The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
Sorted by date Results 76 - 100 of 105
Mineral exploration spending in Alaska will likely struggle to top US$80 million for 2014, a dramatic fall from the US$365.1 million pinnacle reached in 2011. "The din of mineral industry activity that is normally a part of the summer months in Alaska is decidedly muted this year as the global mining industry attempts to lift itself off the bottom of a plus-18-month-long slump," Avalon Development President Curt Freeman opined in a June column written for Mining News. Unlike 2...
Over the past month, the world has been awash in year-end 2013 mining news, ranging from exploration and production statistics to economic impact numbers and mining favorability polls. The Alaska highlights from this wad of info include the results from the annual Fraser Institute political jurisdiction favorability survey where Alaska placed first in the world out of 112 jurisdictions for mineral potential. However, Alaska plummeted to 21st place on the survey's Policy Percep...
Redstar Gold Corp. June 11 reported multi-ounce gold intercepts from the first two holes of a recently completed eight-hole drill program on the Shumagin prospect at its Unga gold project on the Alaska Peninsula. Hole 15SH011 cut 1.9 meters grading 5.89 ounces per ton gold and 2.4 oz/t silver over 1.9 meters. Hole 15SH012 cut three intercepts: 1.03 oz/t gold and 6.1 oz/t silver over 2.0 meters; 0.49 oz/t gold and 5.3 oz/t silver over 3.0 meters; and 3.88 oz/t gold and 12.3...
Redstar Gold Corp. May 21 reported that all eight holes of a 1,500-meter phase-1 drill program successfully encountered Shumagin-style vein mineralization at expected depths at the company's Unga gold project on the Alaska Peninsula. The 30-day, phase-1 program was designed to target various structural elevations of the Shumagin vein system, ranging from sea level to 140 meters below sea level; and test for continuity of existing known mineralization along strike about 100...
I recently returned from the Geological Society of Nevada's once-every-five-years Symposium in Reno and was surprised to learn a number of things regarding Alaska, despite the symposium's tight focus on the Great Basin of the western United States. First off, mineral exploration guru Brent Cook presented information suggesting we have reached and are "bumping along" the bottom of the current metals market slump. Reminded me of an overloaded fixed-wing aircraft bumping down the...
Redstar Gold Corp. April 29 reported that it has begun the first phase of its 2015 drill program at its Unga gold project, located at the eastern end of the Aleutian Islands of Southwest Alaska. This initial eight-hole (roughly 1,450 meters) program will target the Shumagin gold zone, which is part of the larger Shumagin trend that extends six miles and parallels the six-mile-long Apollo-Sitka trend. This diamond drilling will occur in an area where historically reported holes...
With a mild winter for most of Alaska behind us and an early spring in progress over much of the state, spring fever has once again laid its grip on the mining industry. A number of exploration and development programs are slated for the summer season, suggesting the mining industry has finally started to rise from the three-year miasma that has gripped it worldwide. A couple of macro-scale items also are pointing toward a more robust industry. The U. S. Geological Survey's...
Redstar Gold Corp. March 31 said it plans to start a phase-1 drill program at its Unga Gold project in April. The roughly 1,500 meters of drilling will primarily focus on outlining the high-grade gold mineralization at the Shumagin prospect, the highest priority target among numerous targets on the company's Unga property located in the Aleutian Arc of Southwest Alaska. The drill program is the first to be undertaken since 2011 and will augment the considerable existing...
Amid the volatile metals markets that have become the norm in the past year, miners, developers, explorers, prospectors and investors met in Vancouver at the end of January for the annual Cordilleran Roundup mining convention. The mood was decidely positive, and having seen a lot of "whistling in the cemetary" at this convention in the past, I know the difference between false bravado and contagious optimism. Perhaps it was the stabilization of copper prices after a nine month... Full story
With a new management team in place, roughly C$2 million of cash in the bank and an improved understanding of its high-grade gold mineralization, Redstar Gold Corp. is preparing to launch an early 2015 drill program at its Unga project, found in the Aleutian Arc of Southwest Alaska. Unga - where Redstar's 2014 surface exploration program grabbed rock samples with grades of up to 401 grams per metric ton gold and 266 g/t silver - is a high-grade gold property that encompasses... Full story
The nearer your destination, the more you slip sliding away." As 2014 quickly slip-slides away, these normally melancholy lyrics by Paul Simon take on a surprisingly upbeat meaning for Alaska's mining industry. Unlike watching most years slip by, seeing 2014 in the rearview mirror will bring a smile to most in the mining industry, not only in Alaska, but worldwide. This was our third consecutive year of declining commodities prices, near-zero investor interest and the... Full story
At the same time as the EPA is pushing forward on its planned precedent-setting, pre-emptive, pre-permit veto of the Pebble project and the tailings dam failure at the Mount Polley mine in British Columbia, former Gold Fields Ltd. Chief Geologist Rael Lipson published an eye-opening summary of where porphyry copper-gold projects like Pebble, Mt. Polley and dozens of others around the world fit into the future of gold production. The article, appearing in the July 2014...
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...
The din of mineral industry activity that is normally a part of the summer months in Alaska is decidedly muted this year as the global mining industry attempts to lift itself off the bottom of a plus-18-month-long slump. Some Alaska projects are moving forward but most field budgets are small with commensurately reduced goals attached. Larger mining companies, many under new management, are rapidly shedding non-core assets while revising budgets and timeframes for... Full story
At the recent Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada meeting in Toronto, Dr. Richard Schodde, managing director of MinEx Consulting, presented some key factors which affect the time span between a mineral discovery and start-up of commercial mining. The study reviewed about 3,500 nonferrous metal deposits discovered between 1950 and 2013. Dr. Schodde's findings suggest that only 45 percent of all discoveries made since 1950 have turned into mines. The rate is... Full story
I recently attended the 119th Annual Meeting of the Northwest Mining Association in Reno and came away feeling better about Alaska than when I arrived. Alaska Miners Association Director Deantha Crockett chaired and spoke in a session that covered everything from small mining operations and new exploration discoveries to advanced exploration projects and operating mines. The 8 a.m. session was surprisingly well-attended, despite the fact that the hotel was host to 1,000 explor...
Having enjoyed one of the warmest and driest summers on record, most of Alaska is now paying the piper as unseasonably cold and in many areas, snowy, weather takes hold of the state. With the termination dust come news that is both good and bad, a common theme in what is turning out to be a year of significant cutbacks for exploration, development and production plans. Earlier in 2013, I summarized the expected decrease in exploration expenditures this year. Now that the bulk... Full story
FMM: TSX-V President: Michael Williams CEO & Vice President, Exploration: Rob McLeod Pyramid, a copper-gold-molybdenum porphyry project situated on the Alaska Peninsula of Southwest Alaska, was the primary target of Full Metal Minerals Ltd.'s 2012 exploration. The Vancouver, B.C.-based junior (49 percent) and its Chile-based project partner, Antofagasta Minerals S.A. (51 percent), carried out a 3,000-meter drill program to follow-up on copper-gold-molybdenum mineralization outlined by 17 holes drilled by the partners in 2010... Full story
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...
There are some new statistics just out from the Alaska Miners Association that I thought you might like to see. For 2011, the Alaska mining industry accounted for 4,500 direct jobs and 9,000 indirect jobs. The industry paid US$620 million in payroll with the average salary totaling US$100,000 per year, which is double the statewide average for all sectors. The industry paid US$148 million in rents, royalties, taxes and other fees to the State of Alaska (up 170 percent over...
I was tempted to make a few 2012 predictions now that 2011 is nearly gone, but I decided not to when I came across the following lines and was struck by how closely they mimic our current mining climate: "On a more local level, several old Alaska properties have been rejuvenated by new players to the Alaska mineral scene. Reserve announcements have touched off renewed land acquisitions and property negotiations. Contracts for technical personnel, drill rigs, helicopters and... Full story
Stretching some 1,600 kilometers (1,000 miles) off Southwest Alaska into the Pacific Ocean, the Alaska Peninsula and trailing Aleutian Islands host among the oldest gold discoveries ever made in Alaska, yet it is the only island arc environment in the Pacific Ring of Fire without a major producing mine. Though no mines are currently operating in this region rich with epithermal gold, and porphyry copper-gold mineralizing systems, the arc has a prominent entry in the annals of...
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...
TSX-V: FMM President: Michael Williams CEO and Vice President, Exploration: Rob McLeod Full Metal Minerals Ltd. - which spun its Fortymile zinc property into a new company - has narrowed its focus to copper and gold exploration in Alaska. Pyramid, a copper-gold-molybdenum porphyry project situated on the Alaska Peninsula of Southwest Alaska, was primary target of the Vancouver, B.C.-based junior's 2011 exploration. Full Metal and Chile-based project partner Antofagasta Minerals S.A., carried out a 2,575-meter drill program... Full story
A recent article in the Newsletter of the Society of Economic Geologists discussed ways of addressing an arresting trend in the mining industry that affects Alaska's mining future. Authors N. Stephen Enders of the Colorado School of Mines and Cliff Saunders of Too Serious Unlimited, showed that the discovery rate for gold has been dropping steadily since 1999, while the gold mined by operating mines worldwide has remained essentially unchanged at about 80 million ounces per year. The low for ounces discovered coincided with...
