North of 60 Mining News - The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North

A decade after more than C$6 billion in shareholders' value evaporated and six years after a court trial began, what has been described as the world's largest mining scandal has entered its final legal proceedings. By early September final... — Updated 8/27/2006

British Columbia is reveling in a mining boom without parallel in more than three decades, according to a report by PricewaterhouseCoopers. Powered by higher metals and coal prices, reflecting the strong demand for commodities, and an increase in t... — Updated 5/22/2005

The hunt for diamonds is undergoing a reawakening in Manitoba, four years after the first wave of explorers failed to locate kimberlite. The province's far north has attracted interest from De Beers Canada, which has collected exploration licenses... — Updated 5/22/2005

Exploration spending on Yukon mines is forecast to double this year from 2004 to about C$40 million, according to an exploration and development survey by the British Columbia and Yukon Chamber of Mines. The greatest push is coming from healthy... — Updated 5/22/2005

The road has been cleared for Canada's latest diamond mine, with South African gem giant De Beers giving its final go-ahead for the C$636 million Snap Lake project. In the planning and development stages for several years, the mine is scheduled to... — Updated 5/22/2005

Coal is king again in Canada as producers scramble to increase their output to take advantage of new clean-coal technologies and to meet surging demand in Asia. Natural Resources Minister John Efford believes coal will be at the forefront of a... — Updated 4/24/2005

The multi-billion dollar plans for northern gas pipelines could generate some profitable spin-offs in the mining sector. The Arctic lines will create a heavy demand for molybdenum, which enables high-value steel alloys to withstand extreme... — Updated 4/24/2005

John Felderhof is unyielding in his belief that the Busang mining lease in Indonesia - the core of history's biggest mining fraud - holds a "substantial gold resource." Emerging from his home in the Cayman Islands, the Dutch-born geologist is... — Updated 3/27/2005

Max Baucus, the five-term Democratic U.S. senator from Montana, has found another issue to reinforce his reputation as the biggest American burr under British Columbia's saddle. Already well known for his advocacy of bans on U.S. imports of beef... — Updated 3/27/2005

The Northwest Territories government has been forced to resume its search for a buyer to take over its troubled diamond cutting and polishing plant. Hopes that the Lev Leviev Group of Cos. would take over the operation collapsed earlier in... — Updated 2/27/2005 Full story

An easing of China's overheated economy and a rapid rise in costs could sap some of the vigor from the mining industry, says Canaccord Capital's global metals and mining analyst Gary Lampard. In an early-February research report he said that... — Updated 2/27/2005 Full story

Diamonds and energy are generating some spinoff benefits in the Northwest Territories, fueling house prices and creating some fertile ground for union organizers. The Canadian Real Estate Association has credited the industry with stimulating a 21... — Updated 2/27/2005

A new North American gold powerhouse is in the making following the merger of Goldcorp and Wheaten River Minerals, two mid-size Canadian producers, whose combined entity now ranks No. 5 on the continent. With the champagne still flowing and the... — Updated 2/27/2005

Mining can return to being a sunrise business in British Columbia, the province's Energy and Mines Minister Richard Neufeld said in unveiling a broad plan to build on the industry's recent recovery after a long slump through the 1990s. He said... — Updated 1/30/2005 Full story

Pele Mountain Resources, a junior exploration company, says it has discovered two large diamond-bearing zones in northern Ontario. Exploration at the Festival diamond project is being financed by gold producer Goldcorp, which has an option to... — Updated 1/30/2005

The finders of Newfoundland's huge Voisey's Bay nickel deposit are cashing in their royalty interest for C$180 million and 1 million shares of a new mining royalty company. Christopher Verbiski and Albert Chislett, the prospectors who uncovered... — Updated 1/30/2005 Full story

The age of claim staking - with all of its excitement, intrigue and even hand-to-hand combat - is over in British Columbia. Now you can acquire mineral rights without even leaving your office. The provincial government has joined two other... — Updated 1/30/2005

Gold mining companies are reacting cautiously to the latest spikes in gold prices in valuing their assets, unsure where the U.S. dollar is headed, an annual survey by Pricewaterhouse-Coopers has concluded. Ignoring a peak of close to $460 an ounce... — Updated 1/30/2005

De Beers and Inco, world powers in the diamond and nickel industries, have linked up to explore for gems and base metals on Baffin Island in Canada's Far North. The two companies signed a precedent-setting, two-year agreement Jan. 19 to share explo... — Updated 1/30/2005 Full story

In a rebound year for Canadian coal, it was no surprise that Grande Cache Coal topped the performance list of companies that made initial public offerings in 2004. Bolstered by a threefold rise in the price of metallurgical coal, the Alberta-based... — Updated 1/30/2005

The world's largest mining hoax fades for long periods, without ever disappearing completely. Now the insider trading case against John Felderhof, former chief geologist of Bre-X Minerals, is back before the Ontario Superior Court, seven years... — Updated 12/26/2004

The name that is synonymous with diamonds wants no part of digging for the gems in the Northwest Territories. Tiffany & Co. unloaded its 14 percent holding on Aber Diamond, the co-owner of Diavik, Canada's second diamond mine. The U.S. jewelry... — Updated 12/26/2004 Full story

Canada's burgeoning diamond industry is not likely to get an extra lift from tax changes. A spokesman for the Canadian government dumped some cold water on hopes contained in a proposed national diamond strategy prepared by the governments of the... — Updated 10/31/2004 Full story

Inco, the world's second largest nickel producer, is now in pursuit of a 50 percent increase in output by 2009. The Toronto-based company has ended a two-year hiatus by resuming work on its US$1.9 billion Goro project in New Caledonia and is six mo... — Updated 10/31/2004

Aboriginal groups in a remote corner of north-central British Columbia are resolutely opposed to plans by Vancouver-based Northgate Minerals to expand the Kemess gold and copper mine. Northgate took over Kemess four years ago after the previous... — Updated 10/31/2004 Full story