The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
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The product of a 2020 merger between Redstar Gold Corp. and Heliodor Metals Ltd., Heliostar Metals Ltd. is a junior exploration and development company with three gold and silver projects in Mexico and its flagship Unga gold project in Alaska. Covering roughly 93 square miles (240 square kilometers) of the Unga and Popof islands off the southern coast of the Alaska Peninsula, the Unga project hosts the historic Apollo and Sitka mines, which produced roughly 150,000 ounces of...
After the United States' purchase of Alaska, and before the boom brought on by the Klondike Gold Rush, a small island just off the Alaska Peninsula would have gold-bearing quartz discovered, inevitably booming a small trade hub known as Delarov, or as it came to be known, Unga. As it stretches like a broken bridge from the continent of North America to the continent of Asia, many forget the large chain of islands that occupies an area of 6,821 square miles and extends nearly...
Heliostar Metals Ltd. (formerly Redstar Gold Corp.) Nov. 5 announced the addition of two new members of its exploration management team. Samuel Anderson, who spent 17 years as a geologist at Newmont Gold Corp., has been named Heliostar vice president of exploration and is currently leading the company's gold exploration program on Alaska's Unga Island. During his time at Newmont, Anderson held successive positions from exploration project manager to senior manager of...
Heliostar Metals Ltd. (formerly Redstar Gold Corp.) said the Oct. 19 magnitude 7.5 earthquake with an epicenter about 45 miles south of Unga Island did not have any major impacts on its gold exploration there. The originally planned 6,500- to 8,000-meter drill program, however, has been slowed by a dearth of drillers. "The ramp-up of our drilling program has been slower than planned due to difficulty staffing the three contract rigs at site," said Heliostar Metals CEO Charles...
Redstar Gold Corp. Sept. 10 announced it is investing C$6 million in an 8,000-meter drilling and exploration program at its Unga gold project in Alaska. This program got underway earlier this month and is expected to extend into late November, the drilling will target four areas of high-grade and bulk mineable gold mineralization. "Commencing drilling at Unga is another significant milestone for Redstar Gold as we complete our transformation into a leading exploration...
Redstar Gold Corp. Aug. 24 announced that it has raised C$7 million and finalized the acquisition of Heliodor Metals Ltd., an exploration company with interests in three epithermal gold and silver projects in Mexico, plus C$1.5 million in cash and no debt. As part of the deal, Heliodor founder and President Charles Funk has been named as Redstar's CEO. "Adding Heliodor to the Redstar group of companies will form a leading exploration company with quality high grade precious...
Redstar Gold Corp. April 20 announced that geophysical and geochemical studies completed late last year has identified potential strike extensions of the high-grade gold veins that supplied ore for the historic Sitka Mine on Unga Island. Redstar's Unga project covers roughly 93 square miles (240 square kilometers) of two islands south of the Alaska Peninsula, Unga and Popof islands, that has long been known for its high-grade gold. Apollo, the first hard rock underground gold...
Redstar Gold Corp. April 3 said results from geophysical and geochemical surveys carried out late last year has confirmed the prospectivity of Aquila, a high-grade zone at the west end of the Shumagin trend on the company's Unga Gold project on the Alaska Peninsula. The Shumagin trend hosts the high-grade, SH-1 (formerly Shumagin) zone, a high-grade gold deposit about four miles (6.5 kilometers) northeast of Aquila. According to a calculation completed earlier this year, SH-1...
Redstar Gold Corp. Jan. 10 published a maiden industry-compliant resource for the SH-1 zone, formerly known as the Shumagin zone, on its Unga gold project on the Alaska Peninsula. The Unga project covers roughly 93 square miles (240 square kilometers) of two islands south of the Alaska Peninsula, Unga and Popof, that has long been known for its high-grade gold. The Apollo and adjacent Sitka mines, established on Unga Island in 1886, produced roughly 150,000 ounces of gold from...
Redstar Gold Corp. Jan. 13 reported that recently completed structural mapping on its Unga gold project on the Alaska Peninsula has identified several new priority drill targets along the Shumagin and Apollo-Sitka trends. The Unga project covers roughly 93 square miles (240 square kilometers) of two islands south of the Alaska Peninsula, Unga and Popof islands, that has long been known for its high-grade gold. The Apollo and adjacent Sitka mines, established on Unga Island in...
In November 1996, a little over 23 years ago, I began writing quarterly mining news summaries for the Society of Economic Geologists (SEG). Shortly after that, I began writing monthly summaries for this publication's ancestor, Mining News Alaska, and have continued both monthly, quarterly and annual mining news summaries ever since. With this summary, I have written my last Alaska update for North of 60 Mining News. When I wrote my first summary, Greens Creek was milling only...
Redstar Gold Corp. Dec. 2 said it has identified a 10-kilometer-long trend on its Unga project in Alaska that hosts seven, kilometer-scale alteration zones and several smaller ones capable of hosting bulk tonnage copper and gold mineralization in porphyry and epithermal systems. The Unga project, which is on the Unga and Popov islands just south of the Alaska Peninsula, is best known for its high-grade gold. According to historical reports, the Apollo and adjacent Sitka mines...
As the year winds down, mineral industry evaluations for 2019 are being published at a rapid rate. One of the most interesting such global reviews is EY Global Mining and Metals' annual "risk radar" for mining and metals, outlining what mining companies perceive as the top ten risks facing them in the near future. This publication stated that, for the second straight year, "social license to operate" remains the number one risk facing mining companies in 2020. This was...
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,...
If you have watched the metals markets over the last month, you know why Alaska's mineral industry has surged, stalled, swerved, swooped, slowed, shelved and stuttered, sometimes all at the same time! Gold has gone above US$1,500 per ounce; copper pundits are predicting an increasingly dour future; zinc markets are looking to dive below $1.00 per pound; tin markets have marched strongly upward due to supply disruptions; and silver bulls are calling for annual worldwide...
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...
Redstar Gold Corp. Aug. 22 renewed its lease for the Unga project on islands just off the Alaska Peninsula and plans to resume exploration of the high-grade gold project later this year. Aleut Corp., an Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) regional corporation, owns the mineral rights to most of Unga. Two ANCSA village corporations, Shumagin and Unga, own much of the surface estate on this island. More information on Aleut Corp can be found at Aleuts Ring of Fire...
Aleut Corporation is committed to promoting economic opportunities for its more than 4,000 shareholders, while preserving the traditional culture and values developed from living in a ruggedly beautiful stretch of Alaska. The Alaska Peninsula and 167 named Aleutian Islands extending more than 1,000 miles off Southwest Alaska that make up the Aleut Corp. region form a border between the Pacific Ocean and Bering Sea. This geologically young island arc is part of the Pacific...
Redstar Gold Corp. March 12 announced that John Gray, a geologist with 25 years of experience, is to be the company's new president. Before agreeing to join Redstar, Gray served as CEO of Verde Resources, a junior exploration company that is currently in transition. He previously served as CEO of Tesoro Minerals and African Aura Resources. "We are confident that John will bring the same energy, diligence and professionalism that he successfully brought to his previous...
As the year waned, Alaska's mining industry reported some of the last of its 2018 seasonal field results while the University of Alaska and state of Alaska released some current and projected state-wide economics. At the same time, some macro-economic data was released for the global mining industry. Combined, these figures show a mix of encouraging and not so encouraging trends facing the Alaska mining industry. At the global scale, things for the mining industry are looking...
Underscoring the interconnected nature of the global mining market, not 48 hours after the John S. McCain National Defense Authorization Act was signed into law, the mining industry began wondering out loud how they were going to produce rare earth element, tungsten, tantalum and molybdenum in the near future. Why these metals and why the worry now? Because one of the many impacts the Defense Authorization Act will have on the U.S. economy is its ban on the U.S. Department of...
An early spring coupled with low snow fall in many parts of Alaska have combined to enable companies large and small to start their summer field programs early this year. As expected, competition is stiff for people, drills, helicopters, heavy equipment and related services, awarding those who committed budgets early and penalizing those who did not or could not commit early. For the first time in half a decade, projects with money at hand may not be able to get the services t...
Redstar Gold Corp. March 7 announced that it is seeking a new chief executive officer to lead the Alaska-focused gold exploration company. Former Redstar President and CEO Peter Ball has stepped down from the executive position and Chairman Jacques Vaillancourt is serving as interim-CEO until the board can fill the position. Ball joined Redstar early in 2016 and served as president and CEO as the exploration company expanded upon the high-grade gold deposits at the Unga gold...
As we transition from 2017 into 2018, the weight of evidence pointing to a long-awaited mining industry up-tick is being trumpeted from every financial institution, brokerage house and mining pundit across the globe. For example, RBC Capital Markets' newly released "2018 New Year Preview" has this to say: "We are in the mid-stages of a stock market recovery and the early stages of an economic cycle recovery. Gold is already in a phase where it out-performs other financial...
Redstar Gold Corp. Dec. 11 reported that all 13 holes drilled during the 2017 fall exploration program at its Unga gold project on the Alaska Peninsula cut gold and silver. Most of this drilling, 11 holes, tested the Shumagin Gold zone, expanding this epithermal gold structure to 1,750 meters. The Shumagin Gold zone has four main areas of mineralization on the basis of location and geology - SW Extension, Main Breccia, Bunker Hill and East Zone. The fall drill program tested a 750-meter area surrounding Bunker Hill and along...
