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...

Mining News: Parnell lauds Alaska permitting process 11/22/2009
"The state will continue to defend our permits that we issue, and our permitting process. That is the least I can do as governor"
Alaska Governor Sean Parnell reflected on Alaska's rich mining history and vowed to defend the state's mining regulatory process and to oppose unjust attacks on the industry during an address to miner...

Mining News: Greens threaten Seward coal dust suit 11/22/2009
Environmental groups' law firm plans to sue Usibelli affiliate and Alaska railroad for alleged clean water violations in Seward
Three environmental groups – Sierra Club Alaska Chapter, Alaska Center for the Environment and Alaska Community Action on Toxics – have threatened to file a lawsuit against Alaska Railroad Corp. and U...

The Explorers 2009: Rampart Energy 11/15/2009
Explorers drilled in the Nenana basin in the 1960s and the 1980s, but never developed the gas-prone area southwest of Fairbanks. This past summer, though, a four-company partnership drilled the Nuniva...

The Explorers 2009: Interior Alaska basins 11/15/2009
Although analysts think that the majority of Alaska's oil and gas resources lie within the major basins of northern Alaska, Cook Inlet and the Bristol Bay area, there are several other basins around t...

Mining Explorers 2009: Increasing reserves to meet demand 11/01/2009
Usibelli closes in on nearly 1 billion tons of coal to position company for future growth
Usibelli Coal Mine Inc. completed a property wide reassessment of all available geologic data of its leases in the Nenana Coal Field in Interior Alaska, increasing its surface mineable coal reserves t...

Mining News: Miners reclaim Alaska mines as they work 10/25/2009
Property owners' intentions for land after minerals have been extracted is important element of planning for mine closures
Reclamation is a critical element of modern mining and mine planning. In Alaska, companies who wish to extract minerals from the earth must first present a plan on how they propose to return the distu...

Drillers near target at Nenana gas well 08/02/2009
Well passes depth of 7,000 feet on its way to zones where gas may be found; target depth for $15 million well 11,000-15,000 feet
Excitement is building on a gravel drilling pad a few miles west of the Parks Highway and the town of Nenana in Alaska's Interior as the Nunivak No. 1 well, the first exploration well to test one of t...

Mining News: News from Alaska field slows in summer 07/26/2009
PricewaterhouseCoopers report tallies the devastating financial impact of the 2008, 2009 recession on mining companies worldwide
The Alaska summer is in full swing but news is slow in arriving from new field programs and mining operations around the state. The biggest news in the past month was the U.S. Supreme Court's affirma...

Nenana gas exploration well spuds 07/12/2009
Drilling under way after a delay of several days because of Minto Flats forest fire; no immediate fire threat to the drill site; $15 million well targeted to 10,500-11,000 feet with Arctic Wolf No. 2 rig
Drilling is finally under way at the much anticipated Nunivak No. 1 natural gas exploration well on Alaska Mental Health Trust Land about 3 miles west of the town of Nenana in Alaska's interior. The w...

Rig moves to Nenana 06/28/2009
Partners Doyon, Usibelli, ASRC, Rampart prepare to drill Interior Alaska wildcat
On June 23 the Arctic Wolf No. 2 rig left Fairbanks, Alaska, in what the local newspaper described as "a slow caravan of tractor-trailers" on its way south to the Nenana basin to drill a natural gas e...

Charlie Boddy retires after 38 years at Usibelli 06/14/2009
Usibelli said June 1 that long time employee Charlie Boddy, vice president of governmental relations, is retiring after 38 years. Boddy's career began in early 1970 with Alaska Aviation Sales, an avia...

Usibelli Coal Mine Inc. 06/14/2009
Usibelli Coal Mine Inc. is a surface mining operation located in Healy, Alaska. It is the only operating coal mine in Alaska and employs approximately 95 Alaskans year round. UCM sells ultra low sulfu...

Nenana gas well to spud by end of June 06/14/2009
Doyon, ASRC, Usibelli, Rampart partnership hoping for large enough discovery to supply Fairbanks and Anchorage area
Doyon Ltd. executive says the Fairbanks regional Native corporation and its partners expect to start drilling for natural gas in the Nenana basin by the end of June. The partners are still wrapping...

Nenana partners ready to drill in June 04/12/2009
Goal pipeline gas to Fairbanks; large find could come to Southcentral; smaller volume could be used to generate power for intertie
The geology puzzle at Nenana could be unlocked - at least partially - with the drilling of the basin's first deep well this summer by partners Doyon Ltd., Rampart Energy Co., Arctic Slope Regional Cor...

Land transfer appeal upheld by court 03/22/2009
On March 13 the Alaska Supreme Court upheld an appeal against the transfer of 250,000 acres of state land to the University of Alaska's endowment trust. The Southeast Alaska Conservation Council and t...

Rampart applies for Nenana access permit 02/22/2009
Rampart Energy Co., formerly known as Babcock and Brown Energy Inc., has applied to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for a permit for the construction of an access road for the gas exploration well that...

Mining News: Alaska mining project roundup 01/25/2009
Alaska saw robust mining activity in 2008 across the full spectrum of the industry, from small placer operations to major producers, and from exploration programs to advanced development projects. Her...

Bison kick up the dust for Nenana plans 01/25/2009
Doyon worries that a state plan to introduce wood bison in the Minto Flats will jeopardize gas exploration in the Nenana basin
It's been nearly 200 years since wood bison roamed the wilds of Alaska, but a plan by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game to re-introduce this scarce animal into the state is raising the ire of Doy...

Savant accelerates Badami drilling plan 01/18/2009
Incentives in ACES, Alaska's new production tax system, behind its investment in North Slope exploration, development
Savant Alaska isn't waiting until 2010 to complete two wells in the eastern North Slope's Badami unit - a commitment operator BP made to the State of Alaska last year as part of its seventh plan of de...

Kempthorne appoints council members 12/28/2008
Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne has appointed one new member and reappointed four members to the BLM Alaska Resource Advisory Council. The council advises the Bureau of Land Management on public la...

Mining News: Usibelli anticipates cap-and-trade 11/30/2008
Operator of Alaska's only coal mine expects new greenhouse gas standards; warns of unprecedented expansion of EPA authority
Environmental stewardship is "old hat" for the Usibelli Coal Mine near Healy, Alaska, Bartly Coiley told attendees at the Alaska Miners Association 2008 Annual Convention in Anchorage Nov. 7. The fam...

Mining News: Miners spend record $4 billion in 2007 11/30/2008
Alaska mines and projects attract more investment in exploration, development and production on wave of strong metals prices
Alaska's mineral industry set a new spending record of about $4 billion in 2007, up 13.3 percent from the value of the industry's expenditures in 2006, according to an 89-page report released Nov. 5 b...

The Explorers 2008: Savant and ASRC taking on Badami 11/23/2008
Denver independent will operate, while Alaska's larger private company expands its portfolio
The maturation of the North Slope is all about companies bringing new ideas to bear on overlooked projects, and that dynamic could come into play this winter at Badami. Through a series of business ar...

The Explorers 2008: State considers exploration licenses 11/23/2008
Proposals cover 'frontier' basins in Houston and Central, state issued only four licenses to date
The State of Alaska offers access to land and waters in five prospective regions through annual lease sales, but for more than a century explorers have scoured other, more remote corners of Alaska in...