The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
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Mining and other trade organization leaders welcome the White House's proposed revisions to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), as much needed upgrades to the burdensome and often redundant regulations that are holding back investments into mines and infrastructure in the United States. "The mining industry is all too familiar with the project delays and escalating costs associated with NEPA compliance," said National Mining Association President and CEO Rich Nolan.... Full story
In November 1996, a little over 23 years ago, I began writing quarterly mining news summaries for the Society of Economic Geologists (SEG). Shortly after that, I began writing monthly summaries for this publication's ancestor, Mining News Alaska, and have continued both monthly, quarterly and annual mining news summaries ever since. With this summary, I have written my last Alaska update for North of 60 Mining News. When I wrote my first summary, Greens Creek was milling only... Full story
As the year winds down, mineral industry evaluations for 2019 are being published at a rapid rate. One of the most interesting such global reviews is EY Global Mining and Metals' annual "risk radar" for mining and metals, outlining what mining companies perceive as the top ten risks facing them in the near future. This publication stated that, for the second straight year, "social license to operate" remains the number one risk facing mining companies in 2020. This was... Full story
An abnormally long fall has allowed the Alaska mining industry to extend seasonal work well into mid-October, creating a lot of new information about project work conducted around the state. Exploration efforts, in particular, benefitted from this additional field time. Based on information available to date, 2019 exploration expenditures are expected to be in the $135-140 million range, well ahead of the $120-125 million exploration spending tracked for 2018. In addition,...
Coeur Mining Inc. Oct. 10 reported another strong quarter of gold production at its Kensington Mine in Southeast Alaska but a dip in silver, zinc and lead production at the Silvertip Mine in northern British Columbia. Kensington produced 34,156 ounces of gold during the third quarter of this year, which is a slight increase over the 34,049 oz recovered at the Southeast Alaska mine during the previous quarter and 27 percent higher than the 26,809 oz produced during the third qu...
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... Full story
Increased ore grades and improved recoveries bolstered metals production at Coeur Mining Inc.'s two northern operations – the Silvertip silver-zinc-lead mine in northern British Columbia and the Kensington gold mine in Southeast Alaska. Since achieving commercial production at its newly acquired Silvertip Mine last September, Coeur has been focused on increasing throughput, recoveries and grade at this operation just south of the Yukon border. These endeavors have resulted i...
Alianza Minerals Ltd. June 20 announced that Coeur Explorations Inc, a wholly owned subsidiary of Coeur Mining Inc., has signed a letter of intent to explore the road-accessible Tim silver property in southern Yukon. Situated just 12 kilometers (7.5 miles) north of Coeur Mining's Silvertip Mine in northern British Columbia, Tim is an early staged exploration property with similar high-grade silver-lead-zinc mineralization. Historical chip sampling from a trench cut across a zo...
In the famous words of Sherlock Holmes, the game is afoot! After seasonally slower news from Alaska's mining industry in March and April, the dam has broken with over two dozen Alaska mining project news releases issued in the last month. Including those projects moving forward that have not released their 2019 plans, Alaska has become a very busy place under the sun. All of our major metal mines reported strong performances in the first quarter, several of Alaska's most... Full story
As is usually the case this time of year, news about Alaska mineral activities is a bit sparse this month as planning activities are at flank speed ahead of next month's surge in field activities. That said, there has been a blizzard of mineral industry data released recently that has both direct and indirect applications to the Alaska mineral industry. First off, some internally generated data. Current public and private budget announcements suggest Alaska's exploration... Full story
Coeur Mining Inc. April 11 reported a dip in gold production at its Kensington Mine in Southeast Alaska and an increase in silver, zinc and lead production at the Silvertip Mine in northern British Columbia. Kensington produced 29,973 ounces of gold during the first quarter of this year, which is down 15 percent from the 35,335 oz recovered at the Southeast Alaska mine during the previous quarter but up 15 percent from the 26,064 oz produced during the first three months of 20...
Seeking economic and cultural prosperity for its more than 22,000 Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian shareholders while also looking to provide even greater benefits for future generations, Sealaska takes a balanced approach to developing the resources growing above and stored beneath its lands in Southeast Alaska. This does not mean the Southeast Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) corporation shuns mining or other resource development in its region, a nearly 600-mile... Full story
Those of you that attended the recent Cordilleran Roundup Convention in Vancouver can attest to the exuberant, upbeat atmosphere that pervaded the conference and was very much in evidence at the standing-room only festivities at our annual self-hosted Alaska Night meet and greet. But digging down under this veneer of optimism, many of the junior explorers and most of the producers admitted to their expectations of challenging times in 2019. Putting words to this apparent... Full story
Coeur Mining Inc. Feb. 20 announced that it has successfully grown its companywide reserve base for the fourth consecutive year, largely driven by the initial reserve declaration for its Silvertip Mine in northern British Columbia. Going into 2019, Coeur's five mines – Silvertip, Kensington (Alaska), Palmarejo (Mexico), Rochester (Nevada) and Wharf (South Dakota) – had 289.5 million metric tons of proven and probable reserves averaging 0.01 ounces per ton (2.8 million ounces)...
I, for one, feel vindicated, relieved and ready to face the New Year! How so, you ask? Please let me explain. For those of you who remember my column in November, I noted that EY Global Mining and Metals publishes an annual "risk radar" for mining and metals, outlining what mining companies perceive as the top ten risks facing them in the near future. This publication was for the years 2017-2018 and stated that "Our number one risk this year is digital effectiveness." If you... Full story
Coeur Mining Inc. Jan. 14 reported that its Kensington Mine produced 113,778 ounces of gold in 2018, falling short of the 115,000 to 120,000 oz the company anticipated from the Southeast Alaska operation. Coeur said lower-than-expected grades throughout the first nine months of the year was the primary reason Kensington fell short of the company's gold production guidance. During the fourth quarter, the Kensington Mine produced 35,335 oz of gold, 32 percent more gold than was...
Coeur Mining Inc. rolls into 2019 with more silver reserves at higher grades, thanks to a maiden reserve calculation for its Silvertip Mine in the far north reaches of British Columbia. Coeur acquired Silvertip from JDS Silver Inc. in October of 2017 for US$250 million – US$200 million at the time of the purchase plus US$50 million to be paid when certain production and permitting milestones are met. For this price, the Chicago-based miner acquired a newly built mine with 2.35...
WESTERN ALASKA Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd. announced that it had finalized a surface right of way agreement with Alaska Peninsula Corporation for use of that latter's lands for the construction and operation of transportation infrastructure associated with the Pebble copper-molybdenum-gold project. Alaska Peninsula Corporation is an Alaska Native village corporation with extensive land holdings proximal to the Pebble site and more than 900 shareholders, many of which live... Full story
As Alaska's mining industry nears the end of another hectic year during which metals prices and investor sentiments rose and fell as precipitously as the world's major stock exchanges, the industry is naturally looking into its crystal ball trying to anticipate what the new year will bring. EY Global Mining and Metals does this sort of forecasting by putting out an annual "risk radar" for mining and metals. The idea is to find out what the industry perceives as the top ten... Full story
Whether it be precious metals such as gold and silver, base metals like copper and zinc, or battery metals like nickel and cobalt, northern British Columbia is rich in the type of metal deposits that junior mining companies are hoping to discover and majors are wanting to mine. Couple this mineral endowment with good infrastructure – especially stacked up against the other jurisdictions in the North of 60 Mining News coverage area – and northern B.C. continues to draw str... Full story
Alianza Minerals Ltd. focused its 2019 exploration on two high-grade silver projects in the Yukon – Tim, a road-accessible property near Coeur Mining Inc.'s Silvertip Mine, and Haldane, a Keno Hill Mining District property that has long been recognized for its high-grade silver potential. In June, Coeur Explorations Inc, a wholly owned subsidiary of Coeur Mining, signed a letter of intent to explore Tim, an early staged exploration property with high-grade silver-lead-zinc m...
Coeur Mining Inc. entered 2019 with more silver reserves at higher grades, thanks to a maiden reserve calculation for Silvertip, a northern British Columbia silver mine the company acquired in 2017. While this newly built mine came with a rich resource base, a technical report and mine plan to elevate the high-grade silver resources to reserves had yet to be completed. With the information gleaned from a rigorous drill program, by the end of 2018 Coeur had converted some 58...
It is no secret that much of the western United States was built on the back of natural resources found on federal land or within adjacent federal waters. Likewise, it is no secret that prior to 1964, resource development companies, and many other productive industries, externalized the cost of doing business by discharging often toxic waste into the adjacent environment without regard to the persistent effect of doing so. No one denies that over the past 50 years the...
A combination of exploration and acquisition substantially boosted Coeur Mining Inc.'s precious metals reserves and resources in 2018. The Chicago-based miner entered the year with 335.8 million silver-equivalent ounces in proven and probable reserves, a 10 percent increase from the beginning of 2017. The silver-equivalent reserves accounts for the value of both the silver and gold at its five operating mines – Palmarejo (Mexico), Rochester (Nevada), Kensington (Alaska), W... Full story
Thanks to its ongoing exploration success, Hecla Mining Company entered 2018 with the highest silver, gold and lead reserves in its 127-year history, as well as the highest level of zinc reserves in the past five years. Going into 2018, the Idaho-based miner had reserves totaling 2.3 million ounces of gold, up 12 percent from the beginning of 2017; 177 million oz of silver, an increase of 3 percent; 737,290 tons of zinc, an 8 percent increase; and 840,870 tons of zinc, up 15... Full story