This article was written by the Yukon Geological Survey, Department of Energy, Mines and Resources, Government of Yukon.
* note all dollar amounts are in Canadian dollars.
Yukon mineral exploration activity in 2021 continued to be affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. However, due to measures put in place by mining and exploration companies, contractors and suppliers, and supported by the Yukon Government, the 2021 season approached “normal”. These measures also allowed the operating mines to continue to ramp-up production.
Precious and base metal prices fluctuated throughout the year as pandemic and supply chain-related issues affected markets, but generally prices have remained elevated. Expectations are that year-end exploration expenditures will be approximately $113 million ($75.8 million in 2020). Development expenditures for the year are expected to be $71.5 million, up from $53.9 million in 2020. Year-end hard rock metal production for 2021 is expected to be approximately $500 million thanks to the continued ramp up of production at the Eagle Gold mine, the re-start of mining at Keno and continued operations at Minto.
The number of active exploration projects dropped slightly from 106 in 2020 to 91 projects in 2021. Twenty-six of the 91 projects spent more than $1 million, while 44 projects spent less than $500,000. Gold continues to be the most sought-after commodity, with 59 per cent of the projects targeting the precious metal. The remainder of projects focused on exploring for copper (15 per cent), lead-zinc (eight per cent), silver (16 per cent), nickel-PGEs (one per cent), and tin and others (one per cent).
The most active region for exploration and mining activity in 2021 was the Mayo-Keno-Clear Creek area. The area hosted 29 per cent of the active projects and accounted for 65 per cent of the exploration and development spending. The Dawson region saw a drop in exploration expenditures; it hosted 20 per cent of the projects, but only accounted for four per cent of expenditures. The Dawson Range porphyry belt hosted 16 per cent of the projects and 20 per cent of expenditures; the Whitehorse area had 11 per cent of the projects, three per cent of expenditures; the Kluane ultramafic belt had eight per cent of the projects, one per cent of expenditures; and southeastern Yukon had 13 per cent of the projects and six per cent of expenditures.
The Yukon Mineral Exploration Program (YMEP) funding budget for 2021 was $1.58 million. YMEP funds were distributed to 32 hard rock and 20 placer exploration projects. Claim staking in 2021 increased from 2020, with 3,759 claims staked as of November 10, 2021. The majority of claim staking is focused in the Mayo District, with 69 per cent of the claims staked in that district. There were no claims staked in the Watson Lake District.
Victoria Gold Corp. began commercial production at the Eagle Gold mine on its Dublin Gulch property on July 1, 2020. Since then, the company has been ramping up production, and for Q1 to Q3 of this year the mine produced 114,726 ounces of gold. Guidance for the year is that the mine will produce between 180,000 to 200,000 ounces of gold.
In May, Minto Exploration Ltd. released a preliminary economic assessment (PEA) for resources beyond the current mine plan at the Minto Mine. The PEA updated the resource at 11 Mt at 1.46 per cent Cu, 0.53 g/t Au and 4.75 g/t Ag (indicated) and 13 Mt at 1.29 per cent Cu, 0.49 g/t Au and 4.55 g/t Ag (inferred). Total contained copper from open pit and underground sources is 727 million lb. The company is currently mining ore from the underground Copper Keel deposit. In November, Minto Exploration, a private company, executed a reverse take-over and listed the new entity, Minto Metals Corp. on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
Mining operations at the historic Keno Hill silver district restarted late in 2020. Alexco Resource Corp. began production at the Bellekeno deposit. The orebody at Bellekeno was depleted in August, at which time the company shifted to mining from the Bermingham deposit. The company plans to include production from the Flame & Moth deposit by the end of the year.
The environmental screening on mining proposals for the Kudz Ze Kayah VMS project of BMC Minerals Ltd. and the Coffee Project of Newmont Corporation is progressing. The screening is conducted by the Yukon Environmental and Socio-economic Assessment Board (YESAB). In both cases, consultation on recommendations by YESAB are underway between the federal and territorial Decision Bodies and the local First Nations. The resource at Kudz Ze Kayah in the Measured, Indicated, and Inferred categories (M, I &I) is 19.1 million tonnes grading 6.35 per cent zinc, 1.9 per cent lead, 0.93 per cent copper, 148 g/t silver, 1.39 g/t gold. The resource at Coffee (M, I & I) is 58.1 Mt grading 1.43 g/t gold for a total of 2.67 Moz of gold.
Western Copper and Gold Corp. continues to advance its Casino porphyry copper-gold-molybdenum project in western Yukon. A preliminary economic assessment (PEA) was completed in June and will form the basis of a feasibility study targeted for completion in Q2, 2022. The company conducted an integrated program including metallurgical, geotechnical, resource confirmation, and exploratory diamond drilling in 2021. Western also did robotic scanning of core using the GeologicAI instrumentation which includes XRF, hyperspectral, and geotechnical analyses, as well as LiDAR.
Banyan Gold Corp. conducted one of the larger exploration programs in the Yukon in 2021 at the AurMac property west of Keno. The company started their program in February and ran through to mid-December. The program has been a combination of infill drilling and step-out drilling at the Powerline deposit. Highlights of drilling include 0.75 g/t gold over 46.6 m in DDH AX-21-70 and 1.03 g/t gold over 81.4 m in DDH AX-21-88.
Cantex Mine Development Corp. conducted diamond drilling at the lead-zinc-silver North Rackla property, located 85 kilometres northeast of Keno. Drilling extended the strike length of the Main Zone mineralization 2.1 kilometre Drill hole YKDD21‐186 in the Main Zone intersected 6.06 per cent lead, 9.48 per cent zinc and 43.37 g/t silver over 4.8 m.
Blende Silver Corp., formerly Blind Creek Resources Ltd., completed an updated mineral resource estimate (NI 43-101) for the Blende silver-zinc-lead deposit in May, which returned 4.6 Mtonnes grading 1.82 per cent zinc, 1.63 per cent lead and 30.32 g/t silver in the Indicated category and 42.2 Mtonnes grading 1.83 per cent zinc, 1.62 per cent lead and 27.48 g/t silver in the Inferred category. The company conducted a 3D induced polarization survey, metallurgical, and resource expansion drilling on the deposit in 2021.
Snowline Gold Corp, a newly listed company, was active on a number of properties east of Keno. The company drilled 21 holes for 2,300 m at its Einarson property, drilled four holes for 804 m at its Rogue property and conducted an airborne versatile time domain electromagnetic (VTEM) survey, soil sampling and prospecting at the Ursa property. Highlights of this work include a drill intercept at Einarson, an epizonal orogenic gold prospect, where drill hole J-21-013 intercepted two intervals; 2.59 g/t gold over 27.0 m and 4.02 g/t gold over 10.6 m.
St. James Gold Corp. optioned the Red Mountain gold property, rebranding it as the Florin Gold project. The company updated the resource estimate for the deposit to 171 Mtonnes grading 0.45 g/t gold for a total of 2.474 Moz of gold (NI43-101, Inferred category, 0.30 g/t Au cut-off) and completed 3,613 m of diamond drilling in 15 holes with the aim of expanding the inferred gold resource. Results from the drilling are pending.
White Gold Corp. was active again this year on their extensive claim holdings in the Dawson region, working several properties. The company completed an updated resource estimate for the VG deposit on the QV property (5.26 Mt grading 1.62 g/t gold for a total of 267,600 ounces (NI43-101, Inferred category)). The company also completed exploration, including diamond and reverse circulation (RC) drilling at Ryan’s Surprise, Ulli’s Ridge, Betty, Bonanza and Nolan properties. Highlights from the drilling include a spectacular intercept at Betty, which ranks as one of the top 10 gold x m intercepts by Canadian-listed companies in 2021; hole D003 returned 3.46 g/t gold over 50.0 m.
Klondike Gold Corp. continued exploration on the Klondike District Gold property south of Dawson. The company drilled 7765.62 m in 63 holes. Highlights from this work include 0.62 g/t gold over 58.0 m in hole LS21-402 and 1.08 g/t gold over 49.65 m in hole LS21-389.
Granite Creek Copper Ltd. released positive metallurgical results from its Carmacks copper-gold porphyry project. The testing on flotation of sulfide minerals determined that recoveries of 95 per cent copper into a 25 per cent copper concentrate can be achieved. The company completed 23 diamond drilling holes and 17 RC drill holes in 2021. Highlights from the program include 1.12 per cent copper, 0.20 g/t gold over 43.5 m in hole CRM21-004, 1.7 per cent copper, 0.29 g/t gold in hole CRM21-019, and 0.96 per cent copper, 0.18 g/t gold over 105.52 m in hole CRM21-011.
Triumph Gold Corp. completed a 19-hole diamond drill program at the Freegold Mountain property west of Carmacks. Highlights from the program include 1.52 g/t gold, 3.74 g/t silver, 0.18 per cent copper, 0.011 per cent molybdenum and 0.007 per cent tungsten over 80.50 m in hole RVD21-003 in the WAu Zone and 0.27 g/t gold, 5.43 g/t silver, 0.22 per cent copper and 0.014 per cent molybdenum over 106.5 m in hole RVD21-05 from the Blue Sky Zone.
Nickel Creek Platinum Corp. completed a 12-hole diamond drilling program at the Nickel Shäw ultramafic-hosted nickel-copper-cobalt-PGE property. Highlights of this program include 1.41 per cent nickel, 0.55 per cent copper, 0.02 per cent cobalt, 0.91 g/t platinum, 1.46 g/t palladium, and 0.12 g/t gold over 11.95 m in hole ASD21-004 at the Arch target.
Whitehorse Gold Corp. drilled 44 diamond drill holes at the past-producing Skukum Gold Mine. At the Rainbow Zone, hole SC21-008 intersected 2.5 g/t gold, 431.8 g/t silver over 6.17 m and hole SC21-015 had multiple intersections of 10.3 g/t gold, 93.9 g/t silver over 2.41 and 27.1 g/t gold, 346.4 g/t silver over 4.24 m, 11 m further down the hole.
At the Mac Pass project of Fireweed Zinc Ltd., which includes the Tom and Jason deposits, Fireweed Zinc drilled 13 holes, focusing on the Boundary Zone. Results from the Boundary Zone drilling included 7.71 per cent zinc, 0.70 per cent lead and 32.1 g/t silver over 46.96 m in hole NB21-001 and 1.54 per cent copper, 5.42 per cent zinc, 0.04 per cent lead and 5.6 g/t silver over 2.00 m in hole NB21-005.
Exploration in 2021 continued to be constrained by COVID-19 restrictions, but due to high metal prices and increasing investor confidence, companies were able to raise money to conduct significant exploration programs. A number of advanced exploration projects progressed up the development chain, some old targets were re-visited returning pleasant surprises and some new discoveries resulted.
