The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
Sorted by date Results 1 - 25 of 37
TNR Gold Corp. Aug. 24 reported that it is carrying out an exploration program this year at the Shotgun gold project in Southwest Alaska. Located about 110 miles south of the 39-million-ounce Donlin Gold mine project and about the same distance northeast of the Pebble copper-gold-molybdenum project, this property lies at the intersection of two trends known to host big deposits. TNR optioned Shotgun from Novagold Resources Inc. in 2002 and gained full ownership of the...
Those of you that attended the recent Cordilleran Roundup Convention in Vancouver can attest to the exuberant, upbeat atmosphere that pervaded the conference and was very much in evidence at the standing-room only festivities at our annual self-hosted Alaska Night meet and greet. But digging down under this veneer of optimism, many of the junior explorers and most of the producers admitted to their expectations of challenging times in 2019. Putting words to this apparent...
TNR Gold Corp. Feb. 25 said it is continuing to seek a major gold mining company to become a joint venture partner on its Shotgun Gold project in Alaska. Located about 110 miles south of the 39-million-ounce Donlin Gold mine project and about the same distance northeast of the Pebble copper-gold-molybdenum project, this property lies at the intersection of two trends known to host big deposits. TNR optioned Shotgun from Novagold Resources Inc. in 2002 and gained full...
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...
TNR Gold Corp. Feb. 2 said it is seeking a major gold mining company to become a joint venture partner on its Shotgun gold project in Alaska. Located about 110 miles of Donlin Gold and about the same distance northeast of Pebble, this property lies at the intersection of two trends known to host big deposits. TNR optioned Shotgun from Novagold Resources Inc. in 2002 and gained full ownership of the property in 2010. The company subsequently granted 10 percent ownership of the...
The unseasonably, interminably, unspeakably cold spring that is delaying mineral exploration and development work in Alaska this year is being mimicked by a financial chill that is affecting Alaska exploration efforts just like it is the rest of the world. Not to put too fine a point on it, but from a mineral exploration standpoint, Alaska is shaping up to be as dead as a doornail this summer (ever wonder where that saying came from ... but I digress.). How dead? Try this statistic on for size: Of the 49 exploration projects...
TNR Gold Corp. Jan. 5 reported significant restructuring of its indebtedness to a private backer who advanced a C$3.5 million loan to the company in 2012. Instead of repayment by the end of 2015, TNR Gold and the lender have agreed to extend the due date of the loan to Dec. 31, 2018. The roughly C$4.3 million currently owed will bear an annual interest rate of 10 percent, with interest payable at maturity. In consideration of the restructuring, the lender also will receive a...
The ongoing scarcity of venture capital available to junior companies coupled with a retreat in metals prices has landed a one-two blow that sent mineral exploration spending in Alaska plunging for the second straight year. A handful of big-budget projects scattered across Alaska, though, is softening the hit to exploration spending across the Far North State during 2013. Mineral exploration expenditures in Alaska, which were a meager US$23.8 million in 2001, topped US$365...
Ending a streak of robust growth, mineral exploration spending in Alaska during 2012 took a downward turn from the record US$300 million spent a year earlier. "More advanced-stage projects that added ounces or pounds to their resource base had a better go of it than early-stage exploration projects which have taken a hard right cross to the jaw!" Curt Freeman, a well-known Alaska geologist and president of Fairbanks-based Avalon Development, observed in September. This blow de...
TNR: TSX-V Executive Chairman and President: Gary Schellenberg Vice President, Exploration: John Harrop Following a five-year hiatus, TNR Gold Corp. returned to Alaska in 2012 to confirm a 1 million-ounce gold resource at its Shotgun project in the Kuskokwim Gold Belt of western Alaska. Located about 110 miles (175 kilometers) south of Donlin Gold and about the same distance northeast of Pebble, this property lies at the intersection of two trends known to host big deposits. When TNR Gold optioned Shotgun from NovaGold...
Over the past six months, the single-most common question I have gotten asked about Alaska's mineral industry is, "Have there been any significant new discoveries?" While there may be an as-yet unannounced new discovery in Alaska, it seems the above question is being asked more frequently in other parts of the world as well and the most common answer is a simple "no." While information on new discoveries in other sectors of the mining industry is out there, it's not as...
As the first cooler days and termination dust start appearing across Alaska, seasonal exploration activities are winding down and operating mines are preparing for another winter. To be sure, less money was spent on fewer projects by the mineral industry exploring and developing Alaska's mineral resources in 2012 versus 2011. More advanced-stage projects that added ounces or pounds to their resource base had a better go of it than early-stage exploration projects which have...
In a long overdue step to bring Alaska into the 21st Century, state and federal agencies met in late June to discuss collaborative funding strategies for Alaska's Statewide Digital Mapping Initiative, an enterprise designed to create Alaska's first high-quality digital topographic map. The roundtable was convened by Alaska Lt. Gov. Mead Treadwell and the Assistant Secretary for Water and Science, U.S. Department of Interior. Alaska remains the only state in the United States...
If you are looking for proof that the mining industry is experiencing unparalleled changes, look no further than "Mine 2012: The growing disconnect," the 9th edition of PricewaterhouseCoopers' annual report on the global mining industry. This recently released report indicates that in 2011 the top 40 global mining companies posted record profits of $133 billion and generated record operating cash flows of $174 billion. However, over the course of the year, market...
Following a five-year hiatus, TNR Gold Corp. has returned to confirm a 1 million-ounce gold resource at its Shotgun project in the Kuskokwim Gold Belt of Southwest Alaska. Located about 110 miles (175 kilometers) south of Donlin Gold and about the same distance northeast of Pebble, the property lies at the intersection of two trends known to host big deposits. "So, it's in a very, very prolific gold area. We think it has a potential not just for 1 or 2 million ounces we...
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...
Hampered by a recession-driven drought in capital markets, mineral explorers in the Northwest Territories met the challenges of 2009 with a variety of survival strategies. With significant diamond, precious and base metal projects and prospects at stake, some companies entered a holding pattern in hopes of waiting out the economic storm, while other forged ahead, adjusting to the new cash-strapped environment as the year progressed. Thanks to record commodity prices, the economy of the Northwest Territories has outpaced the...
With termination dust settling ever lower throughout Alaska, the bulk of the 2008 exploration season has been completed, but lots of results are still pending from projects around the state. As the exploration industry winds down, the Rock Creek gold mine started production bringing owner and operator NovaGold Resources Inc. its first operating mine and bringing Nome its first modern lode gold mine. While this was going on in our backyard, the financial markets were starting...
BHP Billiton has completed an ownership transfer of the Iliamna property in Southwest Alaska to TNR Gold Corp. and Geocom Resources Inc. in early September. Two weeks later, TNR incorporated a new subsidiary in Alaska, Bristol Explorations Co., Inc., which has taken over TNR's properties in Alaska, including the Iliamna and Shotgun projects. Bristol will focus on developing and exploring TNR's Alaska ventures, TNR said in a Sept. 17 statement. The new entity, working with Geocom, has completed a $75,000 geochemical sampling...
Let me extend my apologies to all those looking for a quick summary of the Alaska mining industry this month. There is nothing "quick" about the tome you are about to read, but don't blame the messenger. I just report what I read, and this month it's a sack full! No need for more words, just read on! Western Alaska NovaGold Resources announced results of a newly released report on the Rock Creek project, nearing commercial production outside of Nome. The revised feasibility...
Calgary-based exploration company Goldmark Minerals Ltd. said it has completed the acquisition of Geocom Resources Inc.'s ownership interest in the Iliamna project in southwest Alaska. Goldmark CEO, Peter Barker told Mining News that the transfer to the company's wholly owned subsidiary, Goldmark Alaska, will be complete by early January. A 49 percent interest in Geocom's Santa Rosa and Marcelita properties in central Chile was also included in the $200,000 purchase. Iliamna...
Gold Crest Mines Inc., a Spokane, Wash.-based junior gold exploration company, reported promising results Oct. 8 from its 2007 exploration drilling campaign at the Kisa Project in the Kuskokwim Mineral Belt of southwest Alaska. Organized a little over a year ago by a group of mining industry veterans, Gold Crest has a wholly owned Alaska subsidiary, Kisa Gold Mining Inc. It is KGMI that began exploring about 93,500 acres in three different and distinct areas of Alaska in late 2006. KGMI has established 14 claim groups in two...
Even though the concept of global warming is a welcome idea to many companies working in Alaska, its effects are not being felt fast enough to allow companies to complete all of the work they had hoped to finish in 2007. Drills are still turning all over the state, but the first signs of "termination dust" are showing on the higher peaks and the smell of fermenting berries fills the air, giving us all a not-so gentle prod to get ready for winter. Western Alaska Teck Cominco...
Okay, the lull is over. It lasted about 25, maybe 30 minutes, after I wrote those prophetic but ill-considered words in late January! Shortly after that point I was in Vancouver for the annual Cordilleran Roundup mining conference, an annual barometer of mining activity in western North America if not the world. What I saw at the 2007 conference was a crowd well in excess of 5,000, populated by two types of people: those who were smiling from ear to ear and those whose terrified eyes reminded me of a whitetail deer in the...
Mining companies spent an all-time record $103.9 million on exploration in Alaska in 2005, a big jump from the $70.8 million that was spent the previous year, and a long way from the relatively modest $27.6 million in 2003. At least 16 projects had exploration expenditures of $1 million or more. The companies employed 303 people in exploration projects in 2005, up from 184 in 2004 and 88 in 2003, according to the state's Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys. These impressive figures in Alaska reflected the story...
