Energy & Mining

A pair of Vancouver-based mining companies in a joint venture to explore the Herbert Glacier area say they’ve found high-grade concentrations of gold.

Assays of test drilling showed gold concentrations averaging 1.08 ounces per ton. Some samples came back as high as 4.14 to 6.63 ounces per ton. Initial assays were announced last month with updated results released on Tuesday.

Ian Klassen, President and Director of Grande Portage Resources Incorporated, says they did some modest drilling last year with fourteen holes down to over 900 feet. Twenty-two holes have been drilled so far this summer. Klassen says they’ve identified what he calls multi-ounce intersects in at least two of the five vein systems in the area.

“We’re very pleased with some of the results we’ve been getting,” said Klassen.

Herbert Glacier, 18-miles north of downtown Juneau, is in the middle of the historic Juneau mining district, with Kensington Mine currently operating 25-miles to the north and Greens Creek Mine about 12-miles to the west.

Klassen says they plan to meet with their field geologists this weekend to determine future plans – such as further exploration. He says it’s way too early to come up with a reliable resource estimate.

In late 2007, Vancouver-based Quaterra Resources acquired the 1700 acre property with 84 federal mining claims either staked or leased from three local prospectors. There are at least four to five significant veins that strike east-to-west and dip sharply to the north. One of the veins was described as being discovered in the 1980’s when glacial ice receded. Information provided by Quaterra showed varying amounts of gold found during exploratory drilling by Tenneco Minerals and Echo Bay Mines in the late eighties.

Quaterra President and CEO Thomas Patton is currently unavailable for comment. But his firm partnered with Grande Portage in June, 2010 for exploration and development of Herbert Glacier. Grande Portage’s Ian Klassen says they’ve committed to spending $1.25 million in exploration costs before June, 2012 in exchange for a 65 percent interest in the project.

“It just was the right place, right time and an opportunity for us when we were looking for an added portfolio to work with that we struck a deal to go forward,” said Klassen. “We’re pleased we’ve done so.”

Grande Portage is also developing the Merry Widow Group on Vancouver Island and the Pass Property in British Columbia. Quaterra either owns or is a partner in nine other mining projects from Montana to central Mexico.

A preliminary report indicates that rock from an underground blast struck the miner who was killed yesterday (Wednesday) at the Kensington Gold Mine.

The Mine Safety and Health Administration and mine owners Coeur Alaska are investigating the accident and death of 30-year-old Juneau resident Joe Tagaban.

According to MSHA (M-SHAW), Tagaban was working near a previously drilled hole that had not been plugged. The blast sent a concussion of rock through the hole, striking him.

The incident was at the 1260-foot level underground. That section of the mine remains closed while the investigation is underway, according to MSHA spokeswoman Amy Louviere.

“That closure order covers the affected area of the mine where the accident occurred,” Louviere says. “However, it also prevents the mine operator from conducting any blasting in the mine until we’ve determined it’s safe to do so.”

Louviere says investigators from the MSHA Boise office will arrive at Kensington tomorrow to gather evidence from the scene, conduct interviews and piece together an accident timeline.

Meanwhile, services are pending for Tagaban, who had been working as a Kensington underground miner for about a year.

The accident was the first fatality at the Kensington mine, which is about 45 miles northwest of Juneau. In June, a miner was killed at the Fort Knox Gold Mine near Fairbanks, when he fell two stories. He was supposed to be harnessed to a safety line, but was not wearing the harness at the time of the accident.

Thirty-year-old Joe Tagaban of Juneau is the victim of an underground accident early Wednesday morning at the Kensington Gold Mine.

Coeur Alaska says Tagaban died while performing his regular duties at the mine. The accident happened in an underground stope at the 1260-foot level where Tagaban had been working.

The company is investigating the circumstances surrounding the incident. The Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) has been notified.

Tagaban had worked at the mine for about a year. In a news release, Coeur d’Alene Mines Corporation President and CEO Mitchell J. Krebs said Tagaban was a respected and well-liked employee at Kensington.

“Our collective thoughts and prayers go out to Joe’s family and his co-workers,” he said.

Kensington mine is about 45 miles northwest of Juneau. An emergency response team is stationed at the mine.

Kensington opened in June 2010. This is the first fatality.

Electric bills that go out today (Tuesday) will reflect another rate increase.

As KTOO has reported, the Regulatory Commission of Alaska late Friday approved Alaska Electric Light and Power’s petition for a permanent 24 percent rate hike. It turns out to be 22 percent on the average electric bill.

Most of that is already in place, since the RCA allowed the company to increase rates 18.5 percent in July 2010.

A-E-L & P spokesman Scott Willis says residential customers will pay about $2 to $3 more a month for electricity.

“As of last week we were paying 9 point 5 cents a kilowatt hour then on Tuesday that will go up to 9 point 8 cents a kilowatt hour and on the first of November it goes up to 11 point 94, that’s the seasonal jump,” Willis says. “Next June it goes back down to 9-point 8 (cents).”

The order has been 16 months in the making.  This report highlights some of the commission’s findings.

The Regulatory Commission of Alaska has approved an increase in Juneau’s electricity rates. After 16 months of study, review and several public hearings, the commission says Alaska Electric Light and Power is justified in raising rates another 4 percent, effective immediately.

The RCA released the order about 8 p.m. Friday.

The privately owned utility company requested the 24 percent increase in May 2010. The commission allowed the company to begin charging 20 percent of that in July 2010.

The across the board rate hike actually shows up less on monthly bills, says AELP spokesman Scott Willis:

“The interim rate raised the average electric bill about 18 and a half percent and the final rate raised it to a total of 22 percent,” Willis says.

Customers will now see an increase of about 3 and a half percent. In monetary terms, that’s about $2 to $3 more a month at an average household use of 750 kilowatt hours per month.

The commission’s 44-page order details all the arguments put forth by the company, the state attorney general’s office and a citizen’s group, Juneau People Power Project. Listen to Morning Edition for more details.
To read the RCA’s order click here (PDF).

It will now be September 2nd before Alaska Electric Light and Power and Juneau rate payers know the size of a pending rate increase.

The Regulatory Commission of Alaska today (Friday, Aug. 26) extended its decision for the second time. Last month the commission announced it would issue its final order today, a month later than expected.

A-E-L & P requested a 22 percent permanent rate increase in May 2010. The commission granted 18 and a half percent in July 2010, with the final decision to come 12 months later.

The commission can extend its timeline with the consent of the parties – A-E-L & P, the state attorney general’s office and Juneau People’s Power Project. All agreed with both extensions.

Now it will be next Friday when the commissioners are expected to announce the amount of the permanent increase. If it’s less than the interim, the company would have to refund the difference.

Current general residential rates are 9 and a-half cents a kilowatt hour June through October and just over 11 and a- half cents/kwh November through May. If the commission grants the full 22 percent increase, general residential rates would go up slightly more than one-third of a cent per kilowatt hour. If a household uses 750 kilowatt hours a month, customers’ would pay an average of $16 more each month for electricity. The rate does not affect the standard customer charge, which is $8.88 a month.

A-E-L & P’s last permanent rate increase was in 2005 and was 4-point 41 percent.

The company says expenses have gone up significantly since then. It also hopes to recover costs of the Lake Dorothy hydroelectric project, which went online in August 2009. Utility regulations require new projects be complete and part of the operating system before a company can include an investment in its rate base.