senator said to a cheering crowd at the AMA convention.
"We are going to have a federal government – with the Senate, with the House, with the White House – that's going to be fully backing our mining industry," he added.
Contango Ore President and CEO Rick Van Nieuwenhuyse, who has spent the last three decades as an executive of mining companies focused on unlocking Alaska's world-class mineral wealth, agrees that Trump's message signals a swinging of the political pendulum in favor of Alaska's mining sector.
"The contrast couldn't be more stark," he said.
The Alaska mining executive said that a Capitol Hill brimming with Republican and Democrat policymakers ready to pass permitting reform is equally important for the mining industry in Alaska and across the nation.
"This is an issue both parties have finally come to realize is stagnating the entire country," he said.
Sen. Sullivan agrees, claiming mine permitting reform that will help make the U.S. more self-reliant for the minerals and metals critical to green energy, national security, and America's economy at large will be a top priority when Congress convenes in Washington, D.C.
"Permitting reform is long overdue and with an aligned executive and congress, I expect results," said Van Nieuwenhuyse.
A President vowing to Make Alaska Great Again, coupled with an aligned Congress, will likely draw the attention of global mining executives and investors to the rich mineral potential poised to be unlocked across America's Last Frontier.
Propped up by its world-class mineral potential, Alaska is considered one of the best places in the world to explore, develop, and operate mines.
In the latest edition of the Fraser Institute's Annual Survey of Mining Companies, an annual report that ranks global mining jurisdictions based on mineral potential and mining policy, global mining executives ranked Alaska as the 11th most attractive place in the world for mining investment.
While this ranking is not bad, it is a downgrade from the top five rankings America's Far North State has enjoyed in the past.
Less than favorable views of mining policy are the primary reason Alaska did not break into the top 10 on the Fraser Survey Investment Attractiveness Index, which combines global mining executives' views on mineral potential and mining policy based on the answers to questions provided by the Canadian think-tank.
Alaska came in at No. 19 on the Fraser Survey's "Policy Perception Index," which is the compilation of responses to 15 mining policy questions.
These policy questions include asking mining professionals to rank the quality of infrastructure in each jurisdiction, an area where Alaska never does well. This year, America's Last Frontier ranked No. 47 in terms of the quality of infrastructure, which is in the bottom half of 86 global mining jurisdictions ranked in the latest Fraser mining survey.
The proposed Ambler Road would connect a mineral-rich region of Northwest Alaska to the state's highway system.
The Biden administration's executive orders and other administrative actions to halt mining and other resource development projects across the state were a setback that did not help the global views of mining policy in Alaska, especially when it comes to infrastructure.
At the end of Trump's first term in office, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management issued permits for a 211-mile industrial access road to the Ambler Mining District, a region of Northwest Alaska with high-grade deposits of copper, zinc, precious metals, and critical minerals that have not been developed due to the lack of access.
Under the Biden administration, however, the BLM reversed its own decision and canceled the previously approved permits to build the Ambler Road.
Van Nieuwenhuyse, who was instrumental in consolidating state and Alaska Native-owned lands in the Ambler District into the Upper Kobuk Mineral Projects (UKMP), a single land package with more than enough metals to support the building of a road into the region, said BLM's denial of permits for this Congress-mandated road is "one example of an administration not following the law."
As a result of this reversal, Ambler Metals, a 50-50 joint venture partnership between Trilogy Metals and South32 to develop mines at the UKMP, decided not to initiate permitting of a mine at Arctic, the first deposits slated for development in the Ambler District.
The high-grade deposit at Arctic hosts enough reserves to support a mine capable of producing 1.93 billion pounds of copper, 2.24 billion lb of zinc, 334.8 million lb of lead, 423,000 ounces of gold, and 36 million oz of silver over an initial 13 years of mining.
When combined with Bornite, which is currently the second deposit on the docket to be developed by Ambler Metals, UKMP hosts 9 billion lb of copper, 3.5 billion lb of zinc, 88 million lb of cobalt, 737,000 oz of gold, and 57 million oz of silver.
Bornite may also be a significant source of germanium essential to both clean energy and high-tech.
In addition to delaying the permitting of a mine at Arctic, due to the uncertainty of access needed to transport metals to market, BLM's Ambler Road decision had a significant impact on 2024 mineral exploration spending in Alaska.
Previously, tens of millions of dollars were invested each year into upgrading and expanding the established deposits in the Ambler District, as well as exploring the dozens of earlier staged targets that have been identified across this mineral-rich expanse of Northwest Alaska.
This includes Sun, a high-grade copper-zinc-silver-gold project that lies along the route of the proposed Ambler Road.
According to a 2018 calculation, the Sun hosts a high-grade volcanogenic massive sulfide deposit similar to Arctic with 994 lb of zinc, 295 million lb of copper, 26 million oz of silver,
While this is already a significant deposit, and there is evidence that it could be much larger, Valhalla has put a pause on further exploration at Sun due to BLM's decision on the Ambler Road that runs through the project.
Van Nieuwenhuyse, who is chairman of Valhalla Metals, said of BLM's Ambler Road decision that the Biden administration's move to pull the Ambler Road permits put the interests of anti-mining groups above the needs of Alaska Natives that live in the Ambler District and want the jobs that the road would bring to the region – a sentiment leaders from Alaska Native villages in the region shared.
"The voices opposing the Ambler Access Project have overlooked the growing support for the project among tribal communities," Vincent Simon Sr., a former chief and second chief for Allakaket Village in the Ambler region, penned in an editorial published by Alaska Daily News. "Eleven of the villages closest to the project have voiced their support for the permitting process to proceed."
Village leaders, mining companies, the Alaska delegation, state officials, and others are working together to find the best path forward for getting the Ambler Road reapproved under the Trump administration.
As officials from Alaska and Washington, DC, work on reapproving the Ambler Road, the state is moving ahead with building a 100-mile road to the West Susitna Mineral District, a region of Southcentral Alaska rich in copper, gold, and critical minerals.
Lying about 100 miles northwest of Anchorage, the West Susitna District is home to the Whistler copper-gold-silver project being explored by U.S. GoldMining Inc. and the adjacent Estelle gold-antimony project being advanced by Nova Minerals Ltd.
While these companies have no formal affiliation and are advancing their projects independently, they share a vision of putting the West Susitna Mineral District on the map – a common goal made all the more likely by their individual and collective success.
"Currently, both U.S. GoldMining and Nova Minerals are still in the exploration phase of defining and optimizing their mineral resources, but as their future potential mining studies are advanced, we would expect joint trade-off studies that will optimize synergies to share infrastructure and other elements of mine design, which will see sharing of technical information and potentially new joint studies," U.S. GoldMining CEO Tim Smith told Mining News.
Three deposits on U.S. GoldMining's Whistler project host 294.5 million metric tons of indicated resource averaging 0.42 g/t (3.93 million oz) gold, 2.01 g/t (19 million oz) silver, and 0.16% (1.02 billion lb) copper; plus198.2 million metric tons of inferred resource averaging 0.52 g/t (3.31 million oz) gold, 1.81 g/t (11.4 million oz) silver; and 0.07% (317 million lb) copper.
The Whistler resource published in October does not include any of the 4,006 meters of drilling completed during the 2024 season.
Smith said the 2024 drill results "continue to support the project's potential to host a long-life, high-quality gold-copper-silver mine located in one of the most favorable mining jurisdictions in the United States."
Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy (right) with U.S. GoldMining CEO Tim Smith at the Whistler copper project in Alaska's emerging West Susitna Mineral District.
U.S. GoldMining and Nova's individual and collective success will be further enhanced by the completion of the West Susitna Road, a project being advanced by state agencies that would connect the Whiskey Bravo Airstrip, where both of their camps are located to Alaska's highway system.
Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy, who visited the Whistler and Estelle project in 2023, says the West Susitna Road is an important project for unlocking the area's mineral potential, as well as opening up a new area of Alaska for hunting, fishing, camping, and other outdoor activities.
"My administration is constantly looking at ways to grow our economy and this project is a great opportunity for not only south-central Alaska but the entire state. I am committed to this project and unlocking resources that benefit all Alaskans," said Dunleavy.
As U.S. GoldMining unlocks Whistler's copper potential, Nova is taking strides toward establishing gold and antimony mines on the neighboring Estelle project.
According to a 2024 calculation, Estelle hosts 244 million metric tons of S-K 1300-compliant measured and indicated resources averaging 0.3 grams per metric ton (2.72 million ounces) gold, plus 231 million metric tons of inferred resource averaging 0.3 g/t (2.45 million oz) gold.
This resource is divided into two project areas at Estelle – the large bulk-tonnage Korbel area at the north end of the 198-square-mile property and the higher-grade RPM area about 16 miles to the south.
To unlock Estelle's gold potential, Nova is focusing this year's drilling on expanding and upgrading the resources at RPM.
"We are going straight for RPM – smaller mine, lower capex and very high margin," said Nova Minerals CEO Chris Gerteisen.
Two adjacent deposits at RPM host 4.4 million metric tons of measured and indicated resources averaging 2.5 g/t (330,000 oz) gold, plus 46 million metric tons of inferred resource averaging 0.5 g/t (800,000 oz) gold.
These resources do not include results from 6,600 meters of drilling completed in 2023 or the 21 holes drilled at RPM in 2024. The results from this drilling are being incorporated into upgraded and expanded resources for an RPM mine feasibility study currently underway.
Nova is also investigating the potential of establishing a small mining operation at one of the high-grade antimony targets identified at Estelle, which has drawn the interest of the U.S. Department of Defense.
The U.S. Department of Defense views Alaska as a rich source of secure critical minerals such as antimony and graphite.
DOD is particularly interested in Stibium, where one sample was collected from a two-meter-thick outcropping vein of massive stibnite with grades as high as 72% antimony, along with strong gold and silver byproduct mineralization.
Gerteisen said Nova has applied for a DOD grant to fund the development of a small mine at Estelle that will produce significant quantities of antimony due to the high-grade nature of the mineralization.
In preparation for this, the company collected a 2,500-kilogram bulk sample from Stibium and a 500-kilogram sample from Styx, which hosts a one-meter-thick stibnite vein with grades as high as 21.7% antimony, for metallurgical testing.
While new roads have the potential to unlock the resources in some of Alaska's rich but remote mineral districts, Contango Ore Inc. and Kinross Gold Corp. have developed individual but complementary strategies to leverage high-quality projects located along the state's existing transportation routes.
In 2020, Kinross unveiled a strategy that involved looking for gold projects within a 300-mile radius of Fort that can deliver high-grade ore via road, rail, or boat to the underutilized 14-million-metric-ton-per-year mill found there.
The first such project to deliver ore to the rechristened "Kinross Alaska" mill was Manh Choh, a gold project about 250 highway miles southeast of Fort Knox that was advanced to the development stage by Contango.
After acquiring a 70% interest in Manh Choh, Kinross developed a mine at Manh Choh that is expected to produce roughly 1 million ounces gold-equivalent, which includes the value of the silver also found there, over 4.5 years.
The first gold bar from Manh Choh ore was poured on July 8, a milestone event for the partners.
For Kinross, the gold pour validated its Alaska strategy, which was underscored by the 149,093 oz of gold poured at Fort Knox during the third quarter.
The global mining company expects its Alaska operation to produce upwards of 500,000 oz of gold per year over the next four years of reserves at Manh Choh.
For Contango, the pouring of the first Manh Choh gold bar marked the transition from a mineral exploration and development junior to a gold production company executing its "hybrid royalty" model, which involves identifying and advancing high-quality projects with the capacity to directly ship high-grade ore to existing mills for processing.
Rick Van Nieuwenhuyse
"With the Manh Choh feasibility study reflecting delivery of an average of 67,500 ounces of gold annually for Contango's account in 2025 and beyond, and with gold at record highs, we remain committed to adding shareholder value by executing on our 'Hybrid Royalty' model focusing on efficiently advancing our development stage projects using our DSO approach," said Van Nieuwenhuyse.
Contango's hybrid royalty model minimizes the capital costs, environmental footprint, and permitting risks associated with developing a mill, tailing storage facilities, and other infrastructure associated with a full-scale operation.
The Lucky Shot and Johnson Tract projects in Southcentral Alaska are slated to host the next mines that will directly ship ore to third-party mills for processing under Contango's innovative business model.
Lucky Shot, which lies 112 road miles north of Anchorage, hosts 226,963 metric tons of indicated resource averaging 14.5 g/t (105,620 oz) gold and 82,058 metric tons of inferred resource averaging 9.5 g/t (25,110 oz) gold.
Contango, which has upgraded and expanded historical tunnels at Lucky Shot, plans to carry out around 15,000 meters of underground drilling this year to expand the resource to above 400,000 oz of gold in preparation for direct shipping high-grade ore to a mill for processing.
The company's 2024 field work, however, was focused on Johnson Tract, the newest addition to its portfolio.
Lying on private lands about 125 miles southwest of Anchorage on lands owned by the Cook Inlet Region Inc., an Alaska Native regional corporation more commonly known as CIRI, Johnson Tract hosts one high-grade deposit and is highly prospective for others.
According to a 2022 calculation, JT Deposit hosts 3.49 million metric tons of indicated resource averaging 5.33 grams per metric ton (598,000 ounces) gold, 6 g/t (673,000 oz) silver, 5.21% (400.8 million pounds) zinc, 0.59% (43.1 million lb) copper, and 0.67% (51.5 million lb) lead.
Contango, which gained full ownership of Johnson Tract through the buyout of HighGold Mining in July, hit the ground running with a drill program in preparation for permitting a roughly one-mile-long tunnel that will allow the company to carry out a detailed underground drill program needed for a feasibility study for a mine that can load ore on ships for delivery to already established mills for processing.
While JT Deposit ore is likely not destined for Fort Knox, Contango's hybrid royalty model matches up well with Kinross' strategy of identifying high-quality and accessible Alaska gold deposits like Lucky Shot that can provide feedstock for the Kinross Alaska mill.
During a celebration of the pouring of the first gold bar from Manh Choh, Kinross Gold President and CEO Paul Rollinson laid a subtle hint that Contango hybrid royalty projects could provide additional ore for the Kinross Alaska Mill.
"Hopefully, this is just the beginning of lots more that we can do together," Rollinson said to Van Nieuwenhuyse during the Manh Choh gold pour celebration in July.
Graphite Creek is the first link in an all-American mine-to-EVs graphite supply chain spearheaded by Graphite One.
One exception to the slowing of Alaska mineral exploration during the final year of the Biden administration was the Graphite Creek project in western Alaska. In fact, Graphite One Inc. received a $37.5 million DOD grant to accelerate the field work needed to complete a feasibility study for this world-class graphite project about 40 miles north of the Alaska Gold Rush town of Nome.
A 2022 prefeasibility study for Graphite Creek envisioned a vertically integrated graphite supply chain that includes a mine at the western Alaska project that will deliver graphite concentrates to a separate processing plant capable of producing around 50,000 metric tons of battery-grade anode material per year.
The operation outlined in the PFS would mine a small fraction of what the U.S. Geological Survey has deemed to be the largest known graphite deposit on American soil and "among the largest in the world."
To better match Graphite Creek's exceptional potential to America's growing demand for graphite, the single largest ingredient in electric vehicle batteries, the DOD's grant aimed to accelerate the completion of feasibility that would provide details of a mine in Alaska and processing plant in Ohio that is capable of producing twice the lithium-ion battery anode material than considered in the PFS.
Graphite One's plans to establish an all-American graphite supply chain got a major boost with an October invitation from the Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM) to apply for a $325 million loan to build its planned advanced anode material processing plant in Ohio, which will be much faster to permit and build than a mine at Graphite Creek.
Graphite One President and CEO Anthony Huston says the EXIM loan, coupled with the Defense Production Act Title III grants from DOD, "underscores the urgent need to bring U.S. graphite supply into production, and end the nation's 100% foreign dependency."
While the loan does not cover any of the costs of developing a mine at Graphite Creek, President Trump's Nov. 8 commitment to "maximize Alaska's mining potential" bodes well for federal support when the time comes.
Graphite One is on pace to complete the feasibility study early in 2025 and expects to begin producing around 25,000 metric tons of synthetic graphite anode material per year at the Ohio processing plant beginning in 2029. The facility will be expanded to 100,000 metric tons per year once the Graphite Creek mine is up and running.
Over his more than 16 years of covering mining and mineral exploration, Shane has become renowned for his ability to report on the sector in a way that is technically sound enough to inform industry insiders while being easy to understand by a wider audience.
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