Mining News: New year, decade brings opportunities 01/17/2010
Alaska mining industry will continue to supply world's demands for mineral resources, despite ups and downs in global markets
As we plunge headlong into a new year and a new decade, the broad economic indicators for the mining industry suggest continued strong prices for most commodities in 2010 followed by slightly lower av...

Mining News: Usibelli thrives on coal exports in 2009 01/17/2010
Miner anticipates continued strength in overseas sales in 2010; groups file suit to curb alleged 'Clean Water Act' violations
Increased interest in Alaska coal from buyers in Asia and Chile boosted exports from the Usibelli Coal Mine to record levels in 2009. According to Steve Denton, vice president for business developmen...

Alyeska plans pipeline bullet-hole drill 01/17/2010
Exercise will involve field testing hydraulic clamp designed to quickly seal high-pressure oil leak; 2001 shooting caused big spill
Alyeska Pipeline Service Co. is planning a field exercise this year to test a hydraulically powered clamp designed to stop oil squirting out of the trans-Alaska oil pipeline through a bullet hole. The...

Point Thomson EIS public meetings set 01/17/2010
Five public meetings have been set on the Point Thomson project environmental impact statement. The proposed project is an oil and natural gas condensate extraction operation at Point Thomson on the N...

Corps working on EIS for standalone line 01/03/2010
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is working on a draft environmental impact statement for the State of Alaska's proposed standalone in-state gas pipeline project. The corps is the lead federal agency;...

Noah tells legislators time to choose 01/03/2010
Says Legislature funding too many options, confusing market; Irwin says information isn't in for standalone or AGIA line to market
Alaska legislators heard two different views in mid-December of what they should do about gas projects in the state: Harry Noah, the outgoing project manager for the state's in-state gas project, said...

Swenson named in-state gas line manager 01/03/2010
Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell has named Bob Swenson of Fairbanks to replace Harry Noah as the state's in-state gas line project manager. Noah announced his resignation earlier this year, citing the demands...

ANGDA resolves EIS project description 12/27/2009
Authority's board approves moving ahead with Beluga to Fairbanks gas line permitting work, exclusive agreement on propane project
The Alaska Natural Gas Development Authority, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Bureau of Land Management appear to have come to an agreement on a project description of ANGDA's Beluga-to-Fairb...

Power from the North Slope by HVDC? 12/20/2009
State-of-the-art high-voltage direct current, or HVDC, technology is changing the rule book for long-distance power transmission, thus perhaps making feasible the export of large-scale power supplies...

Mining News: Miners, like boats, rode tide in 2009 12/20/2009
But the fortunes of some mining companies foundered even as commodities prices marched steadily higher during the past 12 months
Although commodities prices have improved for the mining industry over the past year, 2009 has been the kind of year most of us hope not to repeat. The best analogy I can come up with is the one that...

Mining News: Kinross signs JV pact to explore claims 12/20/2009
Gold producer joins Millrock Resources in targeting grassroots prospects on Seward Peninsula; drill program scheduled for 2010
Kinross Gold Corp. has agreed to team up with Millrock Resources Inc. to explore more than 900 square kilometers, or 222,000 acres, of gold properties in the Council Mining District about 60 miles, or...

Planning for different power outcomes 12/20/2009
In developing an integrated resource plan for power generation and transmission in the Alaska Railbelt, consultancy firm Black and Veatch evaluated four possible future power scenarios, Kevin Harper, Bl...

Legislators want heavy oil discussions 12/20/2009
Heavy oil is thick as honey and hard to pump out of the ground. That's where most of it has stayed while lighter crude is available. But heavy oil may be the future of Alaska's petroleum development,...

Fire damages FNG Port Mackenzie plant 12/20/2009
A fire ripped through a maintenance shop adjacent the Fairbanks Natural Gas LNG plant at Port MacKenzie, north of Anchorage, early in the morning of Dec. 17. The cause of the fire has yet to be determ...

NSB not part of suits against MMS 12/20/2009
The North Slope Borough said Dec. 15 that it has opted to continue to work with Shell and agencies on the company's Beaufort Sea exploration plan, and will not join lawsuits filed in the wake of feder...

Groups sue to stop Beaufort Sea drilling 12/20/2009
A group that helps manage Eskimo whaling in Alaska has sued to halt petroleum drilling proposed next year in the Beaufort Sea by a subsidiary of Shell Oil. The Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission and the...

What chance now for North Slope LNG? 12/20/2009
World market is growing fast but North Slope gas would need to compete on cost with massive new supplies close to tidewater
Few subjects raise the temperature more in a room full of Alaskans on a cold winter night than the perennial debate about exporting North Slope gas in a pipeline through Canada versus exporting the ga...

Noah: standalone line work on schedule 12/20/2009
Parks Highway route selected because it is shorter, could cost less; gas conditioning in Cook Inlet, at PBU facilities, considered
Harry Noah, special manager of the in-state gas pipeline project, told Alaska legislators Dec. 16 that the standalone or bullet line - a project which would deliver gas just within Alaska, not to outs...

Exploration credits holding steady 12/20/2009
Proposed FY 2011 budget has $180M for tax credits, funds in-state and out-of-state gas, variety of other resource-related projects
The $10.5 billion budget proposed by Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell on Dec. 14 continues to fund many resource development projects started under the Palin administration, and creates several new projects,...

Power for the future 12/20/2009
AEA publishes draft integrated resource plan for Alaska Railbelt electricity
The Alaska Energy Authority has published a draft regional integrated resource plan that presents options and recommendations for the future of electricity power generation, transmission and demand ma...

Corps begins work on Point Thomson EIS 12/13/2009
ExxonMobil is moving ahead with development permitting for its Point Thomson project. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers published a notice Dec. 4 of intention to prepare a draft environmental impact s...

DGGS publishes CI research findings 12/13/2009
Alaska's Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys has published the preliminary results of it 2006-07 research into the geology of the Homer and Kachemak Bay area of Alaska's Cook Inlet. The pri...

Unintended consequences? 12/13/2009
Balash: Without exemption cap-and-trade scheme could sink NS gas line
Without some form of exemption for the planned gas treatment plant at the Prudhoe Bay end of a future gas pipeline from Alaska's North Slope, current climate change legislation working its way through...

Seeking answers 12/13/2009
15 lawmakers ask Parnell if state oil tax policy helps or hurts Alaska investment
A group of leading state legislators on Dec. 4 asked Gov. Sean Parnell for a raft of information they want to use to evaluate whether the 2007 oil tax reform is helping or hurting industry investment...

Oil Patch Bits: Alaska Railroad 2010 annual print release event 12/06/2009
The Alaska Railroad Corp. said Nov. 24 that it will release its 2010 annual print during two public sale-and-singing events in mid-December, each featuring print artist Stefan Wilson who will be on ha...