RED DOG - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has decided that five conditions of the permit Teck Resources Ltd. needs to begin mining the Aqqaluk deposit at the Red Dog zinc-lead mine have been stayed, Dow Jones Newswires reported March 18. The NPDES permit, which was first issued to Teck in January, was appealed by environmental law firms in February. Early indications are that Teck believes the five conditions stayed by the EPA will prevent the company from beginning to mine the Aqqaluk deposit. The portions of the wastewater discharge permit not stayed by the appeal are expected to go into effect on March 31.
STOCK EXCHANGE - NovaGold Resources Inc. March 17 announced that it has been reintroduced to the Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSX Composite Index, effective at market open on March 22. The Composite is TSX’s headline index, tracking the largest TSX-listed companies based on market capitalization. NovaGold has also been added to the S&P/TSX Gold and S&P/TSX Global Mining indices. “Inclusion in these indices reflects how successfully NovaGold has rebuilt shareholder value over the last year,” said NovaGold President and CEO Rick Van Nieuwenhuyse. “We’ve been working hard to advance our portfolio of projects and bring value to shareholders. Inclusion in the Composite index gives index investors more exposure to the precious metals sector and NovaGold’s world-class portfolio of projects.”
FINANCE - International Tower Hill Mines Ltd. March 16 announced a proposed non-brokered financing of up to 5 million common shares of the company at a price of C$6 per common share in the United States and Canada. The company will pay a 6 percent finder's fee payable in cash or common shares on a portion of the offering. All common shares issued in the offering will have a hold period in Canada of four months and a day from the closing of the offering. All common shares issued in the United States will be subject to resale restrictions under U.S. federal and state securities laws. The net proceeds from the private placement are anticipated to be used by the company for the pre-feasibility study on the Livengood gold project in Alaska and general working capital.
HONORS – The Alaska Mining Hall of Fame March 11 inducted two names at a ceremony held during the Arctic Mining Symposium in Fairbanks – mining engineer Irving Reed and postal inspector John Clum. Reed lived from 1889 to 1968. His father was a lawyer who migrated to Nome during the gold rush. Reed grew up in the northwestern Alaska mining town before earning a degree in mining engineering at the University of California-Berkeley. He returned to Alaska and oversaw several mines in the state. He also chaired the Game Commission and is credited with introducing musk ox, bison, Sitka black-tailed deer and elk to various parts of the state. He died in 1968. Clum was appointed postal inspector for Alaska in 1898 and is remembered for his work as a postal inspector on the Chilkoot Trail during the Klondike gold rush. In addition to establishing at least 10 post offices in Alaska, he served as postmaster in Fairbanks from 1906-09. Clum is also famous in the history of the Wild West as the Indian agent who captured Geronimo. He served as mayor of Tombstone, Ariz., during the famed OK Corral gunfight in 1881. He died in 1932 in Los Angeles.
