The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North

Articles from the May 27, 2012 edition


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  • Abrupt CEO departure rocks Tower Hill

    Shane Lasley, Mining News|Updated May 27, 2012

    One year after donning the mantle of chief executive officer at International Tower Hill Mines Ltd., James Komadina abruptly vacated the position recently. The unexpected departure comes less than a week after Tower Hill filed its first-quarter 2012 financial results, revealing a budget overrun of C$46.9 million on Komadina's watch. The vacuum created in the upper echelon of Tower Hill management has pulled in company founder Jeff Pontius to help steer the company through... Full story

  • Miners gear up for summer exploration

    Curt Freeman, For Mining News|Updated May 27, 2012

    Although spring took its good old time in arriving across much of Alaska, the mining industry's busy summer exploration and development season has arrived. Five of Alaska's major mines reported strong first-quarter operating results, and two new companies acquired exploration properties in Alaska in the last month. These new acquisitions are not expected to be the last, as the prolonged venture capital drought continues with no end in sight. The news this month is sparse, prim...

  • Administration adrift but water is clean

    J. P. Tangen, For Mining News|Updated May 27, 2012

    On May 18, 2012, the EPA released for public comment a draft scientific study of the Bristol Bay watershed and its natural resources. Under the Clean Water Act, EPA claims the authority to perform scientific studies that enhance the public's knowledge of water resources. Whether, as a matter of law, the agency has that authority, is disputed, but for the purpose of this conversation, it is irrelevant because the more pressing question is whether, assuming such authority, it is... Full story

  • Independent NovaCopper targets Ambler

    Shane Lasley, Mining News|Updated May 27, 2012

    The stock symbol "NCQ" lit up the boards on the Toronto and New York stock exchanges May 2, marking the official launch of NovaCopper Inc. as an independent mineral exploration company under the leadership of NovaGold Resources Inc. founder Rick Van Nieuwenhuyse. "Now that we are a public company independent of NovaGold, we are looking forward to unlocking great value from the exceptional assets we have in the Ambler mining district," said NovaCopper President and CEO Van Nieu...

  • Junior eyes 2013 Brewery Creek startup

    Rose Ragsdale, For Mining News|Updated May 27, 2012

    For the past 18 months, Golden Predator Corp. has been working fast and furiously to get a handle on the gold resource it has steadily uncovered at its flagship Brewery Creek Project located about 55 kilometers (34 miles) east of Dawson City in central Yukon Territory. On Dec. 1, the aggressive junior reported that it was working toward a near-term production decision even as increasingly impressive 2011 drill results continued to surface. Six months later, Golden Predator Chairman and CEO William M. Sheriff, M.Sc., is busy...

  • Partners roll Pebble toward permitting

    Shane Lasley, Mining News|Updated May 27, 2012

    The Pebble Limited Partnership has approved a budget of about US$107 million to advance the enormous Pebble copper-gold-molybdenum project in 2012, with the objective of readying to initiate permitting under the National Environmental Policy Act. Work programs for the coming months will include ongoing environmental studies focused on fish and marine resources; water quality and groundwater hydrology; continued engineering analysis to finalize a project description;... Full story

  • Shear processes stockpiles at Jericho

    Rose Ragsdale, For Mining News|Updated May 27, 2012

    Shear Diamonds Ltd. is advancing a plan to return the Jericho Diamond Mine located in the Kitikmeot region of Nunavut to full production as early as 2014. The junior reported May 1 that it has begun processing high-grade concentrate stockpiles at the Jericho Diamond Mine located in the Kitikmeot region of Nunavut. A total of about 3,500 carats had been recovered from 358 metric tons of the recovery reject stockpiles after the first 10 full days of processing. These diamonds and all future production from Jericho, other than...

  • Rewards balance hardships in the North

    Rose Ragsdale, For Mining News|Updated May 27, 2012

    Taking as its theme, "Building a Resourceful Future," the 15th annual Nunavut Mining Symposium held April 16-19, 2012 in Iqaluit, Nunavut, featured several presentations that examined the challenges facing mining and the importance of regulatory reform to the industry's future in Canada's northern territories. Pierre Gratton, president and CEO of the Mining Association of Canada, led the discussion by citing mining's significant contributions to the North, which include 30,000+ person years of stable, high-wage employment,... Full story

  • Mining looks profitable in near term

    Rose Ragsdale, For Mining News|Updated May 27, 2012

    The Nunavut Mining Symposium, held April 16-19 in Iqaluit, NU, the northern territory's capital, drew more than 500 delegates, a record for the annual gathering. Patricia M. Mohr, vice president of Scotiabank, delivered the keynote address, outlining the financial institution's 2012-13 outlook for metal prices, currencies and global growth. Mohr, a commodity market specialist at the Toronto-based international bank, said price increases in the bank's widely respected Metal & Mineral Index at 11.1 percent per annum during the...

  • EPA study has implications beyond Pebble

    Shane Lasley, For Mining News|Updated May 27, 2012

    Though the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency emphatically denies it has predetermined whether to exercise its authority under Section 404(c) of the Clean Water Act to prohibit or restrict large-scale mining in the Bristol Bay watershed, a draft assessment published by the regulatory agency surmises that development of Pebble and other promising copper deposits in this vast expanse of state-owned land in Southwest Alaska may pose a threat to a world-class salmon fishery... Full story