The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
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Redstar Gold Corp. Sept. 12 reported the closing of a C$4.1 million private placement that involved the issuance of 41 million shares at C10 cents each. Eric Sprott acquired 9.6 million of these shares and, together with shares already held, now holds roughly 11.6 percent of Redstar's issued and outstanding common shares. The proceeds from the financing will be used for drilling and other exploration at Redstar's Unga gold project in Southwest Alaska. -SHANE LASLEY...
Redstar Gold Corp. Sept. 15 reported results from a summer surface sampling and geological mapping program at the Shumagin zone, a 2,000-meter-long structure that is part of the nine-kilometer- (5.6 miles) long Shumagin Trend at the company's Unga gold project in Southwest Alaska. Highlights from this work include a composited continuous chip sample that averaged 37.26 grams per metric ton gold 103.7 g/t silver across 2.3 meters. This sample was taken from a weathered breccia containing rhodochrosite, a manganese carbonate...
With a new top executive and financial backing from one of the most respected investors in the mining space, Redstar Gold Corp. is taking a fresh look at Unga, a high-grade gold property that is home to Alaska’s first hard-rock mine. Going into 2016, Redstar appointed Peter Ball as president and CEO of the company, filling a void left by Ken Booth, who served as the company’s interim top executive for about a year. Ball brings more than 25 years of experience to Redstar, inc...
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...
Over the last month the inevitable termination dust has begun to show up across Alaska, bringing with it completion of mineral exploration programs and transition of development and production projects to winter operational modes. Explorers, developers and miners will soon be gathering to compare notes at the annual Alaska Miners Association Convention in Anchorage, an event that always overlaps national and local election night. Alaska's mineral industry outlook brightened...
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,...
As tangible buoyancy returns to the mining industry, I began to wonder if any of the multitude of forecasters had actually predicted the recent return of stronger metals prices. Since most "forecasters" are actually "hindsighters," I was drawn to a November 2013 summary of gold mines by Roy Sebag of Natural Resource Holdings. The summary, entitled "Global Gold Mines & Deposits 2013 Ranking," indicated that we were nearing peak gold production because the total in-situ ounces...
The owners of Alaska’s five large metal mines – Sumitomo Metal Mining Pogo, Hecla Mining Company, Kinross Gold Corp, Teck Resources Ltd. and Coeur Mining Inc. – accounted for nearly half the US$92 million of exploration spending in the state during 2014 and similar investments by these companies is providing solid footing for the Far North state’s mineral exploration sector this year. Avalon Development President Curt Freeman said he is seeing more mining majors shopping for d...
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...
If you have ever played or followed sporting events, you are probably familiar with that bizarre and often game-changing event known as the "change of momentum". This is when the team that was on the ropes suddenly comes to life and often roars to victory, putting smiles on the faces of coaches, fans and bookies alike. Well, unless I am mistaken, the Alaska mining industry has been the beneficiary of just such a change of momentum over the past month. After taking head shots...
With metal prices stabilizing, physical stockpiles dwindling and demand again on the rise, things are beginning to look up for the beleagered mining industry. Gold's performance over the past several months is a case in point. The World Gold Council reported that during the first quarter, buying of exchange-traded gold funds rose to its highest level since early 2009, wiping out the deep sell-offs of 2014 and 2015 for this instrument. Uncertainties in the fiscal stability of...
With winter programs winding down and summer efforts rapidly ramping up, it is becoming clear that 2017 will be a much more vigorous year for the Alaska mining industry than the 2013 to 2016 period. For example, my internal estimates are already pushing $75 million for exploration activity alone and a significant number of projects that have announced exploration plans have not yet announced budgets for 2017, so that number is likely to rise. Compare this to estimates of less...
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...
As the Alaska mining industry prepares for and kicks off exploration, development and production activities for 2017, the question on everyone’s lips at the recent Cordilleran Roundup mining convention in Vancouver, B. C., was the same: “Have we seen the bottom of this down cycle?” While signs of life were seen for short periods during the 2008 to 2015 period, the reality was an overall downward spiral of commodities prices and global demand. However, in a recent editi...
Redstar Gold Corp. Nov. 7 reported the completion of a 1,505-meter drill program at its Unga gold project in Southwest Alaska. Spaced over a roughly 750-meter stretch of the 2,000-meter-long Shumagin gold zone, the seven holes drilled during this program targeted the lateral and vertical expansion potential of high-grade gold mineralization at various structural elevations. The first two holes, 16SH019 and 16SH020, tested the expansion potential of high-grade vein-breccia...
Redstar Gold Corp. Oct. 5 said it is planning a 1,500-meter drill program at its high-grade Unga gold project in Alaska. Scheduled to start in late October, the drilling will focus on outlining additional high-grade gold mineralization at the Shumagin zone along strike and at depth. The company anticipates a larger drill program in spring 2017, after all results from this second phase of 2016 exploration are received and modeled. "With the drill rig currently at site, we are...
Redstar Gold Corp. Aug. 23 reported that Eric Sprott has agreed to acquire 30 million Redstar shares through a non-brokered private placement of up to 41 million shares at C10 cents each. The financing will involve two tranches that are expected to close before the end of August. Upon full closing of the financing, Sprott will control roughly 12.1 percent of Redstar's shares. Redstar Chairman Jacques Vaillancourt also will invest in the private placement. No warrants will be o...
Redstar Gold Corp. June 8 reported the start of an exploration program focused on delineating new drill targets at the Shumagin prospect of its Unga gold project, located on Unga and Popof Islands just off the Alaska Peninsula. Past trenching and drilling in the Shumagin prospect area has traced high-grade gold-silver veins for more than 1,200 meters along strike and to a depth of 330 meters. The company said multiple dilation zones and coincident gold-silver bearing breccia...
Redstar Gold Corp. Jan. 25 reported the appointment of Peter Ball as president, CEO and director of the exploration company with gold properties in Alaska, Nevada and Ontario. Ball, who has more than 25 years of mining experience and leadership, is known to have an intense drive, passion and energy required to deliver on the market's expectations. He is joining Redstar from Columbus Gold, where he served as senior vice-president of business and corporate development. Columbus...
RGC: TSX.V Executive Chairman: Jacques Vaillancourt Interim President and CEO: Ken Booth VP, Exploration: Jesse Grady Redstar Gold Corp. got an early start on exploration at its Unga gold project in Southwest Alaska. Located on an island just off the Alaska Peninsula, Redstar's Unga property blankets two parallel trends of high-grade epithermal gold veins that each extend for more than 4.5 miles across the southeast corner of Unga Island. An initial phase of exploration that began in April included an eight-hole drill...
Redstar Gold Corp. Sept. 8 reported the closing of a C$750,000 non-brokered private placement consisting of 18.75 million common shares at a price of C4 cents per share. No finder's fees were paid in conjunction with the financing. Proceeds of the placement will be used to advance the company's Unga Gold project in Alaska and for general working capital purposes. Located on an island just off the Alaska Peninsula, Redstar's Unga property blankets two parallel trends of...
Over the past month Alaska's mining industry has suffered a perfect storm of manmade and natural issues that read like something from a pulp fiction novel. On the man-made side of the ledger, gold, silver, copper, and lead prices have all hit 5-year lows and zinc prices continue to slide lower. Mining equity markets are still in severe decline, making it extremely challenging for junior exploration companies to raise the risk capital necessary to explore their Alaska...
Redstar Gold Corp. July 2 reported that four step-out holes drilled at the Shumagin prospect of its Unga gold project in Southwest Alaska continues to cut high-grade gold in the Shumagin vein as well as tapping a second older system in the footwall. Highlights from the step-out drilling included 5.0 meters grading 9.35 grams per metric ton gold and 27.6 g/t silver, including 1.0 meters of 41.2 g/t gold and 130.0 g/t silver in hole 15SH018. This high-grade intercept was...
With intercepts of up to 5.9 ounces per short ton gold over widths of more than six feet, Redstar Gold Corp.'s first round of 2015 drilling at Unga is reminiscent of the long history of this high-grade gold project in Southwest Alaska. Located on an island just off the Alaska Peninsula, Redstar's Unga property blankets two parallel trends of high-grade epithermal gold veins that each extend for more than 4.5 miles across the southeast corner of Unga Island. The Apollo-Sitka...
The world's mining industry has once again transmogrified itself in the face of changing global metals markets and investor expectations. In a recent Reuters report, several companies, including Newmont Mining Corp., Goldcorp Inc. and Yamana Gold Inc., were singled out as having taken steps to bring smaller, leaner, lower output projects into production to avoid the cost over-runs which have plagued the large multibillion-dollar projects in recent years. The same large mine...
