The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
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Mineral exploration spending in Alaska will likely struggle to top US$80 million for 2014, a dramatic fall from the US$365.1 million pinnacle reached in 2011. "The din of mineral industry activity that is normally a part of the summer months in Alaska is decidedly muted this year as the global mining industry attempts to lift itself off the bottom of a plus-18-month-long slump," Avalon Development President Curt Freeman opined in a June column written for Mining News. Unlike 2...
The increasing crush of complex issues and decisions facing state land managers has a silver lining for Alaskans and our mining industry. It means things are happening. The busier we are at the Department of Natural Resources, the better Alaska is doing, in terms of jobs, revenue and overall economic health. Much already has been said in this publication about the difficulties facing large mining projects in Alaska. On many fronts, the State is engaged in a continual battle to maintain and protect a state and federal permitti...
Like an iceberg, it appears the 4.75 million metric tons of massive sulfide mineralization outlined so far at the Glacier Creek deposit near the top of Mt. Morlan at Constantine Metal Resources' Palmer project in Southeast Alaska may be just a glimpse of the precious metals enriched copper-zinc mineralization that lies below. To find out, Dowa Metals & Mining Co. Ltd. has agreed to invest US$6.2-million on a 2014 exploration program that included at least 10,000 meters of...
Continuing its success in finding new deposits of high-grade gold in the shadow of the mill at the Pogo Mine located in Interior Alaska, Sumitomo Metal Mining Pogo - a joint venture between Sumitomo Metal Mining Company (85 percent) and Sumitomo Corp. (15 percent) - ramped up exploration spending at its Interior Alaska operation to US$17 million in 2014. "Some of the companies are reducing their exploration costs; we aren't doing that," Sumitomo Metal Mining Pogo General...
AXR:TSX / AXU:NYSE-MKT President and CEO: Clynton Nauman Executive Vice President and COO: Brad Thrall Vice President, Exploration: Alan McOnie Alexco Resource Corp. owns the Bellekeno silver-zinc-lead mine, as well as a number of other mineral properties within historical Keno Hill Silver District of central Yukon Territory. Bellekeno began commercial production at the beginning of 2011, but was temporarily suspended late in 2013 due to lower silver prices. The company said developing additional feed for the mill from the pr...
The mining industry has built and sustained communities in British Columbia for more than 150 years and today B.C. is considered a global leader in mining and mineral production. Mining contributes nearly C$7 billion to B.C.'s economy and supports jobs for more than 30,000 people. Well over C$470 million was spent on mineral exploration in 2013, and British Columbia now accounts for almost 20 percent of the total exploration in Canada. Since 2011, five new major mines have opened in B.C.: Copper Mountain near Princeton, New...
Mineral and coal exploration in British Columbia, which peaked at C$680 million in 2012, retreated to roughly C$476 million in 2013. This drop is on par with the roughly 30 percent decrease in exploration expenditures worldwide. The dynamics that led to the decrease - tight capital markets that continue to challenge the ability of junior explorers to raise money, senior miners keeping tight reins on exploration spending and softer gold prices - have remained in play during...
ATC: TSX-V President: Robert Carne Chief Executive Officer: Graham Downs Chief Operating Officer: Ian Talbot Atac Resources Ltd. continues to build upon ongoing success at it Rackla Gold project in east-central Yukon Territory. The initial phase of the 2014 exploration program targeted recent Carlin-type gold discoveries at the Osiris and Anubis areas within the Nadaleen Trend, a 50-kilometer- (30 miles) long subset of the company's east-west extending land package that blankets an area more than 185 kilometers (114 miles)...
The cyclical nature of mineral exploration markets is reminiscent of my early years spent as a placer gold miner a few clicks south of the Arctic Circle. The summers were a time of frantic activity as I, and my fellow gold miners, endeavored to make the most of every minute of the long, warm summer days that the land North of 60 has to offer. When winter enveloped this northern land with snow, we placer miners of the North hoped that our summer bounty would be enough to...
Over the past decade, Seabridge Gold Inc. has outlined 9.9 billion pounds of copper and 38.2 million ounces of gold in reserves at its Kerr-Sulphurets-Mitchell project in northwestern British Columbia. While the gold reserves are the largest for any yet to be developed project on Earth and the copper reserves are themselves of world-class status, Seabridge believes that the results of exploration in 2014 could surpass all previous years of drilling at the project more...
The mining industry has been a pillar of the Northwest Territories' economy for more than 80 years. A strategic approach to manage resources in the territory is creating a new investment climate and opportunities for responsible resource development. In addition to being the largest private sector contributor to the NWT economy, the mining industry is also the largest private sector employer. As new mining and exploration projects emerge, it is essential to keep environmental sustainability and social responsibility top of...
After ushering in devolution in concert with implementing the first phase of a well-reasoned mineral development strategy, the Northwest Territories is eager to attract new mineral resource investment in 2014 in hopes of building on an uptick in exploration activity in recent years. "The Canadian North is the next frontier in mining and mineral development and nowhere is this more evident than in the NWT," said NWT Industry, Tourism, and Investment Minister David Ramsay. Home to the third-richest diamond resources in the...
AVL: TSX President and CEO: Donald Bubar Senior Vice President, Metallurgy: Dave Marsh Vice-President, Exploration: William Mercer Avalon Rare Metals is focused on developing a mine at its Nechalacho rare earth elements deposit at Thor Lake in Northwest Territories. During 2014, the company is continuing exploration while optimizing a feasibility study completed in 2013. Drilling in 2013 identified high-grade rare earth mineralization near the proposed access ramp location, with one hole intersecting 12.1 meters averaging...
Since being spun-out of Mountain Province Diamonds Inc. in the summer of 2012, Kennady Diamonds Inc. has had a singular focus - find a next-generation Northwest Territories diamond mine at its Kennady North diamond project located 280 kilometers (174 miles) northeast of Yellowknife. Receiving a highly prospective diamond property enveloping three sides of the Gahcho Kué diamond mine project and C$3 million in seed money in exchange for slightly more than 16 million common...
Nunavut's landmass, including the internal waters and offshore lands as legislated by the "Nunavut Act," occupies roughly a quarter of Canada's land mass. With such a large amount of land and unexplored territory, there is a strong promise of abundant resources yet to be discovered. At present, at least half of Nunavut is unmapped at a detailed scale and geologically, is poorly understood. However, both the Government of Canada and Government of Nunavut are investing in geological mapping. This process allows Nunavut to compe...
Mineral exploration activity is holding its own in Nunavut this year, despite a tough funding environment and stiff competition from other attractive mining jurisdictions around the world. Although the Far North territory has only one operating mine, Meadowbank, at least eight mineral projects are currently hurtling through development and the permitting process on their way to production. Of these, two projects - one gold and one iron - have project certificates, and six projects are progressing through the environmental...
boZ: TSX-V President and CEO: Benjamin Mossman Chairman: Wolfgang Nickel Chief Geologist: Dirk Meckert Banks Island Gold Ltd. is on the cusp of transitioning from explorer to producer. Organized in 2010 by partners Ben Mossman and Jason Nickel, Banks Island is already enjoying income from gold recovered from bulk sampling the high-grade Bob zone at its Yellow Giant gold-silver property on Banks Island. From the first shipment of gold concentrates from the bulk sample program in February through June 10, the company reports th...
CZX: TSX-V Chairman, President and CEO: Peeyush Varshney Vice President Exploration: Ken MacDonald Director: Henry Giegerich Canada Zinc Metals Corp. is focused on exploring a band of zinc-lead-silver properties that blankets 79,870 hectares (197,359 acres) of the Kechika SEDEX belt in northeastern British Columbia. The company has divided this land package into two projects - Akie, which hosts the Cardiac Creek deposit, and the Kechika regional properties, a series of property blocks that extend about 140 kilometers (85...
From expanding reserves at its proposed Meliadine gold mine to early-stage exploration at an enticing gold discovery a few miles up the road from its Meadowbank Mine, 2014 is emerging as a year marked with exciting growth for Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd. In addition to growth through the bit of a drill, Agnico expanded its reserves and production profile through acquisitions. In June, the producer and Yamana Gold Inc. finalized the purchase of Osisko Mining Corp. Agnico and Yamana...
In 2014, many junior exploration companies work to preserve capital by undertaking modest exploration programs. The injection of funding into the Yukon Mineral Exploration Program continues to be a valuable source of seed money for prospectors and juniors. The Government of Yukon increased its 2014 program funding to C$1.4 million from C$1.17 million in 2013. Forty-eight placer and hardrock exploration projects received funding in 2014. The program also has increased its limits from C$35,000 to C$50,000 matching dollars per...
Unlike its neighbors in the North, the Yukon Territory is forecasting a marked increase in exploration in 2014. While well shy of the roughly C$300 million invested in exploration in 2011, the peak of the modern Yukon gold rush, the C$65 million forecast to be invested on exploration in the Yukon during 2014 is roughly a 45 percent leap over last year. This exploration spending is dominated by an aggressive drill program at the Selwyn zinc project, situated in an area of...
czn: TSX chairman, President and CEO: John Kearney Vice President, Exploration and coo: Alan Taylor Vice President, permitting and environmental affairs: David Harpley Canadian Zinc Corp. has permits in hand and the majority of the required infrastructure in place to put the Prairie Creek Mine into production, positioning this project to stream some 76 million pounds of zinc, along with 90 million pounds of lead and 2.2 million ounces of silver, per year into global markets. Located in the South Mackenzie Mountains of...
Over the past five years, Kaminak Gold Corp. has rocketed the Coffee project from Yukon Territory's other White Gold property to an expansive set of gold deposits on pace to be the first of the Shawn Ryan discoveries to be developed into a mine. A preliminary economic assessment published in June envisions an open-pit mine and heap-leach facility producing an average of 167,000 ounces of gold annually over the life of mine at an all-in sustaining cash cost of US$688 per...
CXM: TSX-V President and CEO: Jevin Werbes Vice President, Exploration: Jeff Poloni Director: Chris Healey, P.Geo Carmax Mining Corp.'s exploration program at the Eaglehead copper-gold property was bolstered by financial and technical support from Copper Fox Metals Inc. In May, Northern Fox Copper, a wholly owned subsidiary of Copper Fox, bought 20 million units of Carmax at C5 cents per unit. This investment provided Northern Fox with a 42 percent equity interest in Carmax, a stake the company maintained by purchasing anothe...
CDE: NYSE President and CEO: Mitchell Krebs Chairman: Robert Mellor VP, Exploration: Hans Rasmussen Coeur Mining Inc. allocated roughly US$25 million for exploration in 2014, substantially lower than the US$40 million budgeted for 2013 and around 26 percent lower than the US$34 million actually spent on exploration last year. Despite the overall cuts to exploration budgets, Coeur's Kensington gold mine in Southeast Alaska was allotted US$6.2 million, or about a quarter of the companywide budget. Kensington's healthy share of...
