The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
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Mining and mineral exploration helped to bolster an Alaskan economy plagued by COVID-19 during 2020. According to a report prepared by the McKinley Research Group, a renowned Alaska-based research and consulting firm formerly known as McDowell Group, Alaska's mining industry injected roughly $2 billion into the Alaska economy last year. Commissioned by the Alaska Miners Association and Council of Alaska Producers, "The economic benefits of Alaska's mining industry" report...
North of 60 Mining News recently spoke with Ramzi Fawaz, president and CEO of Ambler Metals LLC, a 50-50 joint venture between South32 Ltd. and Trilogy Metals Inc. to develop the rich mineral resources at the Upper Kobuk Mineral Projects in Alaska. In a candid conversation, Fawaz talks about what attracted him to Ambler Metals; the company's Alaska-based team and partnerships; the strategy for developing Arctic Mine and the other rich metals deposits at the Upper Kobuk Mineral...
Teck Resources Ltd. Feb. 18 reported that the Red Dog Mine produced 490,700 metric tons (1.08 billion pounds) of zinc during 2020, a roughly 11% drop from the 552,400 metric tons (1.22 billion lb) of the galvanizing metal produced in 2019. Lead production at the Northwest Alaska operation was also down slightly from the 102,800 metric tons (226.6 million lb) produced in 2019 to the 97,500 metric tons (214.9 million lb) produced last year. Teck says climate related water manage...
Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority Feb. 10 announced that its board has approved a long-term agreement with Ambler Metals LLC to share up to $70 million of the predevelopment costs for a proposed road to the Ambler Mining District in Northwest Alaska. "This is another example of AIDEA's role in establishing public-private partnerships supporting responsible development of Alaska's natural resources," said AIDEA Chairman Dana Pruhs. Such partnerships are the...
Over a century ago, a gold rush pioneer set out on an incredible journey of more than one thousand miles across the breadth of Alaska upon his two-wheeled iron steed, braving the brutal winter weather and untamed wilds in search of fortune. This is the story of Edward Jesson, who biked from Dawson City to Nome in the year 1900, a journey, all thought, he would never return from. Before the Alaska gold rush era, the world-wide bicycle craze of the 1890s was in full swing, with...
Investing capital and resources into keeping its mines operational in the midst of a global pandemic, Teck Resources Ltd. has scaled back on exploration during 2020. "These continue to be challenging times, as the world works its way through the COVID-19 pandemic," said Teck Resources President and CEO Don Lindsay. "Teck will remain focused on protecting our people and communities while continuing to operate responsibly and safely, to support the economic recovery in the wake...
The six platinum group elements – platinum, palladium, rhodium, ruthenium, iridium, and osmium – have one foot firmly planted in the realm of precious metals while the other is firmly established in the industrial sectors. While being amongst the rarest metals on the planet already makes PGE's highly valued for jewelry and bullion, their applications in the automotive, petrochemical, and electronics industries are catalysts that drive the price of these industrious pre...
While indium is not part of the everyday lexicon, if you are reading this article on your smartphone, computer or tablet there is a very good chance you are looking at (or more accurately, through) indium right now. This is because indium-tin oxide is used as a transparent conducting film applied to virtually every flat-panel display and touchscreen computer, tablet, and smartphone on the market. This thin coating transforms incoming electrical data into an optical form, a pro...
The United States is heavily dependent on China and other foreign suppliers for its barite, a mineral critical to the petroleum sector. Barite derives from barús, the Ancient Greek word for heavy, owing to an exceptionally high specific gravity for a non-metallic mineral. It is this weight that makes barite a key element to the oil and gas sector and lands the mineral on USGS' critical list. "More than 90% of the barite sold in the United States was used as a weighting agent...
A semiconductor that will melt in the palm of your hand and has the ability to convert electricity directly into laser light, gallium is a cool critical metal that is an important ingredient in light emitting diodes (LEDs), new generation smartphones, thin-film solar cells, and medical devices. "The development of gallium arsenide as a direct band-gap semiconductor in the 1960s led to what are now some of the most well-known uses of gallium – in feature-rich, a...
While Alaska is regarded as a geological storehouse of minerals critical to the United States, it is less renowned as a current globally significant supplier of germanium, a zinc byproduct metalloid with optical qualities that make it an important ingredient in infrared and fiber-optics, and semiconducting properties being applied to quantum computing, and solar energy systems. "The extensive use of germanium for military and commercial applications has made it a critical...
When you consider the 17 rare earths and six platinum metals individually, more than 50 of the elements on the periodic table have been deemed critical to the economic wellbeing and security of the United States, a list that worries the White House and many policymakers in Washington, D.C. To sort the hierarchy of this expansive list, the U.S. Geological Survey has developed a tool that helps identify which mineral commodities lying at the crux of America's manufacturing...
Teck Resources Ltd. Oct. 27 reported that water-related restrictions and unexpected repairs at Red Dog slowed zinc and lead production at this mine in Southwest Alaska during the third quarter. During the three months ending Sept. 30, the Red Dog Mine produced 123,300 metric tons (271.8 million pounds) of zinc, which is a 20% drop from the 153,100 metric tons (337.5 million lb) produced during the same period of 2019. Likewise, lead production during the third quarter of this...
Rising metal prices are helping to soften the blow COVID-19 has landed on Alaska's mining sector in 2020. While mining has been deemed an essential business in Alaska, which has helped keep the six large mines in the state operating during the pandemic, measures put in place to slow the spread of COVID-19 are weighing on production at some of these operations. Efforts to flatten the curve on the spread of coronavirus also disrupted several winter drill programs in Alaska,...
A feasibility study for developing a mine at the world-class Arctic deposit in Alaska's Ambler Mining District details a financially robust operation that would produce 1.9 billion pounds of copper, 2.3 billion lb of zinc, 388 million lb of lead, 386,000 ounces of gold, and 40.6 million oz of silver over an initial 12-year mine life. While high-grade volcanogenic massive sulfide deposits such as Arctic are typically mined from underground, the Arctic feasibility study details...
The COVID-19 pandemic has led NANA Corp. and its mining partners, Teck Resources Ltd. and Ambler Metals LLC, to adjust their mineral exploration and mine development plans in order to meet the ever-evolving health and safety mandates to keep shareholders, employees and residents of Northwest Alaska as safe as possible. "Although the pandemic was unexpected, learning to adapt is nothing new for the region and Iñupiaq people. For 40 years, NANA shareholders have supported...
As COVID-19 continues to create global economic hardship, it is reassuring to see steady progress on a project offering immediate and long-term benefits to Alaska's economy. The Ambler Mining District Industrial Access Project, or Ambler road, would help bring jobs and new revenues for the Northwest Arctic Borough and the State by lowering the cost to explore, build and operate future mines in the area. We have known of the Ambler district's vast copper and base metal...
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...
Nova Minerals Ltd. April 20 announced that the Alaska Industrial Development Export Authority (AIDEA) has approved a resolution authorizing an agreement to advance studies of the West Susitna Access Road, which would provide surface access to the resource-rich area of Alaska where Nova's Estelle gold project is located. "First and foremost, being Alaskan born and bred, I am extremely excited about this initiative for my people and state," said Nova Minerals CEO Chris...
Teck Resources Ltd. April 20 reported increased zinc and lead production at Red Dog, despite the adjustments and precautions taken to protect the health of the workforce and residents in nearby Northwest Alaska communities during the COVID-19 outbreak. Red Dog produced 128,400 metric tons (283.1 million pounds of zinc during the first quarter of this year, which is 17% higher than the first three months of 2019. Likewise, the first quarter zinc production during the first...
Teck Resource Ltd. March 23 announced temporary ban on travel from the Red Dog Mine to communities in the NANA region of Northwest Alaska where the world-class zinc mine is located. These restrictions on travel come at a time when NANA Corp., as well as other Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) corporations are looking at ways to prevent COVID-19 from reaching their regions and villages. "Our main priority is the health and safety of our people – shareholders, e...
In the midst of the COVID-19 outbreak and following the cancellation of the Alaska Miners Association 2020 Spring Convention in Fairbanks, AMA Executive Director Deantha Crockett takes the time to answer 20 questions on how the pandemic is affecting Alaska's mining sector and the association; Alaska's economy; state and federal mining policy; and due process for the Pebble Mine project. Q. Alaska Miners Association recently made the difficult decision to cancel its spring...
Teck Resources Ltd. March 16 said it has initiated measures to slow the spread of COVID-19 that include remote work, travel restrictions and other protocols. These protocols include pre-flight virus screenings for all personnel travelling to its Red Dog zinc mine in Northwestern Alaska. "Teck is working diligently to closely monitor the recommendations of health officials and update all employees at Red Dog on information and current best practices for prevention of COVID-19,"...
Teck Resources Ltd. Feb. 12 reported that the Red Dog Mine produced 552,400 metric tons (1.22 billion pounds) of zinc during 2019, down about 5% from the 583,200 metric tons (1.29 billion lb) of the galvanizing metal produced in 2018. The Northwest Alaska operation also produced 102,800 metric tons (226.6 million lb) of lead last year, which is a more than 4% increase over the 98,400 (217 million lb) produced the previous year. During the fourth quarter, Red Dog produced...
Teck Resources Ltd. June 22 said COVID-19 and water challenges resulted in a significant decrease in the production of zinc and lead at its Red Dog Mine in Northwest Alaska. Red Dog produced 83,900 metric tons (185 million pounds) of zinc during the second quarter, which is a roughly 47% drop from the 158,000 metric tons (348.3 million lb) produced during the same period of 2019 and a 35% drop from the 128,400 metric tons (283.1 million lb) produced during the first three...
