State environmental regulators say the Alaska Railroad is proposing insufficient measures to prevent black dust from spreading from its coal loading facility in Seward. The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation cited the state-owned... — Updated 9/30/2007

Production and sales at the Fort Knox Gold Mine dipped slightly in the first two quarters of 2007. The mine northeast of Fairbanks produced 176,644 ounces of gold over the first six months of the year for a decline of about 1.5 percent from the... — Updated 8/26/2007

Owners of the Kensington mine announced in mid-August that it has finished building nearly all the facilities that it needs to begin operations. But plans for a disposal facility for a slurry containing millions of tons of mine waste into a small... — Updated 8/26/2007

The developer of the Kensington gold mine near Juneau has agreed to pay more than $100,000 to settle violations of the federal Clean Water Act, federal officials announced Jan. 18. Coeur Alaska Inc. will pay an $18,334 penalty to the Environmental... — Updated 1/28/2007

More studies are needed before a copper and gold mine is reopened upstream from Juneau, Alaska, environmental groups have asserted in a lawsuit against the Canadian government. Opponents of the Tulsequah Chief project in the Taku River watershed,... — Updated 9/24/2006

A Canadian mining exploration company with projects scattered throughout Alaska said it plans to seek coal in the sleepy community of Chickaloon. Full Metal Minerals (USA) Inc. was the sole bidder for about 35 square miles of coal leases put up for... — Updated 8/27/2006

Bristol Bay tribal leaders are tracking a dispute over where to dump waste from a gold mine in Southeast Alaska, fearing the outcome will set a precedent that could harm the rivers they fish. Seven Alaska Native village corporations have signed a... — Updated 6/25/2006

A worldwide shortage of industrial tires is pushing up costs for Alaska's mining industry, just as soaring metal prices are fueling the sector's resurgence. The fast-growing economies of China and India combined with demand from the U.S. military... — Updated 4/23/2006

The Alaska House Special Committee on Fisheries took up consideration Jan. 20 of House Bill 328, a bill that would prohibit mixing zones in freshwater spawning streams. (See related story on page 3 of this issue.) Mixing zones are used throughout... — Updated 1/29/2006

Aerial surveys released by the Alaska Division of Geological & Geophysical Surveys could help identify areas worth exploring for minerals. Four surveys released Jan. 23 fall short of offering a bull's eye for exploration companies, but help... — Updated 1/29/2006

The Alaska Department of Natural Resources Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys said the industry topped $1 billion in expenditures and earnings for the ninth straight year. The mining industry paid nearly $27 million to the State of... — Updated 11/27/2005

Alaska environmental regulators have cited the Kensington Mine for alleged water-quality violations caused by erosion and runoff at its construction site. Mine developer Coeur Alaska has until Nov. 25 to come into compliance with the law,... — Updated 11/27/2005

A Homer electric cooperative is eyeing the closed Healy Clean Coal Plant as a future source of power. The $300 million state-owned plant, located 78 miles southwest of Fairbanks, was built in the mid 1990s to tap the Usibelli Coal Mine and... — Updated 10/30/2005

A reclusive prospector panning for gold in the Quesnel River in British Columbia found something far more rare, the fossilized cannon bone of a deer, and kept it a secret for years, experts say. The artifact found by Ben Miller, a fossilized... — Updated 7/24/2005

Barrick Gold Corp. has acquired an 11 percent stake in Northwest Territories diamond explorer Diamondex Resources Ltd., Canada's biggest gold producer said May. 18. Barrick said it acquired 7.55 million units of Diamondex for 90 cents cash each in... — Updated 5/22/2005

Prosecutors have opened a criminal case into alleged misappropriation of property at the Russian state diamond monopoly Alrosa, officials said May 14. The case, opened May 13, concerns the misappropriation of property worth more than 153 million ru... — Updated 5/22/2005

Are there diamonds buried in Minnesota? The head of the University of Minnesota's geological survey says the science of diamond exploration has improved dramatically in recent years - and Minnesota is favorable ground. University geologists and an... — Updated 3/27/2005

The proposed Kensington gold mine near Juneau would disrupt Steller sea lion populations but wouldn't jeopardize the species, federal regulators said in a late March finding. The decision by the National Marine Fisheries Service bodes well for... — Updated 3/27/2005

Mary Pat Wyatt was dismayed when she began assessing the assortment of objects that would become the first collection of the Juneau-Douglas City Museum. With a background in art history and sculpture, and stints at the Smithsonian Institution and... — Updated 2/15/2004