The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
Sorted by date Results 76 - 100 of 308
Coeur Mining Inc. July 6 reported steady gold production at its Kensington Mine in Southeast Alaska. During the second quarter, Kensington produce 26,424 ounces of gold, nearly identical to first quarter production and 18 percent less than the second quarter of 2016. This dip in production compared to last year is primarily due to anticipated lower ore grades due to mine sequencing. The average grade of material processed at Kensington during the second quarter was 0.17 ounces per ton gold. This compares to 0.17 oz/t gold in...
Over the last month the inevitable termination dust has begun to show up across Alaska, bringing with it completion of mineral exploration programs and transition of development and production projects to winter operational modes. Explorers, developers and miners will soon be gathering to compare notes at the annual Alaska Miners Association Convention in Anchorage, an event that always overlaps national and local election night. Alaska's mineral industry outlook brightened...
Anniversary celebrations, golden milestones and rising metals prices are providing Alaska's metal miners with plenty to cheer about in 2016. Roughly 1 million ounces of gold will be mined in Alaska this year, when you tally the amount of the precious metal produced at four of Alaska's large metal mines – Fort Knox, Pogo, Kensington and Greens Creek – and the placer aurum produced at the family-scale operations across the state. Fortunately for all these miners, gold shot up...
Coeur Mining Inc. continues to improve operation performance at Kensington while seeking out and developing higher grade deposits at the Southeast Alaska mine. The 12,400-acre Kensington property is divided into two blocks - Kensington and Jualin - that trace their roots to two historical mines discovered at the turn of the 20th Century. The Main and Raven deposits, located in the Kensington block, hosted 560,000 ounces of gold in 2.83 million short tons of proven and probable reserves averaging 0.198 oz./ton gold at the end...
Mineral exploration spending in Alaska hit an apex of US$365 million in 2011, but as venture capital for mining explorers dried these expenditures plummeted 78 percent to US$80 million in 2015. However, rising gold prices and a loosening of venture capital in 2016 seems to have marked an end to a painfully long bear market for mining explorers in Alaska. “After taking head shots for the past four years, the industry suddenly came to life over the past month, with new budgets,...
As tangible buoyancy returns to the mining industry, I began to wonder if any of the multitude of forecasters had actually predicted the recent return of stronger metals prices. Since most "forecasters" are actually "hindsighters," I was drawn to a November 2013 summary of gold mines by Roy Sebag of Natural Resource Holdings. The summary, entitled "Global Gold Mines & Deposits 2013 Ranking," indicated that we were nearing peak gold production because the total in-situ ounces...
Mining's contribution to Alaska's economy starts with the hefty paychecks being issued to the some 4,350 miners that work in the state, according to recent study completed by the Alaska Miners Association and McDowell Group. The report, "The economic benefits of Alaska's mining industry," found that the average miner working in Alaska during 2016 received a whopping US$108,000 for the year, about double the average income across all sectors in the state. That is nearly US$470...
Last week the Pebble Project announced that it had reached a settlement with the EPA of pending litigation in conjunction with the agency's previous determination to block the development of the project. Essentially, the settlement means that Pebble will be able to resume the permit application process with the hope of ultimately opening a mine. This good news, besides the obvious possibility of a major mine going forward in Southwest Alaska, is that it lets us dream of a...
Earlier in November, the Alaska Miners Association held its annual convention and trade show in Anchorage and as always, the well-attended convention overlapped with election Tuesday. While the lead up to, and results of, the national and state elections were hot topics throughout the week, one comment I heard from a colleague on the morning after the elections distilled the feelings of a lot of people at the conference. When asked what he thought of the election results, he...
Most of Alaska is now enjoying a warm, early spring, allowing field programs to get off to an quicker start this year. While budgets are still tight, interest in Alaska projects has steadily increased as the mining and metals markets slowly recover from a four-year slowdown. Current estimates for 2016 exploration expenditures are looking like they will end up in the US$50 million to US$60 million range, down from the US$75 million range of last year but less precipitous than...
As a follow-up to last month's realization that once again "the game is afoot" in the mining industry, major gold producer Goldcorp recently presented some arresting statistics at the Bank of America Merrill Lynch Global Metals, Mining and Steel Conference. The presentation showed gold discovery and production information for the global mining industry that indicated that peak gold discovery occurred in 1995, this despite three periods between 1995 and 2015 when exploration...
Strong metals prices and a pro-jobs businessman who vows to inject “new American metal into the spine of this country” preparing to set up his office in the White House bodes well for Alaska’s mining sector going into 2017. While a renaissance of Alaska’s mining sector may not be at the top of President-elect Donald Trump’s to-do list, pouring coal on the fire of America’s economic engine – both literally and figuratively – is. The figurative coal important to Alaskan miners...
Coeur Mining Inc. Jan. 5 announced that its Kensington Mine in Southeast Alaska produced 33,688 ounces of gold in the fourth quarter, a 27 percent increase over the previous three months and the best quarterly gold production for 2016. The strong finish to 2016 is due to high production, 163,410 tons milled, and higher grades, which averaged 0.22 oz/t. For full year 2016, the underground mine produced 124,331 oz of gold, a slight decrease from the 126,266 oz recovered in 2015. Coeur is expecting similar production at...
Coeur Mining Inc. Feb. 8 said it plans to begin processing ore from the Jualin deposit at Kensington towards the end of this year. To bring this higher grade deposit online while maintaining production from the Kensington side of the project, Coeur invested roughly US$36.8 million in capital expenditures at the Southeast Alaska operation in 2016, a figure that is expected to be above US$40 million this year. The company invested roughly US$6.2 million on exploration in 2016, roughly US$3.5 million of which is included in the...
Rockhaven Resources Ltd. Feb. 24 said Coeur Mining Inc. has agreed to invest C$675,000 to acquire 3.75 million Rockhaven shares at C18 cents each. Rockhaven's primary asset is Klaza, a southern Yukon project about 225 miles (360 kilometers) north of Coeur's Kensington gold mine in Alaska. Klaza hosts a deposit with 9.42 million metric tons of inferred resource grading 4.48 grams per metric ton (1.36 million ounces) gold, 89.02 g/t (26.96 million oz) silver, 0.75 percent (155.4 million pounds) lead and 0.95 percent (197.8...
Coeur Mining Inc. April 7 reported decreased gold production at its Kensington Mine in Southeast Alaska. Kensington recovered 26,197 ounces of gold during the first quarter, a 22 percent drop from the previous quarter and 18 percent less than the first quarter of 2016. This dip in production is primarily due to anticipated lower ore grades due to mine sequencing. The average grade of material processed at Kensington during the first quarter was 0.17 ounces per ton gold. This compares to 0.22 oz/t gold in the fourth quarter...
With winter programs winding down and summer efforts rapidly ramping up, it is becoming clear that 2017 will be a much more vigorous year for the Alaska mining industry than the 2013 to 2016 period. For example, my internal estimates are already pushing $75 million for exploration activity alone and a significant number of projects that have announced exploration plans have not yet announced budgets for 2017, so that number is likely to rise. Compare this to estimates of less...
The year just past was many things for the mining industry, but one of the bright spots came from the Mine Safety and Health Administration, an agency not known for awarding happy faces or gold stars. In 2016, the mining industry experienced only 25 deaths in U.S. mines, the lowest level ever recorded. This, despite the industry having more than 330,000 miners working in 13,000 mines across the country. The leading cause of death in both coal and metal/nonmetal mines was...
U.S. House Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources sought input on how to foster a more robust domestic mining sector during a July 20 hearing, "Seeking Innovative Solutions for the Future of Hardrock Mining." "Hardrock mining on federal land in the United States has a storied past, a challenging present and multiple needs for reform," Subcommittee Chairman Paul Gosar, R-Arizona, said. "From rocks to roads, rare earths to green technologies, and iron ore to wind farms,...
At a recent mining industry panel discussion at the Western States Land Commissioners Association meeting in Anchorage, I was asked if the recent upturn in activity in the Alaska mining industry was a function of commodities prices or a growing worldwide recognition of Alaska's enormous mineral potential. I answered that I thought neither factor was driving the Alaska mineral industry revival: commodities prices have been steady or rising slowly over the last year and...
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...
Coeur Mining Inc. has cut a deal to buy the high-grade Silvertip Mine in northern British Columbia, an acquisition that will add the first Canadian operation to the Chicago-based miner's portfolio of gold and silver mines. Located about 10 miles south of the Yukon border and roughly 150 miles east of Coeur's Kensington gold mine in Southeast Alaska, Silvertip hosts 2.35 million metric tons of indicated resource averaging 352 g/t silver, 9.4 percent zinc and 6.7 percent lead;...
Coeur Mining Inc. Oct. 10 provided an update on an expansive exploration program at its Kensington gold mine in Southeast Alaska. This program is focused on potential resource conversion and expansion within the Kensington Main ore-body, the nearby Raven vein, and the high-grade Jualin deposit. Drilling at Kensington Main is currently being conducted at four zones - lower Block M and zones 41, 44, and 12 - with a focus on the potential expansion of the Kensington resource...
Coeur Mining Inc. Oct. 6 reported that its Kensington Mine in Southeast Alaska produced 26,459 ounces of gold during the third quarter, compared to 32,210 oz. during the previous three months. A blocked tailings line that halted mill production at the end of the third quarter is the primary reason for this 18 percent drop in gold production. Through the first nine months of this year, Kensington has produced 90,643 oz. of gold and Coeur has increased the low end of its 2016...
Coeur Mining Inc. July 27 said the costs to produce each ounce of gold at its Kensington Mine reached a new historical low in the second quarter. The Southeast Alaska operation churned out 32,210 oz. gold at US$740/oz. during the period, compared with 29,845 oz. gold at US$745/oz. during the same period a year earlier. In recent years Coeur has implemented a plan aimed at increasing gold output and lowering production costs at Kensington. "In 2012, costs per oz. there were...
