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  • The Caterpillar booth at MINExpo with people talking and large display.

    MINExpo exposes net-zero mining realities

    Shane Lasley, Mining News|Updated Oct 3, 2024

    New equipment and innovations unveiled at mining event underscore the complexities of transitioning mines from diesel to electric. MINEXPO INTERNATIONAL 2024, LAS VEGAS – From the heavy equipment manufacturers with their monstrous mining machines inside the Las Vegas Convention Center to the mining companies kicking the tires of those machines, transitioning to the zero-emissions mines of tomorrow was a topic that commanded center stage at MINExpo 2024. While the o...

  • A more than two-story-tall mining truck inside the Las Vegas Convention Center.

    Liebherr grabs MINExpo 2024 spotlight

    Shane Lasley, Data Mine North|Updated Oct 3, 2024

    German firm unveils $2.8 billion zero-emissions mining equipment partnership with Fortescue. MINEXPO INTERNATIONAL 2024, LAS VEGAS – Grabbing the spotlight during the world's largest mining event is no small feat. A historic $2.8 billion partnership to further advance the technologies needed for zero-emissions mining, however, put German heavy equipment manufacturer Liebherr and West Australian miner Fortescue front and center during the main event that comes around just o...

  • Hand holds up a slab of rock with metallic blue antimony mineralization.

    Looking North to Alaska for antimony

    Shane Lasley, Mining News|Updated Sep 9, 2024

    As China curbs exports of the strategic and critical metalloid, America's Last Frontier reemerges as potential domestic supplier. China's coming state-controlled restrictions on antimony exports has significantly elevated the criticality and price of this semi-metal that is already a top concern from many officials within the U.S. Department of Defense due to its use in military hardware and the dearth of antimony mines in the United States. An element that has properties that...

  • Looking over a long airstrip and camps in an Alaska river valley.

    West Susitna Mineral District emerges

    Shane Lasley, Mining News|Updated Sep 5, 2024

    U.S. GoldMining and Nova Minerals work side-by-side to advance gold, copper, and antimony projects at end of West Susitna Road. WEST SUSTINA MINERAL DISTRICT – The 4,000-foot Whiskey Bravo airstrip about 100 miles northwest of Anchorage as the Cessna 206 flies is serving as the operational headquarters of an emerging Alaska mining district with the potential to be a domestic source of minerals and metals critical to America's economic wellbeing, national security, and clean e...

  • Helicopter approaches a drill testing the mineral-rich Arctic deposit in Alaska.

    Alaskans outraged by Ambler Road decision

    Shane Lasley, Mining News|Updated May 9, 2024

    Trade groups are incensed; many Alaska Natives feel ignored; DC delegation and governor vow to fight what is seen as a "politically motivated" ruling. Politically motivated, Illegal, hypocritical, irresponsible, unacceptable, and disgusting; this is how Alaska business leaders, policymakers, and Natives are characterizing the Biden administration's denial of permits to build a road that would link the critical mineral-rich Ambler Mining District to North American markets. "To...

  • Molten gold pours into a bar mold at the Fort Knox mine.

    Alaska mine value tops $4 billion in 2023

    Shane Lasley, Mining News|Updated May 8, 2024

    Zinc contributed most to state's mine production value during 2023; gold is poised to take the crown and make run toward 1 million ounces per year. At a value of $1.5 billion, zinc held onto its throne as the most valuable metal produced in Alaska during 2023. With production forecasts and price trends headed in opposite directions for zinc and gold, however, the gleaming precious metal that drew fortune-seekers North at the turn of the 20th century could soon regain the...

  • A canvas-enclosed drill rig glows yellow as it tests a KSM deposit at night.

    BC unveils Critical Minerals Strategy 1.0

    Shane Lasley, Mining News|Updated Feb 20, 2024

    As a mineral-rich Canadian province and a top global hub for mineral exploration and mining, British Columbia has the geology and technical expertise to be a global powerhouse when it comes to supplying the minerals and metals needed for the clean energy transition. Canada's westernmost province, however, has been lagging many of its mining peers when it comes to a cohesive strategy to take full advantage of the generational opportunity on its doorstep. The provincial...

  • A train passes along a river and fireweed on the White Pass and Yukon Route.

    Forging a Golden Arc mining alliance

    Shane Lasley, Mining News|Updated Jan 25, 2024

    Is it time for BC, Yukon, Alaska to forge an alliance to unlock critical mineral wealth, usher in new era of prosperity in the 21st century? The extremely mineral-rich geology that sweeps in a roughly 1,500-mile (2,600 kilometers) arc from the southern tip of British Columbia's Golden Triangle, through the Yukon, and onward to Alaska's west coast does not recognize the borders it spans. Likewise, the opportunities and challenges related to unlocking the precious, industrial, a...

  • The Red Dog camp and mill facilities reflect off a pond during a summer day.

    Alaska Standard for mining energy metals

    Shane Lasley, Mining News|Updated Dec 1, 2023

    State's inaugural sustainability report details the ESG advantages of looking North to Alaska for energy transition metals. The global energy transition has steered Alaska to a critical minerals crossroad that will shape the economic future of America's Last Frontier. On the one hand, the push for low-carbon energy is expected to put a dent in the demand for petroleum, which has been Alaska's economic lifeblood for more than five decades. On the other, Alaska happens to be...

  • Chess board underlain by China and US flags representing strategic positioning.

    AMA gathering abuzz with critical minerals

    Shane Lasley, Mining News|Updated Nov 30, 2023

    From Pentagon's $37.5M grant to Graphite One to emerging nickel deposits, critical minerals are a hot AK mining topic. With Washington investing billions of dollars into ensuring safe and secure critical mineral supply chains, many mining companies are focusing more sharply on unlocking Alaska's potential to be a domestic source of the 50 minerals and metals critical to America's economic well-being and national security. The growing list of critical minerals being sought...

  • Flowers add color to the picturesque Swiss-style alpine Beaver Creek Village.

    Capital as thin as air at Beaver Creek

    Shane Lasley, Mining News|Updated Nov 10, 2023

    BEAVER CREEK, COLO. – The thin air at the 8,100-foot elevation of the 2023 Precious Metals Summit at Beaver Creek offers a perfect allegory for the markets faced by the gold and silver mineral exploration companies that summited the Rocky Mountains to connect with investors. Mineral explorers in good financial shape hardly noticed the relatively low concentrations of capital atop Beaver Creek Mountain, those in decent shape may be winded but are hopeful they have enough f...

  • Two drillers test a nickel deposit on a warm late summer day in Alaska.

    Alaska Energy Metals project rediscovered

    Shane Lasley, Mining News|Updated Sep 14, 2023

    NIKOLAI, ALASKA – Alaska Energy Metals Corp. President and CEO Greg Beischer has returned to finish what he started when he first landed in Alaska as a young geologist for INCO Ltd. in 1995 – outline a world-class nickel deposit at Nikolai, a project that lies on the northern margins of an energy metals enriched geological terrane that arcs across the 49th State. "Alaska Energy Metals is positioning itself to supply domestic markets with a source of critical and strategic met...

  • Underground mine in an outline of Alaska on a critical minerals background.

    Alaska critical minerals take center stage

    Shane Lasley, Mining News|Updated Aug 31, 2023

    From the Pentagon's multi-million-dollar investment in Graphite One Inc. to China's restrictions on the exports of gallium and germanium, Alaska's current critical minerals supply and future potential was in the headlines and subtext of American news stories over the past month. Alaska as a future source of minerals critical to the clean energy transition grabbed headlines after the mid-July news that the U.S. Department of Defense awarded Graphite One Inc. $37.5 million to...

  • Drill outline multi-million-ounce gold resource north of Fairbanks, Alaska.

    Group behind Felix excited about Alaska

    Shane Lasley, Mining News|Updated Jul 20, 2023

    Australia-based Mine Discovery Fund launches Wiseman Metals to explore Doyon-owned copper & critical minerals properties; more deals to come. Since emerging on the Alaska mineral exploration scene in 2021, Felix Gold Ltd. has amassed more than 150 square miles of gold-enriched properties in the Fairbanks Mining District and is working toward establishing an inaugural resource at one of the most prospective gold targets discovered so far on this enormous land package. As Felix...

  • Daniel Yergin and Gov. Dunleavy onstage for a fireside chat on Alaska energy.

    US Permitting pandemic plagues Alaska

    Shane Lasley, Mining News|Updated Jun 29, 2023

    Alaska's unparalleled potential to be a major domestic supplier of the minerals and metals critical to the clean energy transition attracted some of North America's top commodities investors and analysts to Anchorage for the second annual Alaska Sustainable Energy conference. The 49th State's rich mineral resources, however, may remain on lockdown due to a "permitting pandemic" that plagues not only Alaska but the entire United States. "Our country is suffering from a...

  • A view of the ends of various-sized copper cables for electrical transmission.

    A northern solution to copper shortage

    Shane Lasley, Mining News|Updated May 11, 2023
    1

    The North of 60 Mining area hosts billions of pounds of copper ready to be delivered to a world craving this metal in sky-high demand for wiring the electric vehicles and renewable energy infrastructure that would enable the envisioned low-carbon future. Whether enough of these copper-rich projects are developed in time to circumvent a short circuit of the clean energy transition remains to be seen. Global Market analysts such as S&P Global have predicted that copper...

  • Pin in a map north of Great Slave Lake in Canada’s Northwest Territories.

    Yellowknife emerging as EV metals hub

    Shane Lasley, Mining News|Updated Apr 10, 2023

    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)...

  • Silver bars and a balance scale with gold on one side and weights on the other.

    North of 60 Mining M&A activity heats up

    Shane Lasley, Mining News|Updated Mar 23, 2023

    From competing offers for an exploration company with large and intriguing mineral projects in the Yukon, to the world's largest gold miner making a US$17 billion bid to buyout an Australian mining company with two producing assets in British Columbia's Golden Triangle, February was a big month for mergers and acquisitions in the North of 60 Mining News coverage area. Three M&A proposals were put forward in February that would create a shift in the North of 60 mining sector...

  • Closeup of highly mineralized half core from drilling at Eskay Creek in BC.

    BC First Nations forge mining alliances

    Shane Lasley, Mining News|Updated Mar 2, 2023

    British Columbia's Golden Triangle is poised for a mining boom that raises the bar when it comes to achieving the higher environmental, social, and guidance expectations for companies that produce the gold, silver, copper, and other metals the world needs and wants. While this mineral district in BC's northwest corner is famed for its rich stores of copper, gold, and silver – and to a lesser degree, nickel, cobalt, platinum group metals, and other critical minerals – the ESG...

  • A ribbon of green aurora arcs above Meliadine Mine building lit up at night.

    Bolstering North of 60 mineral exploration

    Shane Lasley, Mining News|Updated Dec 15, 2022

    With mineral exploration expenditures nearly doubling over the past year, Nunavut has dethroned Yukon as the most popular Canadian territory to discover and expand deposits of industrial, precious, and critical minerals. According to preliminary estimates published by Natural Resources Canada, roughly C$232.4 million (US$173.7 million) will be spent on exploration and deposit evaluation in Nunavut this year, a 95% leap from over the C$119.2 million (US$89.1 million) invested...

  • Sample jars being fed into a PhotonAssay machine for gold analysis.

    Lightspeed answer to backlogged assays

    Shane Lasley, Mining News|Updated Dec 3, 2022

    PhotonAssay tech offers a modern, faster alternative to fire assaying for gold analysis. Assays are the very crux of mineral exploration – timely results returned from the lab help guide the search for orebodies and let investors know that the dollars being poured into drilling and sampling is money well spent. With assay lab turnaround times in a post-COVID world being measured in months instead of weeks, mineral exploration geologists are without an important tool for v...

  • Underground chrome mine in an outline of Alaska and critical minerals.

    49 critical minerals in the 49th State

    Shane Lasley, Mining News|Updated Nov 16, 2022

    From antimony historically mined near the Interior Alaska city of Fairbanks to the zinc and germanium produced at the Red Dog Mine, America's 49th State is a past producer, and a potential future source of the minerals and metals deemed critical to the United States. Earlier this year U.S. Geological Survey updated and expanded its list of critical minerals to include 50 minerals and metals essential to the economic or national security of the U.S. and which has a supply...

  • The Ekati diamond mine is surrounded by lakes found on a flat arctic expanse.

    Underwater mining for Ekati diamonds

    Shane Lasley, Mining News|Updated Oct 20, 2022

    Underwater mining conjures images of the dredging up gold-rich marine placers off the beaches of Nome, Alaska, diamonds from the ocean floor of the coast of Namibia, or collecting potato-sized nodules of manganese off the deep-ocean floor. Arctic Canadian Diamond Company, however, has a completely different use for submersible mining technology – recovering diamonds from the bottom of previously mined pits that have since filled with water at its Ekati Mine in Canada's N...

  • Piles of praseodymium, cerium, lanthanum, neodymium, samarium, and gadolinium.

    Alaska's minerals – a national imperative

    Shane Lasley, Mining News|Updated Sep 15, 2022

    Russia's invasion of Ukraine, America's tenuous relationship with China, and global competition for the enormous volume of mined materials needed to build the envisioned clean energy future has elevated the urgency for the United States to bolster domestic critical mineral supply chains. For many, these geopolitical and economic realities have elevated the development of Alaska's incredible critical mineral resources to a national imperative. The urgency of this matter is why...

  • Northwest Territories First Nation drummers perform on an ore sorter catwalk.

    Ore sorting upgrades North of 60 mines

    Shane Lasley, Mining News|Updated Sep 3, 2022

    "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...

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