By Leia Michele
The Yukon is home to the famous Klondike gold rush of the late
1890's. Prospectors flocked to the area some 120 years ago,
following the discovery of gold on Rabbit Creek in the Klondike
district by George Carmack, Dawson Charlie and Skookum Jim. When
these men returned to their homes in the Pacific Northwest,
carrying bags of gold, they encouraged thousands more like them to
embark on a journey to the Yukon, hoping they would find riches in
the Klondike, too.
These miners were in search of placer gold: gold that has been
eroded from its mother rock, and transported a distance away from
where it was formed. Nowadays, gold mining around the world has
evolved into a sophisticated operation. Gold prospecting methods
have changed for a few reasons. For one, most placer deposits have
been discovered and exhausted. To meet our demand for gold we have
had to dig deeper, away from placer deposits, to find the main
source.
Remarkably, however, placer mining in the Yukon is still
ongoing. Small placer gold mines operating in the region have a
combined annual production of approximately 100,000 troy ounces.
The total recorded gold production from 1885 to date is about 12.5
million ounces, a value of roughly US $15 billion at today's
prices.
Mining in the region has been directed toward the placer
deposits, with considerably less effort going into locating the
hard-rock sources. For this reason, compared to exploration around
the rest of the world, the Yukon is relatively untouched. This is
also partially due to the Territory's remote location. The largest
city in the Yukon is Whitehorse, which has a population of
approximately only 23,000. Attempts in the past to discover the
main sources of the gold have been cut short, due to the metal
losing steam. However, today, the price of the metal more than
justifies digging deep to locate ore. Now, a brand new gold rush
may be just around the corner.
Geology
The gold deposits in the Yukon were formed during the Mesozoic and
Cenozoic eras - when the northern Canadian Cordilleran orogeny was
formed. The pressure and heat, and associated movement of magma,
resulted in the formation of many valuable ore deposits, including
gold. In the region, intrusion-related gold deposits include the
Eagle Zone at Dublin Gulch, which contains 2.3 million ounces gold
at a grade of 0.9 g/t; and Brewery Creek deposits, which contained
825,000 ounces gold at a grade of 1.36 g/t prior to production.
Orogenic gold veins formed in response to two events. The oldest
veins, formed after peak metamorphism of the Yukon-Tanana Terrane,
are probably the source of the placer gold that drove the early
prospectors to the Yukon. The younger orogenic veins were formed
during the uplift of the coast plutonic complex. The coast plutonic
complex is the "coastal mountains" that run along the coast of
Alaska and British Columbia, and into the southwestern Yukon. At
their southern extent, they are closer to the ocean and back up
against the more famous rocky mountain range.
The formation of the coastal mountains once again created
pressure and heat, causing intense metamorphism of the country
rocks. This, in turn, created the youngest gold hosting orogenic
veins. These veins are not as well researched as their older
counterparts, however, the potential for future discoveries in this
particular orogeny is quite high. In neighboring Alaska, the POGO
depositis an example of one of these vein deposits that has been
explored so far. It is estimated to contain approximately 4 million
ounces of gold at a grade of 16 g/t. Differentiating between these
different gold deposit models is an important first step for gold
exploration in the Yukon.
The placer mining deposits are a result of several Quaternary
glacial advances in the Yukon. Historic placer mining areas in the
Yukon can be grouped into ten areas: Klondike; Sixtymile;
Fortymile; Clear Creek; Moosehorn Range; Stewart River; Whitehorse
South; Mayo; Dawson Range; and Livingstone Creek. Each area has its
own geomorphic setting and depositional history related to its
glacial history. As mentioned earlier, studying the actual location
of the source rock has taken a back seat to placer mining in the
Yukon. Given the amount of placer gold extracted in the area,
locating the original source is the next step in the evolution of
gold exploration in the Yukon.
In order to encourage investment and prospecting, a number of
gold miners active in the region have formed the Yukon Gold Mining
Alliance (YGMA). The YGMA is a marketing consortium of qualified
Yukon exploration, development & mining companies committed to
increasing awareness of the Yukon and member companies in the
capital market. In order to become a member of the YGMA, an
exploration company must be established, including having a
national instrument compliant (NI 43-101) resource estimate, and
also have been engaged in meaningful exploration in the Yukon for
any five of the preceding seven-year period.
The alliance's focus is on metals including gold, silver and
copper. Companies must adopt and adhere to a corporate
sustainability policy including community relations, environmental
responsibility and labor relations. To date, the seven members of
the YGMA are Alexco Resource Corp (
AXR
) (
AXU
), Capstone Mining Corp (
CS
), Copper Ridge Explorations Inc. (CVE :KRX), Golden Predator Corp
(TSE:GPD), Northern Freegold Resources Ltd (CVE:NFR), Victoria Gold
Corp (
VIT
) and Western Copper Corp (TSE:WRN).
The YGMA recently hosted investment analysts on a three-day,
seven-stop tour in the Yukon. Gold Investing News spoke with Mr.
Wayne Atwell, analyst and managing director of Casimir Capital‏,
who made the journey to the Yukon. He had good things to say about
the gold market, and the potential that the Yukon holds. The main
points he brought up included the progression of the territory in
obtaining permission from the First Nations tribal councils to
develop mines, the necessity of exploring for and developing gold,
and the "mining friendliness" of the region as a whole.
The region is indeed very "mining friendly." The Yukon Mining
Incentives Program (YMIP) promotes and enhances mineral prospecting
and exploration activities in Yukon. The program's function is to
provide a portion of the risk capital required to locate, explore
and develop mineral projects to an advanced exploration stage.
Applicants are invited to submit prospecting and exploration
proposals.