The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
Sorted by date Results 26 - 50 of 83
Freegold Ventures Ltd. March 5 reported that the potentially large porphyry copper-gold-silver-tungsten deposits it has been exploring on the Shorty Creek project in Interior Alaska has drawn the interest of Australia-based South32 Ltd. Under an option agreement with Freegold Ventures, a South32 subsidiary has agreed to fund up to US$10 million of exploration over the next four years, including US$2 million this year. This exploration spending keeps an option open for South32...
I, for one, feel vindicated, relieved and ready to face the New Year! How so, you ask? Please let me explain. For those of you who remember my column in November, I noted that EY Global Mining and Metals publishes an 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 was for the years 2017-2018 and stated that "Our number one risk this year is digital effectiveness." If you...
Freegold Ventures Ltd. Jan. 16 reported that two holes drilled in 2018 cut wide widths of copper-gold-silver-tungsten mineralization at the company's Shorty Creek project about 75 miles (120 kilometers) northwest of Fairbanks, Alaska. These holes – SC 18-01 and SC 18-02 – targeted a magnetic high within Hill 1835, the most explored porphyry target so far at Shorty Creek. Freegold discovered significant porphyry copper-gold mineralization at Shorty Creek during an inaugural dri...
WESTERN ALASKA Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd. announced that it had finalized a surface right of way agreement with Alaska Peninsula Corporation for use of that latter's lands for the construction and operation of transportation infrastructure associated with the Pebble copper-molybdenum-gold project. Alaska Peninsula Corporation is an Alaska Native village corporation with extensive land holdings proximal to the Pebble site and more than 900 shareholders, many of which live...
Freegold Ventures Ltd. Oct. 30 provided an update on its exploration activities at its Shorty Creek and Golden Summit projects. This fall, Freegold completed a modest two-hole drill program at Shorty Creek, a copper-gold porphyry target located alongside the Elliott Highway about 75 miles northwest of Fairbanks. Freegold discovered significant copper-gold mineralization at Shorty Creek during an inaugural drill program carried out there in 2015. One hole drilled that year, SC...
Following a couple of quiet months where Alaska's mining industry focused on its work, the last month has seen an explosion of new info come out regarding that effort, some of it profound in its potential immediate, near-term and long-term implications. For example, one of Alaska's largest mines was sold to a new owner at a surprisingly low cost per ounce. The results of a robust new preliminary economic analysis were tabled by an advanced gold-silver exploration project...
Freegold Ventures Ltd. Aug. 24 announced the start of a modest drill program at its Shorty Creek Project property in Interior Alaska, where previous drilling has cut long sections of porphyry copper-gold-silver-cobalt-tungsten mineralization. Lying alongside the paved Elliott Highway about 75 miles northwest of Fairbanks, Shorty Creek is adjacent to International Tower Hill Mines Ltd.'s 11.5-million-ounce Livengood gold project. Freegold's inaugural drill program at Shorty...
Extremely hard and with the highest melting point of all the elements on the periodic table, tungsten is a vital ingredient to a wide-range of industrial and military applications, yet none of this durable metal is currently mined in the United States. According to the United States Geological Survey, more than half of the tungsten consumed in the U.S. last year was used to make the cemented tungsten-carbide, a compound typically made with equal parts tungsten and carbon....
Freegold Ventures Ltd. June 7 said it is putting together plans for a drill program aimed at expanding the oxide resource at its Golden Summit gold property near Kinross Gold Corp.’s Fort Knox Mine in Interior Alaska. Located along a paved highway about 30 minutes north of Fairbanks, Golden Summit hosts 61.5 million metric tons of indicated resource averaging 0.69 grams per metric ton (1.36 million ounces) gold; and 71.5 million metric tons of inferred resource averaging 0.69 g/t (1.58 million oz) gold. The oxide portion o...
Seven days of near-continuous rain did nothing to dampen the mood at the recently concluded Cordilleran Roundup Convention in Vancouver. The event was buoyed by a realistic optimism we have not seen in over five years. This change from half-empty to half-full glasses is due to a number of things including strong commodities prices, increasing global demand for metals and current or looming supply shortfalls in many of the metals produced by this industry. The event was...
Freegold Ventures Ltd. Jan. 22 reported that results from its 2017 drill program at Shorty Creek continue to confirm the size potential of this large porphyry copper project in Interior Alaska. Highlights from the latest round of results was a 165-meter intercept in hole 17-05A that averaged 0.60 percent copper-equivalent, which includes the value of the copper, gold, silver and cobalt encountered. This hole was drilled at Hill 1835, a Shorty Creek target where the company...
Thanks largely to increased investments from Aussie mining explorers, mineral exploration spending across Alaska topped US$100 million in 2018. This is well above the roughly US$95 million invested last year and nearly double the US$58 million spent at the bottom of the market in 2015. "Canadian and Australian companies continue to be the source for the bulk of funds spent in Alaska in 2018, together comprising well over 80 percent of the exploration expenditures earmarked...
Reuters recently reported that the 10 largest gold-producing companies worldwide have steadily increased their near-mine exploration budgets over the past few years to 56 percent in 2015 from 45 percent in 2013. They also reduced their higher-risk greenfields exploration budgets to 21 percent from 25 percent in the same time period. This retrenchment of exploration by the larger producers is occurring, while global gold output is declining with an expected reduction of 9...
Freegold Ventures Ltd. Oct. 26 provided results from the second hole of a summer drill program at its Shorty Creek copper-gold project about 75 road-miles northwest of Fairbanks, Alaska. Hole SC 16-02 cut 93.5 meters averaging the equivalent of 0.55 percent copper when you factor in the value of the gold and silver in the intercept. Hole two was drilled at the Hill 1835 prospect about 120 meters southwest of hole SC 16-01, which cut 434.5 meters averaging 0.57 percent copper-equivalent. In addition to the copper, gold and...
After raising C$7.3 million in May, Freegold Ventures Ltd. returned to work at its Shorty Creek and Golden Summit projects in Interior Alaska. The company kicked off drilling at Shorty Creek, a 26,000-acre porphyry copper-gold project located near Livengood, in July. Since securing a long-term lease with Fairbanks-based Gold Range Ltd. in 2014, Freegold has carried out systematic geophysics and soil sampling over two target areas - Hill 1835 and Hill 1710. Drilling in 2015 further demonstrated the copper-gold potential at...
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,...
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...
Freegold Ventures Ltd. kicked off its 2017 exploration with a drill program focused on expanding the oxide gold resource at the Golden Summit property in Interior Alaska. Located about 25 miles north of Fairbanks and about four miles from Kinross Gold Corp.'s Fort Knox gold mine, Golden Summit hosts 61.5 million metric tons of indicated resource averaging 0.69 grams per metric ton (1.36 million ounces) gold; and 71.5 million metric tons of inferred resource of averaging 0.69 g/t (1.58 million oz) gold. The oxide portion of...
Alaska's minerals exploration sector is on an upswing, thanks to Australian mining explorers looking north and mining majors upping their activities in the state. South32 Ltd., a Perth, Australia-based miner spun out of BHP Billiton Plc, is the largest mining company from Down Under to express an interest in Alaska's mineral potential this year. South32, which has eight operating mines in the Southern Hemisphere, secured an option to acquire a 50 percent interest in Trilogy...
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...
Freegold Ventures Ltd. July 19 announced the start of 2017 drilling at its Shorty Creek copper-gold project about 75 road miles northwest of Fairbanks, Alaska. The company first tapped porphyry style copper-gold mineralization at Shorty Creek in 2015 and expanded upon its find last year. Hole SC 16-01, drilled last year at the property's Hill 1835 target, cut 434.5 meters averaging 0.57 percent copper-equivalent, which accounts for the value of the copper, gold and silver. This hole is 125 meters southwest of SC 15-03, which...
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...
Freegold Ventures Ltd. Nov. 16 reported that the initial holes of its 2017 drill program at Shorty Creek have intercepted significant widths of copper-gold-silver, cobalt and tungsten mineralization, further confirming and expanding the Hill 1835 target. Since the 2015 discovery hole was drilled, Freegold has completed roughly 4,200 meters of drilling at Hill 1835. Hole SC 16-01, drilled last year at the property's Hill 1835 target, cut 434.5 meters averaging 0.57 percent copper-equivalent, which accounts for the value of...
For the first time in five long years, the mood at the recently held Alaska Miners Association Convention in Anchorage was buoyant, the result of a slow but steady turnaround on mineral investments in the state. Additional new corporate interest in the state emerged during the past 30 days, and sources of exploration funds coming to Alaska continue to shift, with estimates for 2017 suggesting that 62 percent of this financing comes from Canadian concerns, 18 percent from...
Freegold Ventures Ltd. Dec. 6 said the 2016 drill program at it Shorty Creek project in Interior Alaska has confirmed the presence of a copper-gold-molybdenum porphyry system with an alteration-mineralization footprint that covers roughly 2,500 acres. The company confirmed the porphyry potential in 2015, when it stepped out from the previous shallow reverse circulation drilling completed by Asarco in 1989-1990 with deeper core drilling. The best hole drilled last year, SC15-03...
