The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
Sorted by date Results 1 - 25 of 97
Marks first time ever that U.S. and Canadian governments co-invest in development of North American critical mineral projects. The U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) and Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) are investing a combined $12 million into establishing a vertically integrated critical minerals supply chain in Canada that includes a mine at Fortune Minerals Ltd.'s NICO cobalt-gold-bismuth-copper project in Northwest Territories and associated hydrometallurgical refinery in...
Zinc contributed most to state's mine production value during 2023; gold is poised to take the crown and make run toward 1 million ounces per year. At a value of $1.5 billion, zinc held onto its throne as the most valuable metal produced in Alaska during 2023. With production forecasts and price trends headed in opposite directions for zinc and gold, however, the gleaming precious metal that drew fortune-seekers North at the turn of the 20th century could soon regain the...
NRCan funding will support a vertically integrated critical minerals supply chain that includes a mine in Northwest Territories and refinery in Alberta. Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) March 26 announced a C$714,500 (US$525,200) investment into enhancing the production of cobalt sulfate and bismuth ingot products from a future mine at Fortune Minerals Ltd.'s Nico project in Northwest Territories and associated hydrometallurgical refinery in Alberta. "Critical minerals develop...
Shifting its immediate focus to potentially more lucrative opportunities in the lithium mining sector, Rover Metals Corp. reported plans Dec. 11 to put its Cabin Lake gold project in Northwest Territories up for sale after nearly five years of exploration. The 400-hectare (988 acres) Cabin Lake project is located about 110 kilometers (69 miles) northwest of Yellowknife, the territory's capital, and 40 kilometers (25 miles) northwest of the community of Behchokǫ̀. Rover M...
From breaking ground at Alaska's next gold mine to the advancement of North of 60 projects focused on delivering the metals needed for the transition of low-carbon energy, and an impressive safety milestone at Alaska's only coal mine to a history of the helicopters that make mineral exploration across the North possible, here is a countdown of the 10 most popular North of 60 Mining News articles in 2023: No. 10 - CORE celebrates Manh Choh, Lucky Shot Contango Ore Inc., a...
With a summer marred by unprecedented wildfires behind them, companies exploring the mineral-rich Northwest Territories are reporting impressive results from their 2023 programs. Seeking new deposits of valuable minerals, ranging from ever-popular diamonds and precious metals to recently designated "critical minerals," such as lithium, rare earth elements and zinc, a score of explorers took to the field across the territory. "An exciting new chapter is emerging for mining in t...
Fortune Minerals Ltd. Dec. 5 announced that it has received federal and provincial funding for Nico, a vertically integrated cobalt-gold-bismuth-copper project that is slated to include a mine in Northwest Territories and a hydrometallurgical refinery in Alberta. Lying about 150 road-kilometers (95 miles) north of the Canadian rail system at Hay River, Northwest Territories, Nico is a near-development stage mine project that includes an intriguing mix of critical and precious...
Rio Tinto, Fortune Minerals team up to recover critical minerals at Nico refinery in Alberta. To bolster the North American supply of critical minerals, global mining giant Rio Tinto and Canadian mine developer Fortune Minerals Ltd. are working to together to improve the recovery of bismuth and cobalt from ore and waste streams. "We are committed to find better ways to provide the materials the world needs to grow and decarbonize," said Rio Tinto Kennecott Managing Director...
Like many other northern regions, Canada's North was settled because of its mineral resources. When the Canadian Dominion Government first purchased its arctic regions from the British Crown in the late 1800s, the Northwest Territories was seen as a vast stretch of cold, inhospitable land and was thus largely ignored at the time. However, due to the Klondike Gold Rush, the future of these northern lands would change forever. These days, a new rush has arisen, a white gold...
The Northwest Territories capital city of Yellowknife is emerging as a northern link in North America's electric vehicle supply chain. Already home to Canada's only rare earths mine, a 160-kilometers (100 miles) area around this northern mining town happens to be enriched with the lithium and cobalt that is in massive demand for EV batteries, along with numerous other minerals critical to both Canada and the United States. A roughly 9,600-square-kilometer (3,700 square miles)...
Fortune Minerals Ltd. March 23 reported that it is in discussion with the Canadian, United States, and European Union governments to secure financial support for the development of the company's Nico cobalt-bismuth-copper-gold project in Canada's Northwest Territories. Located about 150 road-kilometers (95 miles) north of the Canadian rail system at Hay River, NWT, Nico is a near-development stage project that includes an intriguing mix of critical and precious metals....
Alianza Minerals Ltd. Jan. 30 reported an outline of the drilling and exploration activities it has planned for the Haldane silver project in the historic Keno District in the Yukon. Located about 25 kilometers (16 miles) west of Hecla Mining Company's Keno Hill silver mine, the 8,579-hectare (21,200 acres) Haldane property hosts a small historical mine that was first recognized for its high-grade silver mineralization more than 100 years ago. Underground mining that began in...
Gold dominates Alaska mineral exploration, but a critical shift arises. Since the discovery of gold in what is now the Alaska capital city of Juneau, prospectors, geologists, and fortune seekers have spent more than 140 consecutive summer seasons exploring The Last Frontier's golden potential. With these endeavors turning up rich aurum lodes in every corner of the state, except for the oil-rich North Slope, the nearly century-and-a-half tradition of seeking and discovering wor...
The increasing number of electric vehicles charged with renewable energy, connected to 5G networks, and boasting the computing power of 200 laptops to autonomously traverse global highways is creating a meteoric rise in demand for the minerals and metals critical to clean energy and high-tech. Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, the foremost authority on lithium battery supply chains, estimates that more than 300 new mines will need to come online by 2035 – just to produce the c...
Mining activity in Northwest Territories held steady in 2022 despite constraints imposed by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic as a cadre of mainly junior mining companies took up the international challenge to seek out large deposits of critical minerals. Early in the year, government officials noted that industry interest in diamonds, gold, and especially critical minerals boded well for the NWT economy in the coming year. "An exciting new chapter is emerging for mining in the...
Start with the biggest deposit of gold ever reported, add in a dash of remote, inaccessible jungles of Indonesia, and let simmer for almost a decade, and you have a recipe for the largest mining-related scandal in modern history, resulting in the system of standardization regarding mineral reporting for the last twenty years and ideally for many more years to come. It is easy to forget that the systems by which mining companies in Canada report and display information...
Replacing this oft-maligned lithium-ion battery metal comes at a cost Traditionally a headline-grabbing metal due to the perceived human rights and monetary costs it adds to lithium-ion batteries and the electric vehicles they power, cobalt is being overshadowed by the enormous demand and price increases for the lithium and nickel that also go into the storage cells that deliver the "E" to the EV revolution. Cobalt, however, continues to be a vital ingredient that improves...
Sixty North Gold Mining Ltd. reported July 11 that crews moved onto its Mon Gold property in late June and began mapping and sampling a recent nickel and cobalt discovery situated about a mile (1.5 kilometers) southeast of the mine site. The original discovery of the critical metals occurred in 2021 when a grab sample returned greater than 1% nickel, 0.18% cobalt, and 0.429 grams per metric ton gold. Follow-up grab samples in early 2022 confirmed 0.31% nickel, 0.022% cobalt,...
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...
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...
Fortune Minerals Ltd. April 20 reported that its 2021 drilling cut strong cobalt-gold-bismuth mineralization in the Peanut Lake zone on its Nico project in Canada's Northwest Territories. Nico hosts 33.1 million metric tons of proven and probable reserves averaging 0.11% (82 million pounds) cobalt, 0.14% (110 million lb) bismuth, 0.04% (27 million lb) copper, and 1.03 grams per metric ton (1.1 million ounces) gold. Peanut Lake is a strong magnetic anomaly about 2,000 meters...
Mineral exploration activity in Northwest Territories showed signs of revival in 2021, coming on the heels of the slowest year in recent memory. Excited by renewed interest in gold deposits in and around the capital city of Yellowknife and other hot spots after the pandemic-related restrictions of 2020, juniors joined longtime explorers Nighthawk Gold Corp. and Gold Terra Resource Corp. (formerly TerraX Minerals) in hunting for the yellow metal across the 1.14...
Home of the famed golden beaches of Nome that has captured the imagination of millions over the past 120 years, the Bering Straits Native Corporation (BSNC) region covers the Seward Peninsula and coastal lands arcing around the eastern and southern coast of the Norton Sound in the far western reaches of Alaska. While this region may be 300 miles beyond North America's highway system, it has served as a crossroads for human activity for at least 15 millennia and will continue...
With such incredible technologies at mankind's disposal today, it is easily forgotten the ingenuity and sheer gumption that our predecessors brought to solving some of the more rigorous and demanding jobs that construed early development. The ever-present wheel, hand tools, weaponry, and beyond, the plethora of devices humanity has created, only expanded into breathtaking and mind-numbing concepts our forebearers could never fathom. Areas such as animal husbandry, agriculture,...
Fortune Minerals Ltd. Sept. 23 announced the start of a 3,000-meter resource expansion and exploration drill program at its Nico cobalt-copper-bismuth-gold project in Canada's Northwest Territories. Nico hosts 33.1 million metric tons of proven and probable reserves averaging 0.11% (82 million pounds) cobalt, 0.14% (110 million lb) bismuth, 0.04% (27 million lb) copper, and 1.03 grams per metric ton (1.1 million ounces) gold. This unique mix of critical, precious, and base met...
