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...
Over the past month, the world has been awash in year-end 2013 mining news, ranging from exploration and production statistics to economic impact numbers and mining favorability polls. The Alaska highlights from this wad of info include the results from the annual Fraser Institute political jurisdiction favorability survey where Alaska placed first in the world out of 112 jurisdictions for mineral potential. However, Alaska plummeted to 21st place on the survey's Policy Percep...
Amid the volatile metals markets that have become the norm in the past year, miners, developers, explorers, prospectors and investors met in Vancouver at the end of January for the annual Cordilleran Roundup mining convention. The mood was decidely positive, and having seen a lot of "whistling in the cemetary" at this convention in the past, I know the difference between false bravado and contagious optimism. Perhaps it was the stabilization of copper prices after a nine month... Full story
Galvanized by higher zinc prices and strong production at Teck Resources Ltd.'s Red Dog Mine, the value of Alaska's mineral production topped US$3 billion for the fifth year running. Larry Freeman, chief of Minerals Resources at the Alaska Division of Geological & Geophysical Surveys, told an audience at the AME BC Mineral Exploration Roundup that production of zinc, lead and silver - all metals produced at Red Dog - climbed in Alaska during 2014. Gold production, on the...
Greens Creek Mine is preparing for the next stage of its long-running tenure as a low-cost primary silver producing mine in Southeast Alaska. The underground mine, located on Admiralty Island about 18 miles southwest of Juneau, extracts ore from a volcanogenic massive sulphide deposit with an unusually high silver content. The mine produces silver, along with zinc, lead and gold as by-products. Idaho-based Hecla Mining Co. owns the mine, which has operated for most of the quarter-century since its operations began in 1989....
British Columbia Premier Christy Clark Jan. 26 unveiled C$9 million in new funding to support mining in the province. Clark said the funds will establish a Major Mines Permitting Office to improve coordination of major mine permits across government, add staff to conduct more inspections and permit reviews, and maintain improved turnaround times for notice of work permits. The base budget of the ministry will be increased by about C$6 million, including a portion to make... Full story
Several events have dramatically affected Alaska's mining industry in recent weeks, underscoring critical links between Alaska and the global economy. First came bad news for newly-elected Gov. Bill Walker: The plunge in world oil prices pushed Alaska's coming-year budget projections about $3.5 billion into the red. The ripple effect of this was a slashing of everything not required and one of the cuts, temporarily at least, was state funding of the Ambler District Road.... Full story
Thanks to higher grades and improved recoveries, Greens Creek and Kensington, the two producing mines located in the Alaska Panhandle, reported strong output in 2014 and outstanding results for the fourth quarter. Record output at Greens Creek At Greens Creek which is owned and operated by Idaho-based Hecla Mining Co., about 360 full-time workers carved some 7.83 million ounces of silver and 58,753 oz gold, as well as lead and zinc concentrates from the volcanogenic massive sulphide mine in 2014, milling ore at an average rat... Full story
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... Full story
Valued at US$4 billion per year, Alaska's mining industry is as healthy as it has ever been. Much of this success is owed to the Alaska Miners Association, which celebrated its 75th anniversary during its annual convention and trade show held in Anchorage Nov. 3-9. The anniversary event also highlighted many of the challenges the association and its constituents face going forward. Under the stewardship of AMA, Alaska boasts six large-scale operating mines churning out gold,...
HL: NYSE President and CEO: Phillips Baker Jr. Chairman: Ted Crumley Senior VP, Exploration: Dean McDonald Idaho-based Hecla Mining Co. is the largest primary silver producer in the United States and is a growing gold producer. The company operates the Greens Greek silver mine in Southeast Alaska, the Lucky Friday silver mine in Idaho and the Casa Berardi gold mine in Quebec. Hecla planned to invest US$21 million for exploration and pre-development in 2014. This spending is focused primarily at its three operations and San Se... Full story
At the same time as the EPA is pushing forward on its planned precedent-setting, pre-emptive, pre-permit veto of the Pebble project and the tailings dam failure at the Mount Polley mine in British Columbia, former Gold Fields Ltd. Chief Geologist Rael Lipson published an eye-opening summary of where porphyry copper-gold projects like Pebble, Mt. Polley and dozens of others around the world fit into the future of gold production. The article, appearing in the July 2014...
At the recent Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada meeting in Toronto, Dr. Richard Schodde, managing director of MinEx Consulting, presented some key factors which affect the time span between a mineral discovery and start-up of commercial mining. The study reviewed about 3,500 nonferrous metal deposits discovered between 1950 and 2013. Dr. Schodde's findings suggest that only 45 percent of all discoveries made since 1950 have turned into mines. The rate is... Full story
GFMS formerly known as Gold Fields Mineral Services) recently announced their outlook for gold prices in the coming months, estimating average 2014 gold prices in the US$1,225 per ounce range. The price forecast is 13 percent less than the 2013 average of US$1,411/oz. Physical demand, including official sector purchases, came in at an all-time high of 4,957 metric tons in 2013, a 15 percent increase over 2012 and some 703 metric tons higher than the supply of new gold and...
The Bokan Mountain and Niblack mineral projects are attracting substantial support from Alaska lawmakers. This vote of confidence may result in a financial boost needed to develop the Prince of Wales Island deposits into mines during an otherwise tight financial market. "In southern Southeast (Alaska), we are working on legislation right now to create hundreds of new jobs at Niblack and Bokan," Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell said during an April 10 keynote address at the Arctic Inte... Full story
The over-all mood at the recent Cordilleran Roundup mining convention in Vancouver, B.C. was more restrained than in previous years, but also more realistic due in large part to the prolonged downturn in risk capital mining markets. It seems the industry has transitioned from the denial stage accompanying the declines of 2013 to an acceptance and determination stage that always precedes a return to market vitality. In a recent public release by financial giant Ernst and...
Spurred by a record-setting pace at Kinross Gold Corp.'s Fort Knox Mine, Alaska gold production topped 1 million ounces during 2013, a golden milestone not achieved by Last Frontier gold miners since 1906. Though more than a century lies between these monumental milestones, they are linked by a discovery made by Felice Pedroni, an Italian immigrant better known to Alaskans as Felix Pedro. It was Pedro's gold find in an Interior Alaska stream in 1902 that sparked the Fairbanks...
For those of you that could not attend, the annual Alaska Miners Association Convention and Trade Show was well-attended, with most people pleasantly surprised by the strong turnout. Compared to a year ago, more companies are planning to get back in the field with exploration and development programs in 2014, a sentiment making up one of the few bright spots in a recent IntierraRMG resource sector exploration summary. This report and a similar snapshot of the exploration... Full story
The ongoing scarcity of venture capital available to junior companies coupled with a retreat in metals prices has landed a one-two blow that sent mineral exploration spending in Alaska plunging for the second straight year. A handful of big-budget projects scattered across Alaska, though, is softening the hit to exploration spending across the Far North State during 2013. Mineral exploration expenditures in Alaska, which were a meager US$23.8 million in 2001, topped US$365...
Market-defying mineral exploration grabbed the spotlight in British Columbia throughout 2013, despite the doldrums that appeared to set in north of the 60th parallel. "British Columbia is blessed with an abundant supply of the resources the world needs and the most innovative mining and exploration sectors," British Columbia Premier Christy Clark touted the phenomenon at the 2013 Mineral Exploration Roundup in January. Still, Clark told the crowd that she doubted B.C. exploration could top the record C$462 million spent in... Full story
The 6.4 million ounces of low-cost silver recovered from the Greens Creek Mine in Southeast Alaska during 2012 is funding growth aspirations at Hecla Mining Co., including a foray into Canada's mining sector. This growth begins with the first silver production from the Lucky Friday Mine since the Idaho operation was put out of commission for safety and operational upgrades at the end of 2011. With the Idaho operation scaling back up to full capacity in 2013, Hecla is looking...
BBB: TSX Chairman and CEO: Gary Thompson Director: George Salamis, Geologist Senior Vice President Geology: Sorin Posescu Brixton Metals Corp. returned in 2013 to its flagship 27,000-hectare (66,717 acres) Thorn silver-gold-copper-zinc-lead property located in the Sutlahine River area of northwestern British Columbia some 130 kilometers (81 miles) southwest of Atlin. Hecla Mining Co. made a C$2.6 million strategic investment in Brixton in February, purchasing about 19.8 percent of the junior's issued and outstanding common... Full story
DV: TSX-V President and CEO: Ron Nichols Chairman: John King Burns Vice President, Exploration: Paul McGuigan Dolly Varden Silver Corp. is developing the historic Dolly Varden Silver Mines property located about 26 kilometers (17 miles) from Alice Arm, B.C., in northwestern British Columbia. In 2012, the junior attracted a C$3.2 million strategic investment from silver producer Hecla Mining Co. in exchange for a 19.9 percent equity interest in the company. During the first half of 2013, the junior defined a comprehensive...
From Kotzebue to Ketchikan, Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority is using its financial muscle and its ability to build and operate large infrastructure projects to help mining companies overcome the challenges of developing the often remote mineral riches that the Last Frontier has to offer. "We are working with local communities and mine developers on infrastructure projects throughout Alaska, including port facilities and energy supply," said AIDEA external...
The U.S, Forest Service Sept. 6 agreed to allow Hecla Mining Co. to expand its tailings facility at the Greens Creek Mine located in the Tongass National Forest in Southeast Alaska, but only by a fraction of what the silver mining company requested. This middle-of-the-road decision underscores the challenges of managing the integrity of the United States largest forest, protecting the salmon and other habitat found there; while allowing local residents, Alaska and the nation... Full story
