Fresh from outstanding year, Yukon looks forward to 1988

With a production value totalling $400 million from placer and hardrock operations, 1987 can only be described as an outstanding year for the Yukon Territories.

Riding on a wave of flow-through share financing and high gold prices, Yukon producers doubled their 1986 output, and according to the latest figures, 1987 production was nearly seven times the amount produced in 1985.

According to the Yukon Chamber of Mines’ 1987 annual report, projections for 1988 suggest that if prices hold and production levels are sustained and some new deposits come on stream, production values could rise to over $440 million.

Using flow-through share financing and high precious metal prices, over 45 non-producing exploration and 20 producing companies spent between $40 million and $45 million on exploration in 1987.

As a result, some of the announced new properties which show prom ise for more extensive work to prove their production potential include Omni Resources’ Skukum Creek deposit in the Wheaton Valley, BYG Resources and Chevron Minerals’ Mt. Nansen property, the Wellgreen platinum metals properties owned by All- North Resources, Galactic Resources and Chevron and the Windy Craggy deposit of Geddes Resources.

The report says placer gold mining had a record year surpassing the production record of 1917 with over 128,000 raw oz gold reported by the end of October.

This was up substantially from 1986 production levels of about 103,000 crude oz.

A total of 10,217 new quartz claims and 1,816 new placer claims were staked in 1987 making for a strong year. That compares to 6,007 quartz and 1,691 placer claims in 1986.

The doubling of placer prospecting leases from 176 in 1986 to 343 by November, 1987, is significant, said the Yukon Chamber of Mines.

According to the Yukon Chamber of Mines report, four companies spent a considerable amount on development work. They include Canamax Resources, Curragh Resources and United Keno Hill Mines. In each case the fund s were spent on preparation for production of a previously unmined deposit.

With a number of new projects scheduled to go into production this year, the value of mineral production corrected for some major leakages to the Yukon economy (such as transport and smelting costs) now exceeds the net input of federal money to the Territory.

The report says mining is now the largest single contributor to the Yukon economy. It accounts for over $16,000 for every man, woman and child residentin the Yukon.

As compared to all other sectors of the economy, mining now stands head and shoulders above all other sectors as a source of wealth for Yukoners and Canadians.