The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North

Articles from the June 29, 2008 edition


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  • Donlin Creek destined to become behemoth

    Rose Ragsdale, For Mining News|Updated Jun 29, 2008

    After six years of hard work, NovaGold Resources Inc. is moving closer to its goal of developing a world-class gold mine in the hills above the Yukon-Kuskokwim River Basin of southwestern Alaska. The Vancouver, B.C.-based junior is set to produce its first gold at the Rock Creek project near Nome this year, but its ongoing development of the Donlin Creek deposit hundreds of miles southeast of Nome is more likely to propel the company onto the world stage as a mega-producer of the yellow precious metal. NovaGold and its 50...

  • No better place for gold discoveries

    Curt J. Freeman, For Mining News|Updated Jun 29, 2008

    Everyone who is planning to work on Alaska mineral projects in 2008 is busy doing just that as the longest day of summer quickly approaches. Programs ranging from grass-roots prospecting to multimillion-dollar feasibility studies are spread over the entire state with the most active areas being Western and Interior Alaska. With the new resources for Donlin Creek now out, my unofficial records show Alaska's total gold resources at more than 169 million ounces, with gold discovery rates during the past 10 years averaging more... Full story

  • He who forgets his past must re-drill it

    J. P. Tangen, For Mining News|Updated Jun 29, 2008

    It is said that those who forget their history must relive it. It appears that geologists working together with the State of Alaska have found a unique way to make that adage come true. Imagine spending hundreds of millions, if not billions, of dollars building an active database and then stashing it in an unsecured facility where access, at best, is difficult and retrieval of the data for review places those very data at risk. That, however, is exactly the way the State is...

  • One unclear water initiative remains

    Shane Lasley, Mining News|Updated Jun 29, 2008

    Alaskans will not be voting on the original anti-mining initiative 07WATR during the August 26 primary election. On June 6, the Alaska Supreme Court dismissed an appeal of a lower court ruling that declared the proposal unconstitutional. A similar initiative, 07WTR3, is still headed to the August ballot, pending a state Supreme Court ruling on its constitutionality, expected before July 10 so that ballots can be printed on time for the primary election. If 07WTR3 survives the...

  • Sherwood: More at Minto, less at Kutcho

    Rose Ragsdale, For Mining News|Updated Jun 29, 2008

    Sometimes less can be more and then other times, more is just plain more. That's the word from Sherwood Copper Corp. The company posted a major jump in mineral resource estimates June 17 for its Minto Mine in central Yukon, based on results of 101 new holes drilled across four deposits - Area 118, Ridgetop, Main Minto and Area 2 deposits - in 2007. Sherwood said the net result of all adjustments produced a 50 percent increase in contained copper and a 40 percent hike in precious metals in Minto's latest mineral resource...

  • Red Chris gets green light from court

    Rose Ragsdale, For Mining News|Updated Jun 29, 2008

    Canada's Federal Court of Appeal has set aside a lower court ruling and confirmed a federal environmental assessment of the Red Chris copper-gold project 18 kilometers, or about 11 miles, southeast of the village of Iskut, east of the Alaska Panhandle in Northwest British Columbia, according to project owner Imperial Metals Corp. In September 2007, the Federal Court Trial Division of Canada ruled in favor of an application by MiningWatch Canada for judicial review of a federal environmental assessment of the Red Chris...

  • Miners chase projects in Canada's Arctic

    Rose Ragsdale, For Mining News|Updated Jun 29, 2008

    Mining exploration appears to be hotter than ever this season in the Northwest Territories and Nunavut, but the Canadian Arctic region's few producers are getting hammered by the strong Canadian dollar. The discrepancy was particularly evident in the territories' mining production. The total value of metal and diamond shipments from the Northwest Territories and Nunavut Territory decreased to C$1.53 billion during the calendar year 2007 for the second consecutive year, down from C$1.63 billion in 2006 and C$1.79 billion in...

  • Upgrades at Golden Summit to free gold

    Shane Lasley, Mining News|Updated Jun 29, 2008

    Freegold Ventures Ltd. has started its first full season of bulk sampling at the Golden Summit property outside of Fairbanks with an upgraded version of the gravity-based gold recovery plant first used last fall. The recovery plant was delivered to Golden Summit late summer 2007 and was put into operation in September, giving the company about four weeks to test-drive the plant before temperatures were too cold to continue operations. Over the winter the Vancouver B.C.-based...

  • Junior grabs 100 percent of Terra, LMS

    Mining News|Updated Jun 29, 2008

    International Tower Hill Mines Ltd. June 10 said it has entered into an agreement to acquire all of the interest of AngloGold Ashanti (U.S.A.) Exploration Inc. in the Terra and LMS projects in Alaska, plus certain other AngloGold rights, in exchange for 450,000 shares of the Vancouver, B.C.-based junior's stock. Based on current share prices, the deal was valued at about $6 per ounce of International Tower Hill's inferred gold resource and valued at about C$751,500, or C$1.67 a share. The purchase agreement covers all...

  • Juniors seek merger to explore Niblack

    Shane Lasley, Mining News|Updated Jun 29, 2008

    Two Vancouver B.C.-based explorers, Committee Bay Resources Ltd. and Niblack Mining Corp., have agreed to join forces. The companies have penned an initial agreement in which Committee Bay would acquire all of Niblack's securities in a one-to-one swap. Committee Bay is also investigating the possibility of advancing C$10 million to fund exploration and development of Niblack's gold-silver-copper-zinc volcanic massive sulfide property in Southeast Alaska. Though the proposal...

  • New gold producer eyes Yukon startup

    Rose Ragsdale, For Mining News|Updated Jun 29, 2008

    KETZA RIVER - Now that Yukon-Nevada Gold Corp. is a producer at its Jerritt Canyon Mine in Nevada, the Vancouver, B.C.-based miner is poised to develop a mine at its gold- and silver-rich claims here in the southern Yukon. After three years of exploration drilling and even longer cleaning up an abandoned mining camp left behind by another mining company, Yukon-Nevada is targeting 2010 for initial gold production and ramping up to 60,000 ounces in annual output in 2011. In 2007, the company upgraded measured and indicated...

  • Barr offers voice of reason

    Compiled By Shane Lasley, North of 60 Mining News|Updated Jun 29, 2008

    Rosie Barr, spokeswoman for NANA's "Voices of Reason Campaign," told Mining News that anti-mining initiatives expected to come before Alaska voters on this fall's ballot would shut down existing mines like the huge Red Dog zinc-lead mine in Northwest Alaska and prevent the permitting of future mines, many of which would be developed on Alaska Native corporation lands. In undertaking this campaign, NANA is fighting to retain the land ownership and mineral rights granted to all Alaska Natives under the Alaska Native Claims...

  • Pebble applies for social license

    Shane Lasley, Mining News|Updated Jun 29, 2008

    During John Shively's 17 years working for the NANA Regional Corp., he was involved with the acquisition of land selection rights for the zinc property where the Red Dog Mine is currently located. He and other NANA leaders went on to permit and develop - in partnership with Teck Cominco - the world's largest zinc mine. Drawing on Shively's experience, the Alaska Miners Association invited him to speak to attendees at the 2007 Alaska Miners Association annual mining conference... Full story

  • JV seeks good news in platinum prospects

    Shane Lasley, Mining News|Updated Jun 29, 2008

    Pacific North West Capital and Stillwater Mining Co. have begun the 2008 drilling program at the Goodnews Bay Platinum Project in Southwest Alaska. The $1 million program has two primary targets, Last Chance and Susie West prospects, defined with rock and soil sampling programs in 2006 and 2007. In addition to about 3,000 meters of core drilling planned at Last Chance and Susie West, the companies will also continue an auger soil sampling program on Susie Mountain which will... Full story