AndreaBozzo/ceres-open-data-index huggingface dataset:
Evaluation of the effectiveness of biological treatment of mine waters

Under the topic of information needs for mine closure and abandonment, the MPERG priorities for funding in 2009 included an investigation of the use of bioremediation as a treatment option for active and abandoned mine drainage. From the 2009 MPERG call for proposals: “The use of various “passive” treatment technologies is being proposed as a possible panacea to provide efficient, cost effective treatment of pit water and metal bearing water discharges. The long term effectiveness of these treatments in a northern environment needs to be investigated.” Passive treatment of some kind has been considered for many years due to its appeal in comparison with mechanical-chemical treatment plants which are now required to operate almost in perpetuity at many closed mine sites. An observation that makes bioremediation so attractive are the many natural analogues observed around mine drainages that naturally attenuate or otherwise reduce metals burden in mine drainage without apparent harm to the host aquatic ecosystem. These include fen-bogs, swamps and other wetland structures which renovate mine drainage; effectively removing and in many cases sequestering contaminants. The original term “wetland treatment” has given way to “passive treatment” and/or “biological treatment” in recent years.

Organization: Government of Yukon | Gouvernement du Yukon
Revised geological map of Mount Nansen area (NTS 115/I3 and part of 115I/2)

This map presents a compilation and re-interpretation of the bedrock geology in the Mount Nansen area. It is an update from the preliminary version released in 2021. The main updates are based on new U-Pb zircon ages for Cretaceous magmatic rocks. Most economically significant are the CA-TIMS U-Pb zircon crystallization ages for the Kelly (ca. 78 Ma) and Cyprus porphyries (ca. 71 Ma) and the LA-ICPMS U-Pb zircon crystallization age of ca. 111 Ma for the Dickson Hill plug. New CA-TIMS crystallization ages (ca. 108 Ma) for two phases of the Bow Creek granite redefine that body as part of the Whitehorse magmatic suite and a new LA-ICPMS crystallization age of ca. 199 Ma from the deformed granodiorite which hosts the Brown-McDade deposit confirm a Minto suite designation for those rocks.

Organization: Government of Yukon | Gouvernement du Yukon
Flying in sheep country: How to minimize disturbance from aircraft

Concern about aircraft disturbance of Dall sheep and other wildlife continues to grow in the Yukon. Aircraft-based tourism, both sightseeing and outdoor adventures in remote areas, has steadily increased in recent years. Mineral exploration often occurs in remote mountainous regions that can only be accessed by aircraft. These areas , or the access to them, are often in sheep range.
The Yukon Department of Environment has funded several research projects looking at how aircraft disturbance can affect Dall sheep. We found that fixed-wing aircraft cause less disturbance than helicopters, but landing requirements often don't allow their use. Both the Branch and the researchers realize that the fieldwork was limited, but feel that we learned ways to minimize the effects of aircraft on Dall sheep.

Organization: Government of Yukon | Gouvernement du Yukon
Placer Mining and Exploration Compilations (115I and 115J/K)

A placer mining and exploration compilation of NTS map sheets 115I and 115J/K, southern Yukon Territory, Canada. This compilation includes the location, history and previous work, description of bedrock geology, surficial geology and mineralization, as well as lists of related references.

Accompanying the text are two 1:250,000-scale maps (NTS 115I and 115J/K) which display the locations of the placer occurrences discussed in the report.

Organization: Government of Yukon | Gouvernement du Yukon
Residual total magnetic field, McQuesten Aeromagnetic Survey, NTS 115P/2 and part of 115P/1, Yukon

A map of the residual total magnetic field derived from data acquired by Goldak Airborne Surveys during the period of November 19, 2008 to February 19, 2009. Data were recorded using a split-beam cesium vapour magnetometer mounted in the tail boom of a Piper Navajo aircraft.

Organization: Government of Yukon | Gouvernement du Yukon
Quaternary geology in the southern Ogilvie Ranges, Yukon Territory and an investigation of morphological, periglacial, pedological and botanical criteria for possible use in the chronology of morainal sequences

A copy of this thesis is available at the EMR library – QE195.R53 1968.
This thesis is available online at https://circle.ubc.ca/handle/2429/36000.

Organization: Government of Yukon | Gouvernement du Yukon
Placer Gold Dredging Using an Excavator and Floating Processing Plant

This report provides information on a method of placer gold dredging. This dredging method differs from conventional bucket line gold dredging in that it uses a combination of land-based and floating dredging equipment. An excavator is used for digging the gravel, and a floating processing plant is used to process the gravel and stack tailings.

Using this combination of equipment offers many advantages. The cost of mining placer gravel is extremely economical; we have calculated mining costs at 90 cents per loose yard of gravel processed. This mining method also has environmental advantages. Total reclamation of the mined area is achievable and inexpensive. All water used in processing the gravel is recycled, so that there is no discharge of effluent to the watercourse.

The method has limitations. Only certain types of placer reserves can be mined. For example, the ground must be thawed to bedrock depth, and have a higher water table or the ability to hold a pond.

Design details and specifications for the equipment used in the mining system are discussed. General design information is given for each of the components used in the dredging system. We have provided detailed specifications for our own equipment as an example. Operating procedures are outlined; topics covered include equipment assembly and start-up, mining through a deposit, shut down procedures, and reclamation of the mined area.

Because of the current low gold price and rising operating costs, placer mine operators must explore new mining methods to remain profitable. As well, mining methods which minimize environmental impact must be adopted. This dredging method has the advantage of both lower production costs and minimal environmental disturbance. As well, reclamation is easily achieved and cost-effective.

Organization: Government of Yukon | Gouvernement du Yukon
Regional stream sediment geochemical data, Carmacks area, southern Yukon (NTS 115I)

This data package contains results for parts of the Carmacks survey area (NTS 115I). This information has been provided in a variety of digital formats. PDF files include survey descriptions and details regarding methods, analytical data listings and summary statistics. Raw digital data of original field and analytical information plus new reanalysis results are included in Microsoft®Excel (XLS) format.

NGR surveys were originally conducted in the Carmacks map area in 1985 and covered parts of NTS map sheet 115I (Geological Survey of Canada, 1986). Stream sediment and water samples were collected from a total of 951 sample sites. The work was undertaken by the GSC in conjunction with the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, and the government of Yukon under the Canada-Yukon Mineral Development Agreement (1985-1989).

As part of the 2014 Yukon Database Upgrade Project, original material collected from the 951 sample sites were selected for reanalysis. Representative 2 gram splits were successfully recovered from a total of 985 samples. Due to a deficiency of available material, 4 samples were not recovered. The samples were delivered to Bureau Veritas Commodities Canada Ltd. (Vancouver) and were analyzed by an ultra-trace aqua-regia digestion ICP-MS package for 53 elements.

Organization: Government of Yukon | Gouvernement du Yukon
Yukon Mineral Exploration Program 2021 update

YMEP funding for the 2021–22 season was $1.4M. The Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency (CanNor) contributed an additional $80 000 to the YMEP budget. The funding ratio for Target Evaluation and Placer projects remained at a 60/40 (YMEP/proponent) for up to $40 000 of funding for the 2021–22 season. The funding ratio for Focused Regional programs is 75/25 (YMEP/proponent) for up to $25 000 of funding, and 100% for Grassroots projects for up to $15 000 of funding.
In 2021, 76 applications were submitted, seeking in excess of $2.4M of funding. These included 5 applications for the Grassroots module, 14 for the Focused Regional module, 24 for the Target Evaluation module and 33 for the Placer module. Fifty-two projects were selected for funding: 32 hard rock exploration projects (1 Grassroots, 9 Focused Regional, and 22 Target Evaluation); and 20 placer projects.

Organization: Government of Yukon | Gouvernement du Yukon
Quartz vein gold mineralization in the Klondike Schist: The Mitchell-Sheba system, central Klondike district, Yukon.

The Mitchell-Sheba occurrence is a gold, silver and base metal-bearing quartz vein system contained within a thrust slice of mafic schist that forms part of the Klondike Schist. The vein system formed late in the D4 folding event or subsequently thereafter. Mineralization occurs as gold + silver, base metal sulphides and sulphosalts within quartz veins. Low-grade gold associated with pyrite mineralization is hosted within the surrounding chlorite schist. The mafic rocks are interpreted to be metavolcanic in origin and have reached upper greenschist facies metamorphism. Hydrothermal sericite-carbonate alteration of the host rocks is associated with mineralization and is reflected in the whole rock geochemistry. The prospect underlies one of the larger soil geochemical anomalies in the Klondike region.

Organization: Government of Yukon | Gouvernement du Yukon
Phosphorites, ironstones, and secondary phosphates in Mid-Cretaceous flysch of the blow trough, northern Yukon

The Blow River Formation was deposited in the Blow Trough, a north-trending, middle Cretaceous downwarp near the junction of the Western Canada Seaway and the Brooks and Sverdrup Basins. At Rapid Creek, the Blow River Formation comprises a 380 m cyclic succession of thick, silty, siderite-phosphate pellet packstone and intraformational boulder-pebble conglomerate lenses interbedded wtih grey, laminated siltstone and sideritic siltstone. These rocks rest conformably on grey shale with thin ferruginous siltstone beds, and are overlain conformably by grey siltstone with chert pebbles and siderite concretions. To the west, the formation thickens dramatically, as the ironstone-bearing member interfingers with and overlies dark grey shales and thin sandstones. To the east, it thins, passing into 160 m of interbedded shale and sideritic shale at Boundary Creek. Facies changes indicate a clastic source to the west. Early Albian ammonites and charcoal fragments are locally common. The widespread iron and phosphorous-rich hemipelagic sequence is an important regional marker, and is best knwon for the variety of secondary phosphate minerals (MINFILE 117A 027) found as nodules or along fractures related to Eocene folding.

The Blow River Formation contains about 7 X 10^8 tonnes of P2O5. This major deposit (MINFILE 117A 027) falls between the peak global episodes of phosphogenesis in the Callovian and Campanian, and, like them, corresponds to the late stage of a global anoxia. Unlike most phosphorites, this is a high latitude deposit.

Organization: Government of Yukon | Gouvernement du Yukon
Yukon Exploration and Geology 2009

YEG 2009 contains up-to-date information on mining and mineral exploration activity, studies by industry, and results of recent geological field studies. Information in this volume comes from prospectors, exploration and government geologists, mining companies and students who are willing to contribute to public geoscience for the benefit of the scientific community, general public, and mineral and petroleum industries of Yukon.

Organization: Government of Yukon | Gouvernement du Yukon
Yukon Mineral Exploration Program 2020 update

The Yukon Mineral Exploration Program (YMEP) is a funding program which provides financial support to proponents exploring for minerals in Yukon. Individual prospectors, partnerships, and private and publically listed companies are eligible to apply. YMEP funding has led to numerous discoveries and provided significant economic benefits to the territory through both direct program spending and development investments.
There are four modules in the program: three modules (Grassroots, Focused Regional and Target Evaluation) support hard rock projects at different stages of exploration, and one module supports exploration for placer resources. Detailed information on project modules and levels of funding can be found in the YMEP guidebooks (https://yukon.ca/en/mineral-exploration-funding).

Organization: Government of Yukon | Gouvernement du Yukon
Petrology and geochemistry of the Pattison Alaskite Pluton, Yukon

The Pattison Pluton is a high level Tertiary subaluminous alaskite that is part of a northwest trending chain of igneous intrusions in the Yukon Crystalline Terrane, southwestern Yukon. It is roughly circular in form with a diameter of about 18 km and a funnel-like profile. Crosscutting it are a series of shallowly dipping aplite dykes which intruded into open fractures. Compositionally and mineralogically, the alaskite body and aplite dykes are very uniform but the pluton is texturally and gradationally divided into a fine-grained upper border phase, a medium-grained graphic, strongly miarolitic, weakly porphyritic phase, and a lower coarse-grained phase.

Due to eutectic crystallization, no strong major element trends are found within the pluton and dykes. Trace element chemistry, however, shows an apparent liquid line of descent with the fine grained alaskite the least differentiated and the aplite dykes the most differentiated. The medium and coarse-grained alaskites plot in between these. Rayleigh fractional crystallization of alkali feldspar accounts for these trends.

Textural zonation evolved by the initial chilling of the originally H2O-poor magma at its upper edges. Crystallization of anhydrous phases from the melt had the effect of increasing the volatile pressure within the enclosed chamber. The volatiles migrated to and concentrated in the upper regions where the melting temperature was depressed, causing the pluton to crystallize from the bottom up. This allowed for the lower regions to reach more advanced stages of phenocryst crystallization, hence forming the lower coarse-grained alaskite. The volatile pressure eventually exceeded the confining pressure, resulting in failure of the surrounding rocks and retorgrade boiling, as well as vertical extension and lateral injection of residual magma due to filter pressing to form the aplite dykes. This final series of events also resulted in the formation of the graphic groundmass, straining of the minerals within the pluton, brecciation of some of the surrounding rocks, as well as quartz veining and molybdenum mineralization.

Organization: Government of Yukon | Gouvernement du Yukon
Placer Mining and Exploration Compilation (105E)

A placer mining and exploration compilation of NTS map sheet 105E, southern Yukon Territory, Canada. This compilation includes the location, history and previous work, description of bedrock geology, surficial geology and mineralization. Accompanying this report is one 1:250,000-scale map (NTS 105E) which displays the locations of the placer occurrences discussed in the report.

Organization: Government of Yukon | Gouvernement du Yukon
Total field magnetic, Wernecke Mountain Aeromagnetic Survey, NTS 106B (south half), Yukon.

This map of the magnetic total field was derived from data acquired during an aeromagnetic survey carried out by Fugro Airborne Surveys during the period April 17, 2006 to August 26, 2007. The data were recorded using a split-beam cesium vapour magnetometer (sensitivity = 0.005 nT) mounted in the tail boom of a Cessna Caravan aircraft. The nominal traverse and control line spacings were, respectively, 800 m and 2600 m, and the aircraft flew at a nominal terrain clearance of 250 m. Traverse lines were oriented N30 degrees E with orthogonal control lines. The flight path was recovered following post-flight differential corrections to the raw Global Positioning System data and inspection of ground images recorded by a vertically-mounted video camera. The survey was flown on a pre-determined flight surface to minimize differences in magnetic values at the intersections of control and traverse lines. These differences were computer-analysed to obtain a mutually levelled set of flight-line magnetic data. The levelled values were then interpolated to a 200 m grid. The International Geomagnetic Reference Field was not removed from the magnetic total field.

Organization: Government of Yukon | Gouvernement du Yukon
Proterozoic and Early Paleozoic volcanism in the Ogilvie Mountains: An example from Mount Harper, west-central Yukon

Volcanic rocks in the Dawson map-area occur as isolated lenses within the early Paleozoic Selwyn Basin assemblage and as sets of flows and complexes within Proterozoic carbonate rocks near the edge of the Mackenzie Platform. Mount Harper complex, an example of the latter group, has been studied in greater detail than the others because it is more completely exposed, and contains two mafic to felsic volcanic cycles.

Unlike the sedimentary rocks, whose correlation with established units in the Wernecke Mountains and Alaska is now well advanced, understanding of the stratigraphic position and internal relations of the volcanic piles is less definite. This report, based on two field mapping seasons, has two parts. Characteristics of the two volcanic groups and correlative occurrences are discussed in the first part; the second presents interpretations from the stratigraphy of the Mount Harper complex as an illustration of the style of volcanism in the region.

Organization: Government of Yukon | Gouvernement du Yukon
Geology of the Plata-Inca gold-silver veins, Yukon

Latest (?) Proterozoic to Earliest Cambrian and Devonian to (?) Mississippian strata, and a Cretaceous or Early Tertiary porphyry dyke underlie the Plata-Inca property. The sedimentary rocks are part of the dominantly clastic assemblage that makes up the other part of the northern Cordilleran miogeocline.

The sedimentary rocks are folded and cut by thrust faults and younger (?) normal faults. Steep normal faults with a variety of orientations cut all other structures. These faults host most of the veins and are well exposed in the mine workings.

Most veins contain galena, sphalerite, and tetrahedrite in a gangue of siderite and quartz with minor barite and calcite. Silver-lead ratios determined from the grade of ore shipments range from 55.5 g/t Ag : 1% Pb to 137.1 g/t Ag : 1% Pb

The age and origin of the gold-silver veins in the Plata-Inca camp is unclear. They are most likely related to a buried intrusion, although the only evidence for one is the small porphyry dyke at the northwest end of the property. There are no other intrusions nearby, but the deposits are at the northern margin of the belt of mid-Cretaceous intrusions that belong to the Selwyn Plutonic Suite.

Organization: Government of Yukon | Gouvernement du Yukon
Revisiting the “Klondike Orogeny”: Permian to Jurassic development of the Yukon‐Tanana terrane, northern Canadian Cordillera

The Permian evolution of the Yukon‐Tanana terrane and closure of the Slide Mountain Ocean in the northern Cordillera have been inferred to culminate in the collisional “Klondike orogeny,” a northern extension of the Sonoma orogeny of the western USA. The “Klondike orogeny” was thought to be associated with mid‐crustal deformation and metamorphism and development of a thick orogenic welt in the late Permian (ca. 260–252 Ma; Lopingian). A review of lithogeochemical data combined with new U‐Pb geochronology and Hf isotope data of igneous and detrital zircons from the western Yukon‐Tanana terrane supports development of a mid to late Permian (ca. 265–255 Ma; Guadalupian‐Lopingian) arc in a supra‐subduction zone setting. Arc development was preceded by hyper‐extension and emplacement of supra‐subduction zone ophiolites (ca. 268–264 Ma). Precise CA‐TIMS U‐Pb dating of zircon in plutons inferred to constrain the timing of the “Klondike orogeny” show that they are the same age (ca. 260.9 Ma) and that previous dates are too young due to unmitigated Pb loss. A critical review of evidence for regional metamorphism indicates that mid‐crustal deformation and metamorphism is related to accretion of the Intermontane terranes in the Early Jurassic. Mica cooling ages show that the western Yukon‐Tanana terrane was exhumed to upper crustal level in the Jurassic. Sinistral transpression facilitated development of the Yukon‐Tanana terrane and subsequent tectonic activity from mid‐Paleozoic to early Mesozoic and probably linked the Permian closure of the Slide Mountain Ocean with intermittent late Paleozoic deformation culminating in the Sonoma orogeny of the U.S. Cordillera.

Organization: Government of Yukon | Gouvernement du Yukon
Geologic setting and stratigraphic framework of placer deposits, Mayo area, Yukon

Placer deposits occur in unusual geological settings in the Mayo Mining District, where gold is mined from Reid-age glacial till and glaciofluvial gravel and from more recent (McConnell and post-McConnell-age) alluvial fans and fan-deltas. In other districts these types of deposits are not generally explored or prospected for placers. In the Mayo area, placer deposits are best preserved near the maximum limit of glacial ice where ice-scouring is minimal and depositional processes dominate. Pre-existing alluvial gold deposits were likely buried in this region where the ice limits of the Reid and McConnell glaciations exist in close proximity.

Initial studies of the geomorphology of the region's known placer deposits show that they occur in three main types of landforms of different ages. Alluvial fans and fan-deltas contain placer deposits that are McConnell and younger in age while valley-bottomplacers are likely interglacial, glacial or glaciofluvial deposits of Reid age or older. A number of drainages have not been extensively explored or prospected; however, given similarities with known placer occurrences in the area, the potential for discovery of new placer deposits is good for many sites in the Mayo map area.

Organization: Government of Yukon | Gouvernement du Yukon
Geology of Keno Hill Map Area (105M/14)

This map is based on 1991 mapping and compilation of previous Geological Survey of Canada mapping, namely McTaggart (1960), Kindle (1962), and Boyle (1965). The geology of the Keno Hill district is discussed more fully in Roots and Murphy (1992).
Keno Hill map area is underlain primarily by highly deformed rocks of four map units, the Upper Proterozoic to Lower Cambiran Hyland Group, the Devono-Mississippian Earn Group, the Mississippian Keno Hill quartzite, and Triassic diorite.

Organization: Government of Yukon | Gouvernement du Yukon