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 173
Raging wildfires and record hot temperatures challenged the well-laid plans of a score and more of mineral explorers in Canada's Yukon this year as the 2023 field season shifted into high summer. Most of the companies, however, managed to carry out their exploration for gold, silver, copper, and other minerals across the territory. The fierce and sometimes out-of-control blazes marked one of the worst wildfire seasons seen in Canada in nearly 30 years, consuming more than...
Armed with new leadership and a plan to rapidly explore and develop its lithium prospects in Canada, Li-FT Power Ltd., set out in late 2022 on a bold quest to confirm historical prospects of lithium near the capital of Northwest Territories. While aggressive, the move was far from lacking precedent. Yellowknife, after all, has a history of delivering mineral riches, most notably upwards of 12 million ounces of gold from the legendary Con and Giant mines throughout much of the...
North Arrow Minerals Inc. Oct. 12 announced that ongoing exploration at its LDG and MacKay lithium projects in Northwest Territories has yielded the discovery of a new spodumene pegmatite at both properties. "Recent exploration of North Arrow's LDG and MacKay lithium projects has results in the discovery of new spodumene mineralization at both properties and increased our confidence in the size potential of this new spodumene-bearing lithium pegmatite field," said North Arrow...
Like many other northern regions, Canada's North was settled because of its mineral resources. When the Canadian Dominion Government first purchased its arctic regions from the British Crown in the late 1800s, the Northwest Territories was seen as a vast stretch of cold, inhospitable land and was thus largely ignored at the time. However, due to the Klondike Gold Rush, the future of these northern lands would change forever. These days, a new rush has arisen, a white gold...
The Northwest Territories capital city of Yellowknife is emerging as a northern link in North America's electric vehicle supply chain. Already home to Canada's only rare earths mine, a 160-kilometers (100 miles) area around this northern mining town happens to be enriched with the lithium and cobalt that is in massive demand for EV batteries, along with numerous other minerals critical to both Canada and the United States. A roughly 9,600-square-kilometer (3,700 square miles)...
Though effects of the COVID-19 pandemic lingered, mineral explorers rushed to the Yukon like moths to a flame during 2022. Mining's most daring sector rallied to generate the busiest field season seen in Canada's westernmost territory in years. In June, Natural Resources Canada projected mineral exploration and deposit appraisal spending in Yukon during 2022 to total C$157.9 million, up 14.5% from C$135.1 million estimated for 2021 and nearly double C$83.6 million in 2020....
Develops strategy to be the world's critical minerals supplier of choice Understanding that the renewable energy and electric vehicle revolution offers a "generational opportunity for Canada and its world-class mining sector," Ottawa is leveraging the nation's wealth of critical minerals to become a powerhouse that feeds raw materials into resource-hungry clean energy and technology supply chains. "Canada's Critical Minerals Strategy will position Canada as the global supplier...
Lack of domestic critical mineral supplies weakens US clean energy ambitions The White House and lawmakers on Capitol Hill are becoming increasingly aware that a lack of secure supplies of critical minerals and metals may be the kryptonite that weakens America's economy, national security, and clean energy ambitions. "The more we dive into this topic of critical minerals, the more I'm certain Superman isn't the only one who can be brought to his knees by rare minerals,"...
"Grade is king" is an adage that guides mineral exploration and mining. The premise behind this basic axiom of the mining business is the less ore that needs to be mined and processed per ounce of precious metals, pound of base metals, kilogram of critical minerals, or carat of gemstones produced, the more profitable an operation will be. The kingliest of orebodies would be of such high grade that a mining company would simply need to dig up the ore, crush it, and then ship it...
Seeking asylum from the persecution of the Klu Klux Klan, Peter Risby fled north to Canada with his family. In so doing, his upbringing would be one of adventure and survival in the harsh arctic lands of the Far North. There, he would be welcomed by the local Indigenes and become a bridge between the First Nations Cree people and the ever-encroaching westernization of European settling. Risby's true pioneering spirit, contributions to mining and exploration in Canada, as well...
White Rock Minerals Ltd. Feb. 17 reported that it has doubled the inferred resource at Dry Creek with 3,800 meters of drilling completed last year in 12 holes at this high-grade volcanogenic massive sulfide deposit on the company's Red Mountain project in Alaska. Located about 60 miles (100 kilometers) south of Fairbanks, the 323-square-mile (836 square kilometers) project hosts both high-grade zinc-lead-silver-gold VMS deposits and intrusion-related gold prospects. "The dual...
Since first coming to Alaska to explore zinc-rich volcanogenic massive sulfide deposits at Red Mountain, Australia-based White Rock Minerals Ltd. has continually added zinc-silver and gold targets within and on the outskirts of this project that has now been expanded to 323 square miles (836 square kilometers). The company's 2021 drill program tested high-grade zinc-lead-silver-gold VMS targets that attracted it to Red Mountain in the first place and the intrusion-related...
While copper may be the new oil of the green energy revolution, a wide variety of industrial minerals and metals found in abundance in Alaska will be needed to build the envisioned low-carbon future. In a 2021 report on the minerals and metals critical to low-carbon energy and transportation, the International Energy Agency estimates that a typical passenger electric vehicle requires six times the mineral inputs of a conventional internal combustion engine car and an onshore...
It is hard to quantify which is more impressive, the sheer size of the estate owned by Doyon Ltd. or the rich and underexplored mineral potential on the lands owned by the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act regional corporation for Alaska's Eastern Interior. Running the breadth of Alaska between the Brooks Range to the north and Alaska Range to the south, the Doyon region blankets a mineral-rich swath of Alaska's Interior that is nearly the size of Texas. Doyon owns 12.5...
White Rock Minerals Ltd. reported the discovery of high-grade copper and zinc, along with significant silver and gold, in rock samples collected from the Kiwi and Jack Frost targets on its 323-square-mile (836 square kilometers) Red Mountain property in Alaska. This district-scale property hosts a wide array of base and precious metals deposits and prospects. The most advanced are the Dry Creek and WTF deposits, which host a combined 9.1 million metric tons of Australian...
White Rock Minerals Ltd. Sept. 28 reported that drilling has tapped spectacular zinc grades well outside the resource at Dry Creek, indicating the potential for a substantial expansion of this polymetallic volcanogenic massive sulfide deposit on the company's 323-square-mile (836 square kilometers) Red Mountain project in Alaska. Dry Creek and the nearby WTF deposits near the eastern end of the Red Mountain property host 9.1 million metric tons of Australian Joint Ore...
White Rock Minerals Ltd. this week reported that exploration crews have discovered a new gold prospect near the Last Chance target on its Red Mountain project and drills have tapped an extension of the Hunter volcanogenic massive sulfide zinc discovery at the eastern end of this 323-square-mile (836 square kilometers) multimineral project in Alaska. "White Rock has a plethora of exploration opportunities across its contiguous Last Chance-Red Mountain project in central...
White Rock Minerals Ltd. is carrying out the largest exploration program at Red Mountain, an already district-scale project in Alaska that keeps getting bigger as the Australian explorer continues to find more zinc, silver, and gold mineralization on the outskirts of this now 323-square-mile (836 square kilometers) land package. By late May, White Rock had already begun a more than 10,000-meter drill program that is testing both intrusive-related gold targets at the Last...
Accounting for at least US$100 million invested in mineral exploration and mine development in Alaska during 2021, Australian companies continue to work along the entire breadth of the Last Frontier's mining industry – from discovery to doré. Following a year in which COVID-19 protocols and travel restrictions made exploring Alaska challenging, especially for companies headquartered half a world away, this impressive investment in Alaska's mining sector demonstrates that Do...
White Rock Minerals Ltd. May 24 reported the start of a planned more than 10,000-meter drill program at its Red Mountain base and precious metals project in Alaska. The large program will include three diamond drill rigs testing for both intrusive related gold at the Last Chance prospect and expanding upon the high-grade silver-zinc-gold-lead volcanogenic massive sulfide mineralization at Red Mountain. The first of the three rigs are now turning at Dry Creek, a silver-rich VMS...
White Rock Minerals Ltd. April 21 announced the closing of a roughly A$8.8 million (US$6.8 million) financing, which will fund the Australian company's largest exploration program so far at the Red Mountain project in Alaska. The expanded 2021 program at Red Mountain will include three diamond drill rigs testing for both intrusive related gold at the Last Chance prospect and expanding up upon the high-grade silver-zinc-gold-lead volcanogenic massive sulfide mineralization at R...
White Rock Minerals Ltd. April 12 said it plans to carry out 10,000 meters of drilling this year to expand upon and explore the zinc, lead, silver, and gold potential across its 308-square-mile (798 square kilometers) Red Mountain project in Alaska. This program will involve three drill rigs focused on expanding the silver-rich volcanogenic massive sulfide mineralization already outlined in the Dry Creek and WTF deposits at Red Mountain, as well as the intrusive related gold...
From the first glimpse of a potential new discovery to watching the first load of ore pour into a new mill, mineral explorers working in Yukon Territory during 2020 reported experiencing the full gamut of mining highs. Encouraged by the commissioning of the Eagle Gold Mine, government grants for exploration projects, and metals prices, dozens of juniors rushed to the Yukon to chase prospects in the northern territory. "Based on the historic trends, coming into 2020, it looked...
White Rock Minerals Ltd. and AuStar Gold Ltd. Feb. 2 announced plans to merge into a larger mining company with a world-class portfolio of assets that include the large Red Mountain silver-zinc-gold-lead and Last Chance gold projects in Alaska, and a portfolio of exploration to producing gold assets in Australia. Under the arrangement proposed by the two companies, White Rock will acquire AuStar by issuing 0.78 White Rock shares for every AuStar share issued to shareholders....
Strong metal prices and an infusion of cash from notable resource investors helped to salvage much of a 2020 mineral exploration season in Alaska that became lethargic with disruptions, delays, and shelving of field programs infected by the COVID-19 pandemic early in the year. At its onset, 2020 was looking like it would be the best year for Alaska's mining sector in a decade. Australia-based mining companies were slated to invest nearly US$100 million in mineral exploration...
