The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
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There are some new stats out regarding mining's impact on Alaska that the McDowell Group Inc. produced for the State of Alaska. For 2010, the Alaska mining industry accounted for 3,500 direct jobs and 5,500 indirect jobs. The industry paid US$350 million in payroll with the average salary totaling US$95,000 per year, which is double the statewide average for all sectors. Mining salaries were higher than all other sectors except for the oil and gas sector. The industry paid...
The last half of December and the first half of January are normally relatively slow for business in the mining industry, in general, and in Alaska, in particular. The last two weeks this December were a bit slower than the first two weeks of the month but if anyone was thinking that January 2011 was going to creep silently into being, they were sadly mistaken! With metals prices heading toward recent and, in some cases, historical highs, there seems to be a sense of urgency... Full story
As the last days of the decade tick by, I am tempted to look back on 2010 and distill the year in a few sentences. I'll resist and opt for a bunch of sentences similar to some I recently dumped on the Society of Economic Geologists, an exploration-focused scientific organization of which I am a card-carrying member. Those words prompted more than a few heated responses, both supportive and not so supportive ("You're a pin-head" is the one that will probably stick with me... Full story
Alaska's mining industry is entering the final lap for what has turned out to be a more robust than expected year for exploration, development and production. Strong worldwide demand for mined products has certainly helped push metallic and energy minerals prices up, but all is not rosy for Alaska's mineral industry. A recent CNBC report placed Alaska dead last of all the states in terms of overall business attractiveness. We were a dismal 46th of 50 in terms of cost of doing...
As termination dust falls across most of Alaska, the curtain has come down for the bulk of the exploration projects around the state; however, mine development programs as well as mine-site exploration continue apace as does some exploration work in tropical Southeast Alaska. With few exceptions, preliminary conclusions drawn from 2010 work indicate that 2011 is going to be a busy year. And though a lot of exploration and development is still going on for gold, copper... Full story
As we near the end of September and the metals market remains robust, the mining industry is breathing a sigh of relief as we remember the market meltdown of early September 2008. Although nobody is suggesting that the larger economy is in any way out of the woods yet, the worldwide demand for metals and metal products continues to expand. For example, the gold price hit US$1,274.95 earlier this month, well above the previous record of US$1,261 hit on June 28. Some believe...
In the last month, several of Alaska's major metal mines reported strong operating numbers; one company released a preliminary economic assessment and three new mineral exploration companies acquired exploration interests in Alaska. While the functions of explorers and producers are quite different, the symbiotic relationship between the two ends of the mining cycle is unequivocal: exploration would not exist without production and production would eventually cease without...
Two seminal events related to the Alaska mining industry occurred in the past month. First, in late June, Coeur d'Alene Mines Corp. reported the commencement of production at it Kensington gold mine near Juneau. The mine has now joined the ranks of large-scale producers here in Alaska but only after lots of years and lots of dollars, capped by a trip to the U.S. Supreme Court! Hat's off to Coeur for its commitment to Alaska and for its desire to do this job right. Secondly,...
As the long-awaited summer solstice comes and goes, Alaska's mining industry is deep in the midst of its summer exploration, development and production programs. Mineral exploration programs are under way from far Southeast Alaska to the Brooks Range, from eastern Interior Alaska to the Seward Peninsula. The commodities being explored for, developed and mined are equally diverse and include gold, silver, copper, nickel, lead, zinc, platinum and palladium. Two new exploration...
The annual Fraser Institute "Report on Mining Companies, 2009-2010" was recently released to a thundering silence. Several oddball items may help explain the lackluster response, but Alaska fared well in the survey of 333 companies working in 72 jurisdictions worldwide. Alaska ranked 18th out of 72 under the policy potential index, which measures the regulatory attractiveness of a jurisdiction. Not unreasonably, Alaska was beaten by some mining heavyweights like Chile, Quebec,... Full story
As Alaska's mining industry moves into the frenetic summer exploration and development season, the rest of the world is being buffeted by wild financial and commodity "mood swings" that are affecting the metals markets. The big markets shake the little markets and the little markets shake Alaska. Perfect example: the World Gold Council recently reported that China's growing middle class is expected to double its demand for gold for jewelry and investment purposes over the...
I recently attended the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada convention in Toronto where a buoyant, project-hungry crowd of 22,000 created enough of its own hot air to start the Greenland Icecap melting. In a clear case of anthropogenic global warming, representatives of companies, governments and agencies rolled out their projects in efforts to see and be seen. Alaska was well represented at the conference and should see some new investment interest coming from... Full story
The Alaska Miners Association recently released an economic benefits summary of the Alaska mining industry. This summary indicated that in 2009 the Alaska mining industry provided 3,300 direct jobs along with 5,200 indirect jobs in 120 communities in Alaska with a combined payroll of US$320 million. Average industry jobs came in at US$83,000 per year, which is 85 percent higher than the average Alaska wage and second only to wages in the oil and gas industry. The industry...
As we plunge headlong into a new year and a new decade, the broad economic indicators for the mining industry suggest continued strong prices for most commodities in 2010 followed by slightly lower average prices in 2011 and beyond as supplies catch up to demand. Not surprisingly, the source of much of the commodities demand will be Asia with China and India being the two leading economic engines driving commodity prices. Where Alaska's mining industry fits into this global... Full story
Although commodities prices have improved for the mining industry over the past year, 2009 has been the kind of year most of us hope not to repeat. The best analogy I can come up with is the one that says "All boats rise and fall with the tide." Under this scenario, company fortunes fell as the general market declined. Unfortunately, not all boats (companies) rise when the tide goes back up. Some get holed on the rocks of economic misfortune and remain on the bottom....
Metals markets continue to climb out of the basement as the world demand for metals resumes its upward trend. Fueled by this growing demand, numerous Alaska precious, base and rare metal projects reported results of their 2009 exploration, development and production programs. The recent Alaska Miners Association Convention in Anchorage felt this surge of interest with the highest attendance in more than a decade. The atmosphere at the conference was charged with optimism, a co...
As the active exploration season winds down in Alaska, both good news and bad is afoot and both sets of news turn out to be the same data. Double speak you say? Read on and judge for yourself. Halifax-based Metals Economics Group announced some preliminary numbers relating to worldwide mineral industry exploration for 2009. The group estimates that worldwide exploration spending will drop to US$8.4 billion in 2009, a 40 percent decrease from the US$14 billion spent in 2008.... Full story
Although Alaska's summer field season is quickly coming to an end, the mineral industry continues to gain momentum thanks to rapidly increasing metals prices, fueled in part by growing industrial demand and an astonishing increase in investment demand for metals like gold and silver. Goldfields Mineral Service reported that for the period 1993 to 2000, world gold investment averaged about 383 metric tons of metal per year, while annual gold investment for the period 2001 throu...
They say when it rains, it pours, and that is just what is happening with news from field programs all over Alaska. Results from summer 2009 programs are pouring in from the Brooks Range to Prince of Wales Island, from Eastern Interior Alaska to Southwestern Alaska. Commodities of interest range from the expected gold, silver, copper, lead and zinc to the nearly unpronounceable, including praseodymium, dysprosium, terbium, thulium, lutetium and yttrium. Go ahead, drop a...
The Alaska summer is in full swing but news is slow in arriving from new field programs and mining operations around the state. The biggest news in the past month was the U.S. Supreme Court's affirmation of Coeur d'Alene Mines' tailing disposal permits at its Kensington deposit north of Juneau. The longstanding stalemate, dating back to late 2006, clears the way (hopefully) for completion of the construction at the Slate Lake tailings facility and commencement of mining... Full story
I have been reading the tea leaves and think there is an extremely important sequence of events unfolding that represents a golden opportunity for Alaska. Please bear with me as I try to wade through the logic of this and you can tell me what you think. About two months ago, Brent Cook, a well-known mining analyst and owner of Exploration Insights, published a rather illuminating article entitled "Where Have All the Gold Mines Gone?" The upshot of his article was that most...
Spring has arrived in Alaska and the mining industry is heading to the hills to do its work. Compared to last year, the state is a quiet place in the sun due to drastically reduced exploration and development budgets. Alaska's mines continue to benefit from the sharply reduced costs of power, diesel fuel, labor and other goods and services, but worldwide economic uncertainties have dried up the availability of venture capital for smaller exploration companies and have made... Full story
Last month we talked about economic impacts of the Alaska mining industry. This month, the world mineral exploration industry is in our crosshairs. Halifax-based Metals Economics Group reported that 2008 worldwide nonferrous mineral exploration reached $13.2 billion, more than 2.5 times the previous peak exploration spending level reached in 1997. Add uranium exploration expenditures, and the total expands to $14.4 billion. Exploration spending would have been even higher...
There are some new stats out from the State of Alaska that I thought you might like to see. For 2008, the Alaska mining industry accounted for 3,500 direct jobs and 5,500 indirect jobs. The industry doled out US$350 million in payroll with the average salary totaling US$82,600 per year, which is 90 percent higher than the statewide average for all sectors. Mining salaries were higher than all other sectors, except for the oil and gas sector. The industry paid US$105 million in...
The Alaska mining industry was relatively quiet over the last month with most of the news coming from programs completed in 2008. In addition, some programs have already started in 2009 but details are not ready for prime time gossip. A couple items that did catch my eye from the bigger world markets underscore the fact that opportunities still exist in this depressed economic climate and serve to magnify the pitfalls of government intervention in the private sector. The...
