PEBBLE - Truth About Pebble, a citizen’s organization formed to support the process for the Pebble project, has called for broadcasters to pull the television advertisements accusing the Pebble Partnership of pumping “toxic” drill mud into the groundwater that feeds Bristol Bay salmon due to allegedly misleading and untruthful content. The anti-Pebble advertisements are sponsored by Alaska Wild Salmon Protection Inc., a group that the Alaska Public Offices Commission staff said was “set up to allow (Bob) Gillam to spend money on lobbying without disclosing he was employing lobbyists.” Gillam and Alaska Wild Salmon Protection are under investigation for campaign finance violations. A criminal investigation also has been recommended by APOC staff.
REGULATION - The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation June 8 announced an initial comment period in June and July to collect input on the development of the ADEC General Construction Permit. The ADEC is assuming the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System program from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for stormwater discharges on October 31, 2009. This means that EPA permits for stormwater management (such as the Construction General Permit, Multi-Sector General Permit and the Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System permit) will be managed by ADEC starting Oct. 31. The EPA CGP is scheduled to expire June 30, 2010 and will be reissued by ADEC. ADEC is planning to reissue the CGP by March 1, 2010 so the construction industry will know the permit requirements prior to the beginning of the 2010 construction season. ADEC will offer a second comment period during the official general permit adoption process in the fall. For further details go to http://www.dec.state.ak.us/water/wnpspc/stormwater/stormwater.htm and look under the “Of Interest” column and click on the “Request for Comments on CGP.”
GOLD - International Tower Hill Mines Ltd. June 10 said it began the 35,000 meter-plus summer drill program at its Livengood gold project north of Fairbanks, Alaska June 1. The initial focus of 3 reverse-circulation drill rigs will be on the higher grade gold zone of the system and a core rig will drill a series of deep holes testing for extensions of the gold mineralization at depths of 300 meters to 600 meters below known mineralization. An updated 43-101 resource estimate, which includes about 10,000 meters drilled during the winter drill program, is expected to be completed by the end of June. A preliminary economic assessment, based on the June resource update, is scheduled to be finished in July. In late summer, the junior plans to drill test four new discovery targets at Livengood. By the end of the year, International Tower Hill said it plans to receive a permitting path summary from it ongoing Alaska large mine permitting program.
GOLD - Select Resources Corp., the minerals subsidiary of Tri-Valley Corp., has increased its land position at its Shorty Creek gold property in the Livengood Mining District from about 17 square miles, or about 44 square kilometers, to about 39 square miles, or about 101 square kilometers. The company said geochemical and geological data indicate an anomalous gold trend extends south from International Tower Hill’s Livengood property through the Shorty property into Select’s newly staked property. Select said surface geochemical anomalies at Shorty exceed the levels of anomalous geochemistry found on the Livengood main trend, and its drill data indicates equivalent favorable grades in the subsurface. The company said additional drilling is the next step for the property.
POLYMETALLIC - CBR Gold Corp. June 10 announced detailed metallurgical test results from its Niblack gold-copper-zinc-silver project on Prince of Wales Island in Southeast Alaska. The company had tests completed on two 75 kilogram samples composited from half drill core obtained from mineralized intervals from underground drill holes completed in 2008. The first sample was selected to reflect the anticipated life of mine grade and the second sample was composited to reflect higher grade zones within the deposit. Copper recoveries were 94.3 percent with copper concentrate grades of 30 percent in the LOM sample, and 94.9 percent with copper concentrate grades of 29.3 percent in the HG sample. Gold and silver recoveries in the copper concentrate were 62.2 percent and 61.2 percent respectively in the LOM sample. Zinc recoveries were 90.2 percent in concentrate grades of 60.5 percent in the LOM sample, and 93.3 percent in zinc concentrate grades of 65.6 percent in the HG sample. Gold and silver recoveries into the zinc concentrate were 9.7 percent and 15.8 percent respectively.
DELISTING REVIEW – NovaGold Resources Inc. said the Toronto Stock Exchange has completed a delisting review of the common shares of the company (Symbol: NG) under terms of TSX Bulletin 2009-0043, dated January 12, 2009, and has determined that the junior still meets the exchange’s continued listing requirements.
