The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
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Pebble Partnership has announced the creation of the Pebble Performance Dividend to distribute a percentage of the revenue generated from the operation of a mine at Pebble to year-round residents of Bristol Bay. "When we rolled out our new, smaller mine plan in 2017, I made a commitment to find a way to share the opportunity Pebble represents with the residents of Bristol Bay. While not everyone will want to work at the mine, this ensures a direct way for everyone to...
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has determined that a road and pipelines around the north shore of Iliamna Lake is the most environmentally sound route to access the proposed Pebble copper-gold-molybdenum-silver mine in Southwest Alaska. Referred to as Alternative 3 in the draft Environmental Impact Statement for Pebble, this roughly 85-mile northern land-based transportation route would connect the Pebble mine site to Cook Inlet without the need for a ferry to transport... Full story
Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd. said its Pebble project could provide another source of jobs and revenue to an Alaska economy challenged by an interrelated combination of COVID-19 and low oil prices. Though fewer than 400 cases of COVID-19 have been diagnosed in Alaska, placing it among the lowest states in the country on an absolute and per capita basis, the economic impact of the global pandemic on the largest of the United States is both severe and ongoing. As a result of... Full story
Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd. May 13 announced that it has raised C$17.35 million (US$12.3 million) to cover engineering, environmental, permitting and evaluation expenses associated with Pebble and advance the federal environmental impact study for the copper-gold-molybdenum mine project in Alaska to completion. Northern Dynasty raised the money in two concurrent financings – a C$10.1 million underwritten public offering and C$7.25 million private placement. Underwritten b...
An attempt to legally force the U.S. Environmental Protection to keep a pre-emptive veto of the Pebble copper mine project active was thwarted in federal court on Friday. On April 17, Alaska District Federal Judge Sharon Gleason dismissed a case brought by Pebble opposition groups that contested EPA's 2019 decision to withdraw the preemptive veto of the proposed copper-gold-molybdenum mine in Southwest Alaska. Based on Section 404c of the U.S. Clean Water Act, which is the...
The executive summary of the Preliminary Final Environmental Impact Statement (PFEIS) for the Pebble copper-gold mine project in Southwest Alaska was leaked to select media outlets earlier this week, providing an early look at this draft document not yet ready for public release. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), the federal agency charged with leading the EIS process for Pebble, last week sent the PFEIS to federal, state and tribal cooperating agencies for review. E&E New...
The Pebble Partnership Jan. 29 announced that it has submitted its final draft Compensatory Mitigation Plan to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) for the wetlands impacts associated with its plan to develop a mine at the Pebble copper-gold-molybdenum deposit in Southwest Alaska. Compensatory mitigation refers to the restoration, establishment, enhancement, or in certain circumstances preservation of wetlands, streams or other aquatic resources as ways to offset any... Full story
Quaterra Resources Inc. Jan. 9 reported that a geophysical survey carried out on its Groundhog property in Southwest Alaska has identified 19 porphyry copper-gold targets. Groundhog is a 54,880-acre property that covers a northern extension of a structural zone that hosts several porphyry targets and deposits, including the world-class Pebble copper-gold-molybdenum deposits about three miles to the south. Alaska Earth Sciences, an Anchorage-based geological consulting firm,...
Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd. Dec. 18 announced that it has raised US$15.5 million, which it will use to continue to advance permitting and outreach at its Pebble copper-gold-molybdenum mine project in Southwest Alaska. The Pebble project is nearing a final decision on an environmental impact statement (EIS) for the proposed mine. The EIS is a lengthy process under the federal National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), that ensures that large projects such as Pebble meet...
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,...
Pebble Partnership CEO Tom Collier is confident that the world-class Pebble copper project in Southwest Alaska will continue to achieve significant permitting milestones during 2020 – and those opposed to developing a mine at Pebble agree. "We've known for some time that our project will meet and surpass the rigorous environmental standards enforced in the United States and Alaska, and believe that it will secure its operating permits. Our critics are starting to understand t... Full story
As the rest of the country suffers through the Dog Days of summer, Alaska is approaching the end of a topsy-turvy summer season that saw unseasonably hot, dry weather in some parts of the state during some parts of the summer, while other parts of the state have seen record rainfall and unseasonably early snowfall. Gold prices have skyrocketed over the $1,500 per ounce mark and silver prices have moved strongly up, now trading at a one-year high. However, copper and zinc are a... Full story
Quaterra Resources Inc. Aug. 26 announced the start of a 1,500-line-kilometer ZTEM (z-axis tipper electromagnetic) geophysical survey at Groundhog, a 40,000-acre property that covers a northern extension of a structural zone that hosts several porphyry targets and deposits, including the world-class Pebble copper-gold-molybdenum deposits about three miles to the south. Alaska Earth Sciences, an Anchorage-based geological consulting firm, discovered the Groundhog prospect and K...
The United States Environmental Protection Agency has decided to roll back its 2014 proposed determination that, if finalized, would have placed debilitating restrictions on developing a mine at the world-class Pebble copper-gold-molybdenum project in Southwest Alaska. Pebble Limited Partnership, the company that is advancing Pebble through permitting, hailed this decision to scrap the proposed pre-emptive veto of Pebble as a major win, not only for the future of its proposed...
United States Environmental Protection Agency June 26 announced that it has instructed its Region 10 office to resume considering the elimination of a 2014 proposed determination to use "veto" authority to place restrictions on the Pebble copper-gold-molybdenum mine project under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is the federal agency charged with issuing permits for the disposal of dredge and fill material under Section 404 of the Clean...
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
Iliamna Natives Ltd. (INL) May 15 is pleased to announce that it has reached an agreement with Pebble Limited Partnership to provide transportation corridor access on INL lands to support the operation and construction of the proposed Pebble copper-gold-molybdenum mine in Southwest Alaska. The Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) corporation for the Village of Iliamna said this long-term agreement is a commitment to advance the Pebble project in a technically feasible,...
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers – Alaska District May 3 announced that it has extended the public comment period for the draft environmental impact statement (EIS) for the Pebble copper-gold-molybdenum mine project in Southwest Alaska to June 29. This provides an added 30 days to the comment period, bringing the total length of time for the public to submit their comments on the project to 120 days. In late April, U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) sent a letter asking t...
As the Pebble Limited Partnership advances the Pebble copper-gold-molybdenum project through the permitting process, environmental groups opposed to the proposed mine are employing a wide arsenal of tactics to impede the progress. In its latest volley, Earthworks, an environmental non-governmental organization (ENGO), has requested that the British Columbia Securities Commission (BCSC) and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) investigate whether Northern Dynasty...
By this time next year, Pebble Partnership could be holding the first of dozens of permits it will need to begin developing a mine at its enormous copper-gold-molybdenum deposit in Southwest Alaska, according to Sheila Newman, deputy chief of the regulatory division, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers – Alaska District. The timing or issuance of permits, however, are not guaranteed – permitting a large mine in the United States is a long process. Newman said the testimony being gat...
When it comes to mineral exploration incentives, currency exchange and infrastructure, Alaska is at a disadvantage in the realm of attracting exploration investments from Canada and Australia, countries that are home to the majority of mining companies. The Far North State's vast and underexplored mineral potential, however, trumps these handicaps in the minds of a growing number of miners and mineral explorers. Mining executives from around the globe perennially rank Alaska... Full story
While copper is not on the United States Geological Survey's list of 35 minerals and metals critical to America, there is no doubt of this metal's importance to both the everyday and avant-garde technologies vital to America's economy and security. "None of the other critical minerals work without copper," Trilogy Metals President and CEO Rick Van Nieuwenhuyse told Mining News. Automobiles are a prime example of how emerging technologies and green energy will drive the demand... Full story
With a melting point of 5,756 degrees Fahrenheit and a heat-stable crystalline structure, rhenium is extremely resistant to both heat and wear. This durability makes it a vital element in superalloys used in jet and industrial gas turbine engines. "The high-temperature properties of rhenium allow turbine engines to be designed with finer tolerances and operate at temperatures higher than those of engines constructed with other materials," the United States Geological Survey... Full story
This author, in this column and elsewhere, has often taken the position that Alaska, especially in remote locations, is the safest, most environmentally-sound and worker-friendly mining location in the world. Alaska is endowed with world-class resources from one end of the state to the other. The associated jobs are well paid, and the industry is stable. Notwithstanding the view that some have of heavy industry as an eyesore, the remoteness of most operations puts them beyond... Full story
If you pay any attention to the popular press, it is difficult to avoid critical references to President Trump. He has become the effigy for everything from political division to global iconoclasm. However, as is the case with so many national issues; the impact of the intense debates inside the Beltway have only an attenuated resonance on the Last Frontier. The on-going controversy between elitist progressive governance and populistic resistance surfaced with the 2016 electio...
