Manh Choh ore is high-grade, which makes it economic to truck it to the Fort Knox Mine. That avoids the cost and environmental impact of having to build a stand-alone mill at the mine. In another development for ContangoORE, the has purchased the Johnson Tract multi-metal project on the west side of Cook Inlet from HighGold Mining Inc. and has drilling underway to upgrade known resources now estimated at 3.49 million metric tons of ore containing gold, silver, zinc and lead. The project is on 20,942-acres owned by Cook Inlet Region, Inc., the Anchorage-based Alaska Native corporation. The deposit is in a mountain above a valley, which would make underground mining preferred over a surface mine, and also simplifying permitting, said Rick Van Nieuwenhuyse, president and CEO of ContangoORE. The company now plans a milelong exploration tunnel to the bottom of the deposit to support more drilling to gather data for a feasibility study, Van Nieuwenhuyse said. If a mine is feasible, the deposit location in the mountain will allow gravity to lower energy costs to move ore to the valley below. The location is near tidewater, so ore could be shipped by sea to a mill. Because of its location at tidewater on Cook Inlet it would likely be feasible to mine high-grade gold ore and ship it by barge to a process mill elsewhere, eliminating the need for a mill near the mine site. In one other mining development, Graphite One will begin permitting of a planned graphite mine on Alaska’s Seward Peninsula in mid-2025 with plans to begin construction in 2027 and production in 2029, the company’s Alaska manager, Mike Schaffner, told the Alaska Support Industry Alliance at a breakfast meeting in Anchorage. The mine would produce 175,000 tons or natural graphite ore per year, enough to supply 8% of U.S. needs, and will be the first U.S. domestic mine producing graphite mine in the U.S. since the last mine closed in 1995, said Schaffner, who is directing development of the project north of Nome. America is now dependent on China for natural graphite, which is used in variety of computer, military and other technologies including batteries for electric vehicles, Schaffner told the Alaska Support Industry Alliance, an oil service company trade association. Graphite One was formed in 2012 when it acquired rights to the graphite deposit, which was discovered in 1902 and saw limited production during World War I. The site is 18 miles north of Nome, a historic gold mining community. The company completed a pre-feasibility study in 2022 that considered a smaller mine but Schaffner said potential customers advised Graphite One to revise its plan and go bigger. Graphite One scaled the plan to up to 175,000 tons per year and has completed a summer 2024 exploration program at the deposit as part of a feasibility study for a larger mine, Schaffner said. Last year the U.S. Department of Defense awarded a $37.5 million grant to the company as part of a program to aid development of minerals important for defense. The grant will pay for 50% of the feasibility study cost, and basically will speed development of the project by five years, Schaffner said. The feasibility study will include estimates of measured and indicated resources needed for a 20-year mine life but Schaffner said the known graphite resources in the area are much larger. The feasibility study is based on the drilling done to date at the ore body, he said. Graphite One is on 176 state mining claims with all access routes on state lands, which is an advantage. — Tim Bradner www.AlaskaAlliance.com 35 Photo Courtesy Graphite One Graphite One will begin permitting of a planned graphite mine on Alaska’s Seward Peninsula in mid-2025 with plans to begin construction in 2027 and production in 2029.
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