The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
Sorted by date Results 1 - 19 of 19
Though effects of the COVID-19 pandemic lingered, mineral explorers rushed to the Yukon like moths to a flame during 2022. Mining's most daring sector rallied to generate the busiest field season seen in Canada's westernmost territory in years. In June, Natural Resources Canada projected mineral exploration and deposit appraisal spending in Yukon during 2022 to total C$157.9 million, up 14.5% from C$135.1 million estimated for 2021 and nearly double C$83.6 million in 2020....
PhotonAssay tech offers a modern, faster alternative to fire assaying for gold analysis. Assays are the very crux of mineral exploration – timely results returned from the lab help guide the search for orebodies and let investors know that the dollars being poured into drilling and sampling is money well spent. With assay lab turnaround times in a post-COVID world being measured in months instead of weeks, mineral exploration geologists are without an important tool for v...
Benchmark Metals Inc. July 27 announced plans to drill multiple new targets near the AGB deposit on the company's Lawyers gold-silver project in Northern British Columbia. One of three deposits currently delineated at Lawyers, AGB hosts 11.37 million metric tons of pit-constrained measured and indicated resources averaging 1.05 grams per metric ton (384,000 ounces) gold and 43.9 g/t (16.1 million oz) silver. Benchmark has identified multiple intriguing targets adjacent to AGB...
HighGold Mining Inc. is rapidly unlocking the potential of Johnson Tract, a high-grade polymetallic gold project that exemplifies the exceptional mineral exploration opportunities Alaska has to offer. A parcel of land privately-owned by Cook Inlet Regional Inc., an Alaska Native regional corporation more commonly known as CIRI, Johnson Tract is a moderately advanced gold project that has flown under the radar for more than two decades. By the 1990s, exploration by Anaconda...
The envisioned green future where every North American is driving a battery-powered electric vehicle charged with renewable energy could be undermined by cobalt, a somewhat scarce and controversial metal that makes lithium-ion batteries better. "Cobalt is considered the highest material supply chain risk for electric vehicles in the short and medium term," the U.S. Department of Energy penned in an April report. This risk has automakers, lithium-ion battery manufacturers, and...
A relatively young mineral exploration company led by a veteran team noted for their success in advancing Coffee Gold in the Yukon from a grassroots discovery to a roughly 5-million-ounce gold mine project, Tectonic Metals Inc. is exploring the overlooked gold potential Alaska has to offer. Formed as a private company in 2018 and taken public on the TSX Venture Exchange towards the end of 2019, Tectonic has already built an impressive portfolio of gold properties and strong...
Rau, an intriguing precious and base metals property at the western end of the 185-kilometer- (115 miles) long Rackla Gold property in the Yukon, will continue to be the primary focus of ATAC Resources Ltd.'s exploration efforts in 2020. Last week, the company published the results from an updated preliminary economic assessment (PEA) for Tiger, a carbonate replacement gold deposit that is the most advanced project on the 660-square kilometer (255 square miles) Rau property....
Earlier this month Reuters reported that several agencies within the U.S. Federal government were "rapidly assessing" our domestic ability to mine and refine rare earth elements and utilize those 17 super cool elements in value-added products needed for a wide and ever-growing array of consumer and national defense products. Not surprisingly, mining industry officials demurred when quizzed about supplying information on where rare elements might be mined in the U.S. and how...
As is usually the case this time of year, the mining industry is awash in backward-looking statements designed to allow for more accurate forward-looking statements. Prime among them is one of my favorites, S&P Global's annual "World Exploration Trends 2019", a summary of what happened industry-wide in 2018 and what it may portend for the mining industry in 2019. The study predicts that global exploration budgets will increase again in 2019, although by a smaller amount, with...
Blind Creek Resources Ltd. June 1 completed an arrangement to spin its Engineer gold mine project into Engineer Gold Mines Ltd., a Toronto Venture Exchange listed subsidiary that will advance exploration and development of the high-grade gold mine project in northwestern British Columbia. Located about 32 kilometers (20 miles) southwest of Atlin, the historic Engineer Mine produced 18,000 ounces gold and 9,000 oz silver from ore averaging 39 grams per metric ton gold and 18...
As the Alaska mining industry prepares for and kicks off exploration, development and production activities for 2017, the question on everyone’s lips at the recent Cordilleran Roundup mining convention in Vancouver, B. C., was the same: “Have we seen the bottom of this down cycle?” While signs of life were seen for short periods during the 2008 to 2015 period, the reality was an overall downward spiral of commodities prices and global demand. However, in a recent editi...
Less than three months after a pending sale of its Whistler property in Southcentral Alaska fell through, Kiska Metals Corp. has found a new buyer for the advanced-stage copper-gold exploration project. Under a binding agreement announced last week, Brazil Resources Inc. will issue Kiska 3.5 million shares in exchange for full ownership of Whistler, including the mining claims and other assets belonging to the project. Brazil Resources' shares were trading at C46 cents per...
It has been nearly four years since any significant exploration has been carried out at the Whistler property, but a preliminary deal for Kiska Metals Corp. to sell it could mean a renewed focus on this copper-gold project in Southcentral Alaska. Under a non-binding agreement reached April 9, Alternative Earth Resources Inc. would acquire full ownership of Whistler in exchange for issuing Kiska 24.5 million of its shares, which would represent half of the company's shares upon...
The nearer your destination, the more you slip sliding away." As 2014 quickly slip-slides away, these normally melancholy lyrics by Paul Simon take on a surprisingly upbeat meaning for Alaska's mining industry. Unlike watching most years slip by, seeing 2014 in the rearview mirror will bring a smile to most in the mining industry, not only in Alaska, but worldwide. This was our third consecutive year of declining commodities prices, near-zero investor interest and the...
I recently attended the 119th Annual Meeting of the Northwest Mining Association in Reno and came away feeling better about Alaska than when I arrived. Alaska Miners Association Director Deantha Crockett chaired and spoke in a session that covered everything from small mining operations and new exploration discoveries to advanced exploration projects and operating mines. The 8 a.m. session was surprisingly well-attended, despite the fact that the hotel was host to 1,000 explor...
Yukon Territory has one producing mine, the Minto copper-gold-silver operation near the Yukon River north of Whitehorse. During 2008, more than 150 active hardrock exploration projects in the territory, 73 of which recording spending greater than C$100,000, and 22 posted outlays greater $1 million. Here's a look at some of the mining companies active in Yukon Territory. Producing mines Sherwood Copper Corp., now a part of Capstone Mining Corp., took the Minto Mine, Yukon Territory's only producing hard rock mine, to new...
As 2008 winds inexorably to a close, I found myself looking for words adequate to describe what will go down in history as one of the most memorable years in many a moon. Words like tumultuous, unpredictable, singular, turbulent, chaotic, confusing, and unsettling hardly do justice to the past year's events. As usual, the mining industry played its small but vital role in the scheme of world events. The first half of the year brought stratospheric commodity prices, while the...
Let me start this month's mining update by saying I am not a chartist nor do I believe economic cycles are controlled by cosmic forces known only to the mystics. That said, I do believe in cycles because I have lived and worked through more cycles in the mining industry than I care to remember. So a couple of observations seem in order as we plummet down the slope off another peak into what looks to be a pretty deep, chilly valley. First off, what goes up, must come down with...
Eagle Plains Resources Ltd. of Cranbrook, B.C., has both breadth and depth when it comes to mineral exploration in western Canada. The aggressive junior has acquired more than 36 properties in a dozen years, including 22 in British Columbia; nine in the Yukon Territory; two in Northwest Territories (one project is 5,500 square kilometers); and three in Saskatchewan. Properties controlled by Eagle Plains offer exploration opportunities for gold, uranium, silver, copper, molybdenum, zinc, lead, rare earth minerals including...
