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

Saskatchewan, Canada's so-called breadbasket because of its seemingly endless grain fields and also the country's second-largest oil and gas producing province, has hopes of adding diamonds to the portfolio. After years of probing beneath the... — Updated 10/31/2004

Global diamond mining giant De Beers has optioned properties in northern Canada to two junior explorers. Vancouver-based Pure Gold Minerals has negotiated an agreement covering 6,300 square miles north of Norman Wells in the Northwest Territories,... — Updated 9/12/2004

Healthy bullion prices are driving a resurgence of exploration spending in Canada, with budgets at their highest level in seven years. In a note to clients, National Bank Financial said that "after a prolonged drought," second quarter spending was... — Updated 9/12/2004

For Inco, it is the road to becoming the world's largest nickel producer. For the residents of isolated, depressed Labrador, it holds the rare promise of steady jobs and solid economic gains. For the government of Newfoundland and Labrador, it will... — Updated 9/12/2004

Eastern European organized crime could take the sparkle off the Northwest Territories' diamond industry by smuggling diamonds from global war zones into the Canadian production life, warns Canada's spy agency. An intelligence report obtained by... — Updated 8/8/2004

The evidence continues to indicate that British Columbia's mining industry is on the road to recovery. Exploration spending edged up last year to C$55 million, from C$40 million in 2002 and a rock-bottom C$25 million in 1999, although the B.C.... — Updated 7/11/2004

A proposal to create Canada's fourth largest gold miner has unraveled, with shareholders of Iamgold rejecting a controversial C$2.3 billion merger with Wheaton River Minerals. Iamgold shareholders voted 58 percent against the plan July 6, reviving... — Updated 7/11/2004

Canada's diamond industry has had its wings clipped, just as it was taking flight. The Yellowknife operations of Sirius Diamonds and Arslanian Cutting Works NWT, holding a combined C$17.2 million in government loan guarantees, were forced into... — Updated 7/11/2004

The cutting and polishing sector of Canada's much-touted diamond industry needs some trimming and buffing of its own, suggests a new report from the mining industry that has angered the Northwest Territories government. The study, entitled... — Updated 6/20/2004

Long the symbol of a "dirty" economy and seemingly destined for oblivion in the age of global warming, coal is making a resurgence in the United States and Canada, propelled by the big blackout last summer and the volatility of natural gas prices.... — Updated 6/20/2004

China's hunger for nickel could force producers to develop a rationing system, an analyst told the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada. Raymond Goldie, with Salman Partners, said supplies are about 6 percent behind demand, pushing the... — Updated 5/9/2004

Northwest Territories Native leaders have thrown a roadblock in the path of plans for Canada's third diamond mine - the Snap Lake project by De Beers Canada that was expected to open in 2008. Akaitcho and Deh Cho chiefs in the lower Northwest... — Updated 5/9/2004

The attempt to pin blame in the massive Bre-X Minerals gold fraud drags on, with no hint of compensation for investors who lost an estimated C$3 billion. A long-delayed trial of former Bre-X geologist John Felderhof is now scheduled to resume somet... — Updated 5/9/2004

Executives of Ivanhoe Mines have cashed in on stock options to fatten their modest salaries. When shares of the Vancouver-based company took flight last summer, several of the top managers seized the chance to exercise their options. Deputy Chairma... — Updated 5/9/2004

Gold exploration is being fired up in British Columbia and Canada's three northern territories, rekindled by improved metal prices. "The industry is finally coming back," declared Dan Jepsen, executive director of the British Columbia and Yukon... — Updated 4/18/2004

Having been rebuffed last June, an Israeli diamond consortium has made a second unsolicited bid for the lucrative Ekati mine in Canada's Northwest Territories. But the offer by the DGI Group of Cos. drew a light-hearted response from Ekati owner BH... — Updated 4/18/2004

Low-grade ore has delivered a setback to the flourishing Diavik diamond mine in the Northwest Territories. Toronto-based Aber Diamond, 40 percent operator of the joint venture with 60 percent partner Rio Tinto, said the material has forced it to... — Updated 4/18/2004

Canada's junior mining companies are cash rich for the first time in seven years, having led the way in raising C$3 billion in 2003 to signal the revival of exploration plays along with development and acquisitions both overseas and on the... — Updated 3/14/2004

Simmering frustration among British Columbia's miners over the government's failure to settle aboriginal land claims and reduce red tap boiled over March 3 as the industry unloaded on British Columbia Minister of State for Mining Pat Bell. A series... — Updated 3/14/2004

Anglo Swiss Resources, a Vancouver-based junior miner, is moving ahead with plans to reactive the Kenville mine in southeastern British Columbia as it starts gold and gemstone exploration of the property. The company plans a detailed geological... — Updated 3/14/2004

Tahera Corp. is within sight of operating the first diamond mine in Canada's Nunavut Territory. The Nunavut Impact Review Board has recommended approval by Indian and Northern Affairs Minister Andy Mitchell of the Jericho project, about 210 miles s... — Updated 3/14/2004

With diamond production soaring in the Northwest Territories, prospectors are ready to flood the region as Canada works its way into third place among world's producers. The Northwest Territories and Nunavut governments have issued more than 2,000... — Updated 2/15/2004

Settlement of a legal spat has also ended a joint diamond exploration venture in the Northwest Territories and Nunavut. Ashton Mining of Canada and Pure Gold Minerals finally resolved a lawsuit that was launched in May 2002. They teamed up in 1993... — Updated 2/15/2004

A Canadian mining company is gambling C$5 million on a pilot project that it hopes will show how titanium and zircon can be produced from the tailings of Syncrude Canada's oil sands mining operation. Titanium Corp., based in Toronto, Ontario, will... — Updated 12/21/2003

The British Columbia Securities Commission has waved a warning flag as the province's mining sector shows signs of rebounding. With financings on the upswing and capital pouring into companies to resuscitate projects that have been stalled for the... — Updated 11/30/2003