The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
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The state of the world's exploration industry was recently summarized in SNL Metal & Mining's annual "World Exploration Trends" publication, released at the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada convention in Toronto. Not surprisingly, it painted a grim picture of 2014, a year we are all glad to have behind us. The statistics indicate that worldwide exploration expenditures declined a further 26 percent to $11.4 billion, compared with $15.2 billion in 2013 and...
Sonoro Metals Corp. March 11 said it has signed a letter of intent to enter into an option agreement to acquire a 60 percent interest in Northern Empire Resources Corp.'s 7,840-acre Hilltop Gold project located some 70 miles south of Fairbanks. To exercise the option and earn a 60 percent interest in Hilltop, Sonoro must spend C$3 million on exploration activities to advance the exploration-stage project and issue 1 million Sonoro shares to Northern Empire by the end of 2019....
As is normally the case in high summer in Alaska, news has started to trickle out of the hills on projects where new work is being conducted, and several properties have changed hands or are in the process of changing hands as mining deals are negotiated and announced across the state. Alaska mines are enjoying slight upticks in metals prices, but recent price volatility has left producers cautious about making long-term capital investments in new or existing projects. Regardl...
Before we take a peek at what is happening across Alaska, I'd like to summarize a superb presentation on the world's exploration industry presented by MinEx Consulting's Richard Shodde at a mining conference in South Africa. He pointed out that since 1990 there has been a very strong correlation between gold price and exploration expenditures. While not earth-shattering in itself, he took the conclusion one step farther: analyst predictions for the gold price through 2020 are...
A recent letter distributed to the minerals industry by the Alaska Department of Natural Resources' Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys and the Department of Commerce, Community and Economic Development's Division of Economic Development is seeking faster and more efficient ways to gather, collate and publish Alaska's Annual Minerals Industry Report. The agencies are looking for feedback regarding what items the industry thinks is important to retain in the report, what items are not in the report that should be...
The winds of change are once again blowing across Alaska's mineral industry, not only because the industry is gearing up for another busy summer season, but also because the mining investment climate has turned from cautiously optimistic to decidedly undecided. The sea change occurred steadily and without a lot of fanfare between mid-January and mid-March. As is always the case, good projects continue to advance with those that are drilling and adding resources or moving throu...
Whether it is multimillion-ounce gold discoveries, copper deposits that measure in the billions of pounds or massive ore-bodies of 20 percent zinc, Alaska is renowned for its mammoth deposits. The prospect of finding another Donlin, Pebble or Red Dog continues to draw explorers to this vast and underexplored corner of the United States. In the Survey of Mining Companies: 2010/2011, conducted by the Fraser Institute, top executives from 494 mining and mineral exploration...
Tri-Valley Corp., a California-based oil explorer, has cut an exploration-purchase deal with US Gold Corp. on the Richardson gold property, one of Tri-Valley's two mineral exploration properties in Interior Alaska. The agreement, penned July 1, provides US Gold with an option to acquire 60 percent interest in the 55-square-mile Richardson property once the Toronto-based company completes US$5 million in exploration and pays Select Resources Corp., Inc., Tri-Valley's mineral...
The last month has seen a massive transition in Alaska from planning to execution, from getting ready to go to the field to boots on the outcrop and drills in the ground. Each year the hustle and bustle of the Alaska summer exploration season subsumes virtually everything else (except the Stanley Cup) as field programs launch around the state. This year has been no different with base metal programs in the Brooks Range, gold programs in Interior Alaska and the Seward...
The last half of December and the first half of January are normally relatively slow for business in the mining industry, in general, and in Alaska, in particular. The last two weeks this December were a bit slower than the first two weeks of the month but if anyone was thinking that January 2011 was going to creep silently into being, they were sadly mistaken! With metals prices heading toward recent and, in some cases, historical highs, there seems to be a sense of urgency...
As termination dust falls across most of Alaska, the curtain has come down for the bulk of the exploration projects around the state; however, mine development programs as well as mine-site exploration continue apace as does some exploration work in tropical Southeast Alaska. With few exceptions, preliminary conclusions drawn from 2010 work indicate that 2011 is going to be a busy year. And though a lot of exploration and development is still going on for gold, copper...
The Government of Yukon has issued an immediate one-year interim withdrawal from mineral staking for all Crown Land, Category B settlement lands and fee simple lands in the Peel Watershed Region of Yukon Territory in hopes of providing certainty during an ongoing regional land use planning process. The Peel Watershed Region is one of eight regions for which mineral-rich Yukon Territory is developing land use plans. The Peel watershed is located north of Mayo in northeast Yukon Territory. A major subbasin of the Mackenzie...
Metals markets continue to climb out of the basement as the world demand for metals resumes its upward trend. Fueled by this growing demand, numerous Alaska precious, base and rare metal projects reported results of their 2009 exploration, development and production programs. The recent Alaska Miners Association Convention in Anchorage felt this surge of interest with the highest attendance in more than a decade. The atmosphere at the conference was charged with optimism, a co...
During this brief respite between the U.S. House and Senate considerations of mining law reform legislation, it is timely to review the bidding. Where are we? Where are we going? How do we get there? We know these things: The House passed legislation (H.R. 2262) is an anathema. Furthermore, there is reason to believe that there will be mining law reform legislation passed, if not in this Congress, probably in the next one. Until the recent Northwest Mining Association...
Kivalina residents chased away by flood warnings began trickling back home early Sept. 14 after the season's first storm died down, ending its assault on a frail seawall guarding the northwest coastal village. Wave action from the storm began eroding the shoreline, threatening to wash away parts of the village, which is located about 80 miles north of Kotzebue near the Red Dog Mine and creating the potential for an oil spill from the Alaska Village Electrical Cooperative fuel tank farm. About 85 percent of Kivalina's 330 resi...
As 2006 comes rapidly to a close, a glance backward in time seems appropriate. The Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys recently released its annual summary of mining in Alaska for 2005 (yes, 2005). This report reveals that the gross value of Alaska's mineral industry in 2005 was $1.8 billion. This was the 10th straight year the value exceeded $1 billion and was the highest value ever recorded for the industry. Zinc accounted for 61.5 percent of the total mineral production, followed by gold (13.6 percent),...
A newly expanded company is making Alaska its exploration target, and it's backed by a mining heavyweight. Vancouver-based International Tower Hill Mines was barely a glimmer on anyone's radar screens until last summer, when South African major AngloGold Ashanti purchased 19.99 percent of ITH's shares and gave the junior its North American exploration manager, Jeff Pontius, as president and CEO. Pontius led the team that acquired a group of Alaska properties for AngloGold, which now belong to ITH. "AngloGold was highly...
The game is afoot! The last month has seen the start of a number of field programs in Alaska, marking the beginning of the traditional "field season" in the Great Land. With demand for metals remaining extraordinarily high, Alaska's mining industry is operating at capacity but well below demand. An acute shortage of drills and drillers, geologists and engineers and helicopters to move them all around is affecting exploration, development and production plans around the state. For the first time in my career, money is not in...
Preparations for exploration and development activities ramped up again in the last month as budgets were approved and committed on projects extending from Southeast Alaska to the Seward Peninsula to Interior Alaska. Commodity and equity markets for the metals mining industry have remained strong in anticipation of continued high demand and restricted supplies. To put things into a global perspective, the Worldwatch Institute (www.worldwatch.org) recently published information about the growing demand for goods and services i...
In the last month the Alaska mining industry has seen start-up of its first major gold mine in five years (Pogo) and approval of permits for the Nixon Fork copper-gold mine. We also saw announcement of substantial increases in copper, gold and molybdenum resources at two advanced exploration/development projects (Donlin Creek and Pebble). New development plans were offered for heap leaching at the Fort Knox gold mine and initial funding was approved for evaluation of a coal to liquids facility at the Beluga coal deposits....
Permitting, legislation, taxation and education are some of the key issues discussed by the Alaska Minerals Commission in its 2006 report, published in January. The report praises the state's continuing efforts to improve the climate for the mining industry, but also gives a number of recommendations on what else could be done in this period of unusually high activity. The commission has advised Alaska's leaders since its creation in 1986. "A cloud of uncertainty has been cast over the industry by the U.S. Army Corps of...
The new president of Alaska-focused exploration company Select Resources is ready to talk to any potential customer or joint venture partner if there is an opportunity to develop the business. That's the message from Henry "Rick" Sandri, who was promoted from executive vice president in December after Harry Noyes resigned his officer and director positions for family reasons. Select Resources is a mining subsidiary of Bakersfield, Calif.-based Tri-Valley, an oil and gas developer. "Every asset we have is for sale, lease,...
Although results from 2005 activities have finally slowed to a trickle, don't equate this lack of news with lack of activity. Behind the holiday season façade there is a mad scramble going on with companies already jockeying for personnel, drill rigs, helicopters, geochemical services, field camps and all manner of field supplies. While wishing each other season's greetings over a cup of grog, competitors are quietly trying to steal the jump on each other to get the best...
Over the course of the last several months, a series of new gold and base metal discoveries have been made. Several of these new discoveries were reported in the last month and highlights of these and other activities were presented at the annual Alaska Miners Association convention in Anchorage in early November. The convention was one of the most exciting and up-beat events in nearly a decade. The new discoveries are a trend that, while long in coming, are an inevitable...
As expected, results from the summer field programs have begun to roll in from all over the state. Discoveries from base and precious metals properties were reported in September and several properties previously explored in the Carter administration were rediscovered and are turning out promising results. Metals prices remain robust with gold pushing the $475 per ounce mark. While Alaska's mining industry is still trying to catch its breath from this year, many companies...
