The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
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Board okays 3.3M oz Nunavut mine, first gold pour slated for 2025 It's official, Sabina Gold & Silver Corp. is moving forward with the development of the Goose Mine on the company's Back River gold project in Nunavut, Canada. "This is a milestone decision for the company," said Sabina Gold President and CEO Bruce McLeod. A feasibility study that was updated in 2021 envisions a mine at the Goose deposit that will produce 3.34 million ounces of gold over an initial 15 years of...
Federal agency is accepting public input on second Ambler Road EIS until Nov. 4 After months of uncertainty, the United States Bureau of Land Management has provided some clarity to the plans to carry out further review of the Ambler Access Project – a proposed 211-mile road that would link Ambler Metals' Upper Kobuk Mineral Projects (UKMP) in Northwest Alaska to the Dalton Highway. BLM, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the National Park Service issued a joint record o...
Tungsten could be held ransom unless domestic mines open Tungsten, or wolfram, is the 74th element on the periodic table of elements and, like many other metals that have found their way onto critical mineral lists in Canada, Europe, and the United States, this sturdy metal is vulnerable to supply disruption. Tungsten has been known since prehistoric times, and as far back as 350 years ago, Chinese porcelain makers were using this element as a pigment to incorporate a unique...
Chiefs from the Doyon region and village leaders from the NANA region came together for a meeting at Ambler Metals' Upper Kobuk Mineral Projects to gain a first-hand understanding of the mining proposed for the Ambler Mining District, as well as to discuss the economic benefits this resource development and a proposed road into the region could have on both the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) regions represented. "One of our core values is respect – for people, t...
Unlike the European prospectors seeking the gold, silver, copper, and the New World's wealth of other metals, oftentimes First Nations, Native Americans, and Indigenous peoples throughout North America sought a different rock that was precious to their very survival, obsidian. From as far north as the Gates of the Arctic national park to as far south as the Gulf of California, and even eastward and at the bottom of the Great Lakes, this microscopically sharp volcanic rock has...
"Grade is king" is an adage that guides mineral exploration and mining. The premise behind this basic axiom of the mining business is the less ore that needs to be mined and processed per ounce of precious metals, pound of base metals, kilogram of critical minerals, or carat of gemstones produced, the more profitable an operation will be. The kingliest of orebodies would be of such high grade that a mining company would simply need to dig up the ore, crush it, and then ship it...
With zinc prices on the rise and strong production of the galvanizing metal, the Red Dog Mine in Northwest Alaska generated strong profits for Teck Resources Ltd. and revenues for NANA Corp., the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) regional corporation for Northwest Alaska. During the first quarter of this year, Red Dog produced 131,600 metric tons (290.1 million pounds) of zinc, a roughly 10% increase over the 119.7 metric tons (263.9 million lb) produced during the...
It all began in 1991, when geologists Charles E. Fipke and Stewart Blusson found 81 small diamonds at Lac de Gras in Northwest Territories, Canada, marking the first diamond pipe discovery in North America. While this groundbreaking discovery is often synonymous with the name Chuck Fipke – as it was the culmination of his relentless pursuit of elusive diamond indicator minerals for hundreds of kilometers from the Mackenzie River Valley eastward to their source near Lac de G...
Last week my good friend and colleague Curt Freeman wrote an article titled: "Is it time to press the reset button?". The article made me laugh and got me thinking – and rather than just falling in line with all the Dorothy's out there and just whine about it or blame COVID, Putin, Biden or the Billionaires club, I decided to proffer a few tangible suggestions that I believe are within reach and importantly - largely within our control, say within the next ten years; we j...
Rare earths from the Nechalacho Mine being delivered into the supply chain marks the opening of a new critical minerals chapter in the story of mining in Northwest Territories – a saga that includes a 1930s gold rush to the territory's capital, a whole new town to support the Pine Point zinc mine, and the unlikely discovery of world-class diamond deposits in the famed Lac de Gras region. "We have an opportunity to add to our rich and long-standing mining story," Northwest Terr...
The global transition to low-carbon energy and transportation is both an incredible opportunity and daunting challenge for Alaska's mining sector. On the one hand, Alaska is incredibly enriched with the minerals and metals required to build electric vehicles, solar panels, wind farms, and other clean energy technologies. On the other, America's Last Frontier is burdened by a lack of affordable, low-carbon energy options in the remote reaches of the state where many of these...
Trilogy Metals Inc. June 8 provided details of the planned US$26.2 million exploration program slated for this year at the Upper Kobuk Mineral Projects in the Ambler Mining District of Northwest Alaska. Ambler Metals LLC, a joint venture company equally owned by Trilogy and South32 Ltd., has begun mobilizing equipment and crews for a summer field program that is expected to include at least 10,000 meters of diamond drilling, with additional meters contingent on drill...
Graphite One Inc. June 1 named mining veteran Mike Schaffner as senior vice president, mining of its Alaska subsidiary, Graphite One (Alaska) Inc., effective July 1. "I'm excited to join the Graphite One team as the company moves into its next phase of development," Schaffner said. "I've been involved at every stage in the development process, from design to start-up, into operation and closure. I'm ready to help the team realize G1's tremendous potential of becoming...
American West Metals Ltd., a junior led by two mining industry veterans from Australia, has returned to the Arctic this year for a second field season in pursuit of rich deposits at the Storm Copper project on Somerset Island in northeastern Nunavut. Storm hosts a 120-kilometer (75 miles) mineralized trend within an extensive 4,145-square-kilometer (1,600 square miles) land package that covers multiple copper and zinc geochemical anomalies along strike. In March 2021,...
Trilogy Metals Inc. April 20 reported that high-grade copper and zinc, reinforced with strong gold and silver, was cut in all the final nine holes from the 2021 drill program at the Arctic mine project in Northwest Alaska. Arctic is the most advanced deposit on the Upper Kobuk Mineral Projects, a 448,217-acre mineral-rich land package being advanced by Ambler Metals LLC, a joint venture company equally owned by Trilogy Metals and South32 Ltd. Arctic is a volcanogenic massive...
What if remote mines and communities across Alaska and Canada's North could plug into batteries the size of cargo containers that could deliver multi-megawatt levels of zero-carbon electricity for at least eight years without needing a charge? This is the type of power source Westinghouse Electric is delivering with its eVinci microreactor, a 5-megawatt-electrical power module expected to generate heat and electricity at the United States Air Force's Eielson Base just outside...
United States District Court Judge Sharon Gleason confirmed the U.S. Department of Interior's request to remand the previously issued federal permits for construction of the proposed 211-mile Ambler Access Project but ruled the permits will not be terminated altogether. Earlier this year, DOI requested a voluntary remand of the previously issued joint record of decision that authorized a right-of-way across federal lands for building the industrial-use-only road that would...
Seeking asylum from the persecution of the Klu Klux Klan, Peter Risby fled north to Canada with his family. In so doing, his upbringing would be one of adventure and survival in the harsh arctic lands of the Far North. There, he would be welcomed by the local Indigenes and become a bridge between the First Nations Cree people and the ever-encroaching westernization of European settling. Risby's true pioneering spirit, contributions to mining and exploration in Canada, as well...
With its world-class mineral potential and favorable mining policies, Western Australia reclaimed the crown as the best place to discover, permit, and build a mine, according to the mining executives that ranked 84 global jurisdictions for the Fraser Institute's Annual Survey of Mining Companies, 2021. Each year, Canada-based Fraser Institute calls on mining executives from around the world to rank global mining jurisdictions when it comes to mineral potential and a broad...
While hailing President Joe Biden's use of the Defense Production Act to bolster domestic production of critical lithium-ion battery minerals and metals as good news for the Far North State's mining sector, Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy says this move contradicts actions taken by the administration to reevaluate a road to the Ambler Mining District. "I fully support the President making the development of these minerals a priority in our nation's interest. But the Biden...
On March 18, 2022, Alaska's mining community lost Bill Ellis, a close friend and geologist that was universally loved for his kind spirit and optimism, traits that will live on as a legacy as solid as the Alaska rocks he explored for the better part of half a century. All of us at North of 60 Mining News were blessed to get to know Bill and wish to send our love and condolences to his family, friends, and colleagues. In honor of Bill's memory, we would like to republish "Bill...
Trilogy Metals Inc. March 17 reported additional "outstanding but not unexpected" results from the 2021 infill drilling at the Arctic deposit on the Upper Kobuk Mineral Projects in Northwest Alaska. The company also provided a brief update on the U.S. Department of Interior's suspension of permits to build a road to the Ambler Mining District where UKMP is located. Being advanced by Ambler Metals LLC, a joint venture operating company equally owned by Trilogy and South32...
The U.S. Bureau of Land Management is leveraging its control over federal land along the Dalton Highway corridor to throw up a roadblock on the proposed industrial access to Alaska's Ambler Mining District. On March 11, BLM notified the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority that it has suspended a previously issued 50-year right-of-way that covers 25 miles of the proposed 211-mile road connecting the Ambler District to Alaska's highway system. Despite the receipt...
In a move criticized by a wide swath of Alaska policymakers and trade organizations, the Biden administration has filed a motion to reverse the federal authorizations for a proposed 211-mile road to the mineral-rich Ambler Mining District in Northwest Alaska. "You would think President Biden would want to improve access to American sources of copper and other strategic minerals that are needed in our combined efforts to increase renewables. Instead, actions like this only...
The Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority and Ambler Metals LLC have agreed to equally fund $30.8 million for a 2022 field program to advance the Ambler Access Project, a proposed 211-mile road that serves as an Alaskan epitome of connecting the aspirations of a low-carbon future with the large volumes of minerals and metals required to build the electric vehicles and renewable energy infrastructure that will make the green energy future a reality. The World Bank...
