|
Murkowski’s election lends positive energy to mining convention PNA columnist Curt Freeman says industry expectations include a more favorable regulatory environment; major mining companies say will increase exploration budgets in 2003; Interior Pogo project gets good news Curt Freeman PNA Contributing Columnist
The Alaska Miners Association held its annual convention and trade show Nov. 4-9 at the Anchorage Sheraton Hotel. Despite continued tough times in the mining sector, the group’s executive director, Steve Borell, said paid attendance was up slightly over last year, with more than 395 people in attendance.
An added air of excitement followed the Nov. 6 elections which saw Alaska’s federal representation gaining influence in Washington and Alaska’s junior senator winning the race for Alaska’s next governor, suggesting that a more favorable regulatory environment was around the corner.
2003 spending up Other good news came from Alaska’s major mining companies, which indicated they have increased exploration budgets for 2003, in part because recent risk analyses has improved the position of Alaska, Canada and the Lower 48 for mining investment.
The other significant news came from Teck-Cominco. Its Interior Pogo deposit is moving forward with a draft EIS expected for public comment in January. No more lone prospectors The conference kicked off with two very well attended and timely short courses, one presented by the law firm of Patton Boggs on minimizing liability related to federal mine inspections and the other put on by John Proffett, Lew Gustafson, John Hunt and Mark Rebagliati on copper-gold porphyry deposits.
The liability short course was designed to inform development and operations’ personnel about reporting liabilities that may not be obvious but which could cause serious financial or regulatory problems if overlooked. Yours truly did not attend it but virtually all of Alaska’s advanced development projects and operating mines had reps in the room taking the course. The days of a lone prospector and his ass are over!
The Porphyry copper short course was driven by the renewed activity of Northern Dynasty at its Pebble copper-gold deposit near Iliamna, one of the world’s largest such systems.
Most of the world’s copper comes from these kinds of systems but Alaska exploration of these systems started and stopped in the early to mid 1970s. The Alaska Peninsula and parts of mainland southwest Alaska are prime hunting grounds.
Baseline water data a must The technical sessions on Nov. 6 led off with summaries by state and federal agencies relating to their activities in Alaska, including summaries of the Koyukuk Mining District by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, advances in geologic mapping in the Big Delta quadrangle by the Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys and project updates on the Red Dog District and the Talkeetna Mountains by the U.S. Geological Survey.
Significant subjects raised and information shared include:
1. State funding of the very popular and useful airborne geophysical programs should be more assured with the new administration.
2. BLM finished its study of the Koyukuk District and highlighted a number of new placer and hard rock gold prospects that should be examined.
3. Baseline water quality data is a must for any project that looks like it has potential to become a mine. Teck-Cominco’s Red Dog mine in western Alaska did not have such data and has spent millions trying to prove that the heavy metals in Red Dog Creek were not put there by them.
4. Access and infrastructure are the two biggest non-geological economic considerations for exploration and development. If the Donlin Creek deposit in southwestern Alaska were in Nevada it would be producing 1 million-plus ounces of gold per year, yet in Alaska the lack of access and infrastructure are Donlin Creek’s biggest development hurdles.
Uncle Sam gold project goes public The Nov. 13 keynote luncheon speaker, Norm Philips of Doyon Ltd., gave the attendees a summary of the mineral related activities in which the corporation is involved.
The afternoon technical session consisted of nine short summaries of early stage exploration projects ranging from the Seward Peninsula, Goodnews Bay and Tolstoi Districts of western Alaska, through the Golden Zone, Uncle Sam and Rob prospects of central and eastern Interior Alaska to the Woewodski Island, Union Bay and Duke Island projects of southeastern Alaska.
The Uncle Sam gold project was presented for the first time in a public format. Kennecott’s efforts over the last several years have outlined significant areas of anomalous gold, arsenic and antimony in drill holes and test pits. The geologic setting is similar to the Pogo area and could be permissive for either surface or underground minable targets. Interest in the project was strong following the presentation with Kennecott receiving inquiries from several parties interested in acquisition of the property.
The Golden Zone property, while well known to the current generation of Alaskan geologists, has taken on new life as more modern exploration theories and new analytical methods have been applied to the region. Recent evidence from the project suggests it has potential for Cu-Au-Bi mineralization similar to that seen at several other promising targets in southwestern Alaska and the Alaska Range.
Application of these new theories promises to rejuvenate exploration at Golden Zone. As with Uncle Sam, the Golden Zone presentation sparked renewed industry interest in the project. The afternoon was capped by the annual suppliers reception and a visit from Alaska governor-elect Frank Murkowski, a frequent visitor to the conference in years past.
Yukon news could impact Alaska The afternoon was capped by the annual suppliers reception and a visit from Alaska governor-elect Frank Murkowski, a frequent visitor to the conference in years past.
Nov. 11’s activities kicked off with a summary of Yukon mineral exploration activities and followed up with summaries relating to regulatory matters including the Endangered Species Act, rural roads in Alaska, archiving efforts related to Alaska’s historic mineral data and mining liabilities summaries relating to the Mine Safety and Health Administration, Occupational Safety and Health Administration and Environmental Protection Agency.
Mike Burke of the Yukon Geology Program indicated that new mining claims staked in 2002 increased by more than 25 percent compared to 2001, indicating that the depressed mining industry in the Yukon was starting a slow climb out of the basement.
One of the most significant new finds in the territory was Copper Ridge Exploration and Canadian Empires Exploration’s Yukon Olympic iron-oxide copper gold project north of Dawson. This type of mineral occurrence is important because it is one of a class of extremely large systems, the most famous of which is Australia’s 2 billion tonne Olympic Dam copper-gold deposit. Three gravity anomalies with adjacent magnetic anomalies have been defined over an 8-kilometer strike length.
Peripheral to the overburden covered geophysical targets are occurrences of hematite breccias carrying copper values. The lack of winter snows has dramatically extended the working season and allowed exploration work to continue into late November.
Alaska has geologic settings similar to that at Yukon Olympic and could generate new interest in iron-oxide copper gold systems in Alaska in 2003.
In a welcome relief from non-stop mining talk, Alaska State Epidemiologist Louisa Castrodale gave luncheon attendees on Nov. 14 a summary of the threat of the West Nile Virus in Alaska. Remote as the possibility may seem, the potential for the virus to affect Alaskans is real! Potential for platinum The afternoon’s technical session, perennially the best attended session of the conference, lived up to its billing with presentations relating to exploration in the Delta River District, Nome’s Rock Creek gold deposit, the Donlin Creek gold deposit, the Pebble copper-gold deposit and new geochemical trends in Alaska.
Interest in the Delta River District presentation stems primarily from a growing body of evidence that indicates the region has potential for platinum group elements, particularly platinum and palladium.
The area’s road accessibility and the presence of the trans-Alaska oil pipeline give this area a leg-up in terms of access and infrastructure. Compiled geophysical information from the district is due for public release by the State Geological and Geophysical Surveys in late spring and will no doubt prove very popular with exploration companies and prospectors interested in this region.
NovaGold’s presentation on Donlin Creek filled the room to capacity as expected. Donlin Creek is Alaska’s largest gold occurrence with more than 20 million ounces of gold resources and is one of the world’s largest undeveloped gold deposits. Its presence in a part of southwest Alaska where no past lode production has occurred underscores the potential of Alaska’s vast tracts of under-explored land.
NovaGold has advanced the property significantly in 2002 and is planning to release updated resources figures and revised economic models in the near future. Young makes appearance The technical sessions on the morning of Nov. 15 focused on Alaska’s industrial minerals, an important, if often over-looked sector of the Alaska mining industry. Presentations included summaries of the Broken Cove sand and gravel deposit, geophysical applications to industrial minerals sites, industrial sand applications, trends in the Alaska aggregate industry and acquisition and permitting of Alaska’s industrial minerals.
Alaska’s industrial minerals sector is the least visible part of the state’s mining industry but perennially contributes significant dollars to local economies around the state.
One of North America’s fastest growing mining sectors is sand and gravel, primarily because many areas of southern Canada and the Lower 48 states are now closed to sand and gravel extraction. Alaska’s vast gravel resources have prompted interest in shipping sand and gravel aggregates from as far away as Nome to such huge demand centers as western California and the Puget Sound area.
With demand expanding from such export markets, Alaska mining’s “brown shoe” may take on patent leather luster!
Alaska’s faces up-hill battle Don Birak of AngloGold North America gave Nov. 15 luncheon attendees a summary of this large gold miner’s activities in North America and its views on the prospectivity of Alaska and the challenges Alaska faces when competing on the global stage.
The most significant challenge facing major mining companies wishing to compete in Alaska is the perception, accurate or not, that the state’s regulatory system is Byzantine, needlessly difficult, slow and expensive. With third-world economies luring major company’s to their regions with cheap labor and in some cases virtually no regulatory system at all, Alaska faces a steep up-hill battle to change about its regulatory environment.
Despite these difficulties, AngloGold has chosen Alaska as one of three North American venues in which early stage exploration is being conducted. With the change in administrations now under way, there is an opportunity to streamline Alaska’s regulatory system and improve the state’s position in the global mining industry.
The afternoon’s technical session concentrated on activities at operating mines across Alaska including summaries on mining techniques at Greens Creek mine, Anchorage Sand and Gravel operations, education efforts by Fairbanks Gold Mining, water quality issues at Red Dog mine and development activities at the Kensington gold project.
The week’s festivities closed out with a well-attended and high spirited banquet on Friday night with keynote presentations on the Iditarod Mining District and multiple fund raising events for the Pacific Legal Foundation and the Alaska Mineral and Energy Resource Education Fund.
| 