News in Brief
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Chandalar Property - Goldrich Mining Company ("Goldrich") announced that it has completed forward gold sales of approximately $600,000 at a 25% discount to market price as calculated on the date of sale. A total of approximately 500 ounces of gold was sold for delivery in November 2014. The forward gold sales contract contains standard terms regarding delivery and receipt of gold and payment of delivery costs. A finder's fee of 7% of the proceeds is payable to arm's length parties. Proceeds from the forward gold sales will be used primarily for general corporate purposes. Gold production at Goldrich’s Chandalar property is expected to begin by mid-June. Goldrich NyacAU Placer, LLC (“GNP”), a 50/50 joint-venture company formed by Goldrich and NyacAU, LLC (“NyacAU”) and managed by NyacAU to mine Goldrich’s various placer properties at Chandalar, completed mine construction at Chandalar during 2012. Continued stripping of overburden and stockpiling of placer pay gravels is planned to begin by May 2013. Gold production will be approximately from mid-June to mid-September of each year. The production goal for 2013 is 8,500 ounces of fine gold and approximately 10,000 ounces per season thereafter. Total production could substantially increase if a second gold recovery plant is installed. All costs up to commercial production, are required to be funded by NyacAU and will be paid back from cash flow from gold production. The Company also reports that Director Richard Walters retired from the Board and will be replaced by Michael G. Rasmussen. (Company press release, 4/3/2013)
Contango Ore Announces Private Placement - Contango ORE, Inc. (the "Company") announced that it has completed the issuance and sale of an aggregate of 1,230,999 units ("Units") at a price of $12.00 per Unit with each Unit consisting of (i) one share of the Company's common stock, par value $0.01 per share (the "Common Stock") and (ii) a five-year warrant to purchase one (1) share of Common Stock at $10.00 per share (the "Warrant"), in a private placement to certain investors (the "Investors") pursuant to a Subscription Agreement between the Company and each Investor. The Company will use the approximately $14.2 million in net proceeds of the private placement to fund its 2013 exploration program in Alaska. Assuming success on their initial drill holes on new prospects, they anticipate spending approximately $13 million on exploration expenses and general corporate purposes. The Company will spend approximately $5 million in the first phase of drilling, review the results of the early drilling, and will allocate the remaining capital towards the prospects that offer the best potential for hosting commercial quantities of gold and/or copper resources. The Units sold were not registered under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, but the Common Stock issued in the offering and the shares of Common Stock issued upon exercise of the Warrants are subject to a Registration Rights Agreement allowing the shares to be registered by the holders at a future date. Petrie Partners Securities, LLC acted as sole placement agent in connection with the transaction. According to Company President and CEO Brad Juneau, they will have two or three exploration rigs drilling approximately 60-85 core holes on their Tetlin Lease this summer as well as completing additional airborne geophysics, reconnaissance exploration and environmental studies. (Company press release, 3/22/2013)
Graphite Creek Property - Graphite One Resources Inc. reports that it has commissioned JD Energy and Mining Inc. based in Vancouver, B.C., to complete ongoing high level engineering and logistics studies pursuant to the completion of a Preliminary Economic Assessment ("PEA") for the Graphite Creek Property. JDS is a team of over 150 employees focused on delivering high quality engineering, construction, procurement and management solutions internationally. (Company press release, 3/25/2013)
MAN Property - Pure Nickel Inc. reports that its joint venture partner on the MAN Alaska Project, ITOCHU Corporation of Tokyo, Japan, has confirmed funding of approximately US$3.5 million for the 2013 exploration season. Exploration activity in 2013 will consist primarily of a drill program targeting the western part of the Alpha complex, where drilling in 2010 and 2012 intersected highly anomalous Ni-Cu-PGE mineralization. The 2013 budget calls for a 2200 meter drill program utilizing one helicopter supported drill rig. The program is expected to commence in the last week of May, and will be completed by mid-August. (Company press release, 3/27/2013)
McCord Creek Gold Property - Endurance Gold Corporation reports that Liberty Gold Corporation ("Liberty") has completed a $20,000 option payment and will continue with their option on the McCord Creek Gold Property, near Livengood Alaska. As part of the 2013 program, sixteen (16) additional Alaska State mining claims were recently staked and recorded, which increases the size of the McCord Creek Gold Property to 49 claims (7,820 acres). In May 2012, the Company announced that they had granted Liberty an option to earn a 60% joint venture interest in the McCord Creek Gold Property. To earn their interest, Liberty must complete US$600,000 in exploration expenditures and make US$85,000 in cash payments over three years to earn a 60% joint venture interest. The 2012 program, funded by Liberty, expended about US$160,000 on power auger assisted soil sampling and rock sampling. To date, 439 soil samples and 73 rock samples have been collected from the McCord Creek Gold Property. The 2011 and 2012 programs have identified seven multi-element soil anomalies, associated with multiple anomalous gold values (>100 parts per billion or "ppb"), which are considered to be of exploration significance by David Adams, a qualified person as defined in National Instrument 43-101. The two largest multi-element soil anomalies, exceeding 10 ppb gold, are approximately 1500 by 400 meters, and 1100 by 500 meters in size. The maximum soil value exceeds 100 ppb gold, which is the upper detection limit for the analytical method used. In his November 2012 report, Adams recommends additional claim staking, soil sampling, trenching and geophysics. In follow-up to these recommendations, the 2013 field program is currently in the planning stages. (Company press release, 4/04/2013)
NovaCopper Announces First Quarter Financial Results - For the three months ended February 28, 2013, NovaCopper reported a net loss of $6.6 million compared to a net loss of $0.9 million for the corresponding period in 2012. At February 28, 2013, NovaCopper had $18.7 million in cash and cash equivalents and working capital of $16.8 million. NovaCopper has approved a budget of $16.0 million for its 2013 exploration program, technical reviews, formal studies and general and administrative costs. During 2013, the company plans to carry out additional diamond core drilling focused on the Bornite Project and complete a preliminary economic assessment study on an open-pit mining scenario at the Arctic deposit. NovaCopper is continuing to work with the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority (AIDEA) and plan to sign a memorandum of understanding during the first half of 2013 as the next step to advancing the road into the Ambler mining district. The State of Alaska and AIDEA are working on initiating permitting for the road which is expected to provide access to NovaCopper's Upper Kobuk Mineral Projects which includes the Arctic and Bornite Projects. The company is also continuing to focus efforts on community relations and workforce development strategies, working closely with NANA on these efforts. (Company press release, 4/9/2013)
Vinasale Project - Freegold Ventures Limited reported the results of of NI43-101 compliant Mineral Resource estimate recently completed on the Vinasale Gold Project located in southwest Alaska on which Freegold entered into an Exploration Agreement with an Option to Lease the Vinasale Project from Doyon Limited, an Alaskan Native Regional Corporation, in 2007. The resource estimate was completed by Giroux Consultants Ltd. of Vancouver, BC. Canada. Indicated resources are 3.41 million tonnes averaging 1.48 g/t Au for 162,000 ounces, and Inferred resources are 53.25 million tonnes averaging 1.05 g/t Au for 1,799,000 ounces of gold utilizing a cutoff value of 0.5 grams/tonne (g/t) as a possible open pit cutoff within the total blocks. The 2012 drill program resulted in an estimation of indicated material for the first time and also expanded the inferred category from the March 2012 resource estimate. Of significance is the increase in grade in the indicated category and it is anticipated that additional drilling within the core of the Central Zone may have the potential to both increase the grade and tonnage within the indicated category. A total of 98 drill holes containing 11,284 gold assays have been completed on the project within three areas: the Central, Northeast and South Zones. The highest density of drilling has been completed in the Central Zone where 53 drill holes totaling 12,352 meters were used in estimating the resource for the Central Zone. Gold assays were capped at 20 -grams/tonne gold. Composites, 5 meters in length, were used to model the grade continuity using semivariograms. Blocks measuring 10 by 10 by 5 meters were populated using Ordinary Kriging. To date, mineralization in the Central Zone extends over a strike length of 400 meters and remains open to the south and to depth. The 2013 program is expected to consist of additional drilling in the Central Zone where it remains open to the south, as well as potential resource definition in the North East Zone. The North East Zone was further defined by the 2011 ground geophysical program and limited prior drilling. (Company press release, 3/13/2013)
Sally Jewell Confirmed as Interior Secretary - The U.S. Senate voted to confirm Sally Jewell as the new Secretary of the Interior. The 87-11 vote came three weeks after her nomination passed the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. Senators Begich and Murkowski both voted in favor of confirmation. She was sworn in April 12 in a closed-door ceremony.
Mining Your iPhone - Check out the "Mining Your iPhone" info-graphic at 911 Metallurgist. The lead quote is "There's more gold in a pound of electronics than a pound of gold ore" says Ken Beyer, CEO of Blue Cloud, an electronics recycling company. http://www. 911metallurgist.com/mining-iphones/
Copper Thefts -Copper thefts continue. DOE estimates that it is responsible for $1 billion dollar worth of damage annually. Recent thefts include the theft of 11 km of wire worth over $60,000 along a stretch of highway in Utah and 144 tons of copper ingots, worth $1.25 million, stolen from a mining facility in Hayden, Arizona and recovered by police at the Port of Los Angeles where it was about to be shipped to China. Several state legislatures and Congress have had bills introduced or passed bills related to copper theft. Meanwhile, British Telecom is developing technology that detects when a phone or broadband cable is cut, pinpoints the location and alerts the company's security control center. Reasons for the increase in copper theft over the last several years include the rise in copper prices coupled with a poor economy, and the low likelihood of being caught, prosecuted, and convicted.