AndreaBozzo/ceres-open-data-index huggingface dataset:
2013–14 Supplementary estimates no. 2

Supplementary estimates no. 2 for the Government of Yukon 2013–14 Budget. 
This document was prepared by the Department of Finance under the direction of Management Board for the 1st Session of the 33rd Legislature, Yukon Legislative Assembly. March 2014, Whitehorse, Yukon.

Organization: Government of Yukon | Gouvernement du Yukon
Whitehorse Copper Belt: A Simplified Technical History

The Whitehorse Copper Belt is a northwest-trending chain of copper-bearing skarn deposits, located four kilometres west of the city of Whitehorse (NTS 105 D). The belt extends parallel to the Alaska Highway for thirty kilometres, from the Crestview subdivision to the junction of the Alaska Highway and the South Klondike Highway. From the time Jack McIntyre staked the Copper King in 1898, the belt has been vigorously prospected and mined for its valuable copper, gold and silver metals.

Organization: Government of Yukon | Gouvernement du Yukon
Report on the Detailed Mineral Assessment of the Proposed Lewes Marsh/McClintock Bay and Tagish River Special Management Areas, Yukon

The Government of Yukon, Government of Canada, the Kwanlin Dun First Nation and the Carcross Tagish First Nation agreed to create a 20.02 square kilometres Special Management Area designated as a Habitat Protection Area surrounding the Lewes River Marsh wetland below and including the lower end of Marsh Lake. The Government of Yukon, Government of Canada and the Carcross/Tagish First Nation agreed to create a 4.62 square kilometer Special Management Area designated as a Habitat Protection area along the Tagish River including the delta deposits in upper Marsh Lake.

The northern portion of the proposed Lewes Marsh/McClintock Bay Wetland Special Management Area is within the Traditional Territory of the Ta'an Kwach'an Council. The purpose of this report is to present the results of the detailed mineral assessment of an area of 310 square kilometers that encompassed the two proposed Special Management Areas.

The proposed area has no advanced mineral deposits. The assessment is based on the mineral potential of the geology as identified by a panel of industry experts. Results shown on the detailed mineral potential map indicate that the highest relative mineral potential lies in the tracts east of the Alaska Highway beside the proposed Lewes Marsh/McClintock Bay Wetland Special Management Area. The western tract boundary of the highest ranking coincides with the trace of the Marsh Lake Fault Zone. The Marsh Lake Fault Zone has been identified as gold bearing over a 500 m strike length at the Rossbank property Creek Zone (Minfile 105D 102). Mid-Cretaceous aged mafic to intermediate volcanic rocks, limestone and chert that have the potential for hosting significant economic metal deposits underlie the tracts of relative highest mineral potential.

Organization: Government of Yukon | Gouvernement du Yukon
Mineral Industry Report 1976

This report is a review of the Yukon mineral industry for 1976 by the Geology Section, Northern Natural Resources and Environment Branch, Department of Indian and Northern Affairs. It includes descriptions of work conducted on mineral claims by individuals and mineral exploration companies and operating summaries of the several producing mines in the Yukon. It also contains geological papers on select properties.

Information in this report was obtained from visits to mineral properties, from personal communication with individuals and from technical reports, trade journals, newspapers, publications of the Geological Survey of Canada and the monthly reports of the District Mining Recorders. A list of assessment reports, both confidential and those available for inspection, is included in the list of Technical Reports.

In this report, activities of the mineral industry are divided into lode mining and exploration, coal mining and exploration and placer mining.

Organization: Government of Yukon | Gouvernement du Yukon
Syn-mineralization faults and their re-activation, Finlayson Lake massive sulphide district, Yukon-Tanana Terrane, southeastern Yukon

Although deformed and metamorphosed, the strata hosting volcanogenic massive sulphide deposits in the Finlayson Lake district retain characteristics that suggest the influence of syn-depositional faults near the deposits. The Fyre Lake deposit occurs within a mafic schist unit near where notable changes in thickness, rock type and amount of comagmatic metaplutonic rocks occur. These changes occur across a north-northwest-striking corridor along which deposits and prospects in the overlying felsic metavolcanic schist are distributed (including Kudz Ze Kayah). Syn-volcanic, syn-mineralization faulting would explain the association of these deposits with the observed changes in host rock characteristics. Using similar arguments, syn-mineralization faults have been inferred on the Hat Trick property southwest of Fire Lake, as well as in Pennsylvanian and Permian rocks of the Campbell Range succession. Finally, stratigraphic differences between coeval rocks in the hanging wall and footwall of the Money Creek thrust imply that the thrust may have re-activated a syn-depositional structure. The regions of hanging wall and footwall cut-offs of the Money Creek thrust would therefore be considered as highly prospective for massive sulphide deposits.

Organization: Government of Yukon | Gouvernement du Yukon
Assessment of Long-Term Vegetation and Site Conditions at Reclaimed Yukon Mineral Exploration Sites

There have recently been many changes in the way mining exploration projects operate, including new technologies, new exploration targets and new environmental regulations. Following recent amendments, to the Yukon Quartz and Placer Mining Acts, a significant new piece of legislation came into effect in December, 1999. The Yukon Quartz Mining Land Use Regulations, administered by the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, now requires the reclamation of disturbed land on mining claims. But what happens at these reclaimed sites several years after the work is finished? Is there more than one way to successfully reclaim such land? How do local conditions affect the regrowth of plants on these sites and how much preparation of the reclaimed surface is needed? This report may not provide answers to all these questions, but it presents data collected at several Yukon sites, each with different ages and having had different reclamation treatments. From these observations, patterns on the success or failure of revegetation programs emerge and provide information on the rate and extent of natural revegetation at reclaimed mining trenches.

Several types of reclamation sites were looked at in several different areas of Yukon, both above and below the treeline. Three of these were exploration trenches that were backfilled and revegetated as part of an experimental reclamation program in 1995. These reclaimed exploration sites included the Red Ridge trench, near Annie Lake in the Whitehorse area, the Nucleus trench, west of Carmacks and the Hawk trench near Dawson City. Each of these reclaimed trenches were revegetated with different seed and fertilizer mixes. This report summarizes how these sites looked in 1999, four years after the reclamation work was done.

At Division Mountain, west of Braeburn, several coal trenches and drill pads were reclaimed by a mineral exploration company between 1995 and 1997. These sites were also looked at in 1999 in order to measure the success of the revegetation program. The last place visited in 1999 was Jason Knoll near Macmillan Pass where a number of exploration trenches and drill pads were reclaimed in the early 1980s. This site provides a look at the longer-term success rate of a revegetation program near the treeline.

Refilled and contoured trenches, with rough and loose surfaces seem to revegetate well. The replacement of original soil is most important and makes the most significant contribution to the revegetation process, particularly at high elevation sites or sites in extreme climatic conditions. The replacement of tree debris significantly improves habitat conditions for small mammals by decreasing access and visibility for predators.

Organization: Government of Yukon | Gouvernement du Yukon
Yukon hardrock mining, development and exploration overview 2023

Despite tough market conditions, the Yukon saw another year of significant exploration results and new discoveries. At the time of writing, Yukon Geological Survey (YGS) estimated exploration expenditures in the territory to be $147M for the year, based on company press releases, SEDAR (System for Electronic Document Analysis and Retrieval Overview) postings and conversations with industry clients. This estimate is up 18% from $124M in 2022 (Fig. 1). Development expenditures for 2023 are estimated to be $95M (Fig. 1) and mineral production is estimated to be $495M (approximately 87% attributed to gold production, 10% to silver production and 3% to copper production), down from a total of $543M in 2022; Fig. 2).1 It was a challenging year for production due to the closure of the Minto mine and the two-week closure of Victoria Gold’s Eagle Gold mine due to wildfires in the Mayo region; however, strong precious and base-metal prices throughout the year, increased production at Eagle Gold mine, and the re-opening of the Keno Hill mine suggests that 2023 production revenue will remain strong.

There were 82 active exploration projects in the territory in 2023 (Fig. 3, Appendix 1), which was similar to 2022; however, the number of active companies and individual prospectors continues to
decline. The notable increase in exploration expenditures compared with 2022 can be attributed to the progression of several exploration projects into more advanced stages. In total, 31 companies
spent more than $500K on exploration and development; 19 of those spent more than $1M. Additionally, several companies were able to raise extra funding mid-season, which extended their initial proposed exploration programs. 

The primary commodity in terms of total exploration expenditures in the territory continues to be gold, representing 55% of spending ($80.5M), followed by zinc-lead (25%, $37.7M), silver (9%, $13.4M), copper (9%, $13.2M), tungsten (1%, $1.0M) and nickel-PGE (1%, $900K; Fig. 4). Gold exploration has dominated expenditures since the late 1980s, often representing upward of 80% of total expenditures; however, in recent years there has been a progressive shift to a more equal split between precious metal and critical mineral exploration expenditures. 

As of November 1, 2023, 5119 quartz claims had been staked in 2023 (Fig. 5). Most of the new claims were in the Mayo Mining District (60%), followed by the Whitehorse (25%) and Dawson (15%) mining districts; no new claims were staked in the Watson Lake Mining District (Fig. 6). A total of 162 564 claims remain in good standing, down from 164 924 in 2022.

Organization: Government of Yukon | Gouvernement du Yukon
Geology and lithogeochemistry of the Fyre lake copper-cobalt-gold sulphide-magnetite deposit, southeastern Yukon

The Fyre Lake sulphide-magnetite deposit is located in the Finlayson Lake massive sulphide district in the Yukon-Tanana terrane, southeastern Yukon. It is hosted by quartz-chlorite-actinolite schist derived from (probable) Devono-Mississippian-aged mafic volcanic rocks. Overlying the deposit are intercalated metasedimentary and metavolcanic rocks. This mixed sequence is, in turn, overlain by a thick sequence of graphitic phyllite. The deposit consists of three northwest-trending stratiform lenses comprising massive and semi-massive sulphide and magnetite iron formation. Pyrite is the dominant sulphide mineral in the deposit, with lesser amounts of pyrrhotite, chalcopyrite, and locally, sphalerite. The sulphide mineralization is copper and cobalt-rich and locally contains significant concentrations of zinc and gold. It has low to trace amounts of lead, barium, arsenic, antimony, tin and selenium.
Lithogeochemical results indicate that the host mafic metavolcanic rocks are strongly depleted of light rare-earth elements (LREE) and high field strength elements (HFSE), and contain elevated levels of MgO, Ni and Cr. SiO2 in the host rocks ranges from 53 to 58%. Chemically, the mafic metavolcanic rocks are similar to boninitic rocks found in some suprasubduction zone ophiolites such as those at Cyprus. The primitive boninitic chemistry of the host metavolcanic rocks implies that they originated as melts from a depleted mantle in a rifted setting. The presence of felsic metasedimentary rocks below, within and overlying the host metavolcanic rocks suggests that the Fyre Lake deposit was formed in or near a mature tectonic setting, possibly a continental arc or an evolved island arc. The host mafic metavolcanic rocks are chemically distinct from other mafic and intermediate metavolcanic rocks that outcrop on the Fyre Lake property. A clastic metavolcanic rock unit lies stratigraphically below the deposit. It consists of fragmental LREE and HFSE-enriched transitional subalkaline basalts. Other discontinuous bodies of metavolcaniclastic and metaflow rocks occur stratigraphically above and peripheral to the Fyre Lake deposit. These are enriched in LREE and Th, and relatively depleted in Nb, Ta and Ti, and generally display the chemical features of transitional basalts and andesites erupted in a continental arc or evolved island arc setting.

Organization: Government of Yukon | Gouvernement du Yukon
Petrology of the nephelinites and associated ultramafic nodules of Volcano Mountain, Yukon Territory

Nephelinites from Volcano Mountain, Yukon Territory, contain olivine, Ti-rich diopside, ulvospinel, nepheline, leucite, traces of calcite, and residual glass with varying compositions. Mass balance calculations suggest that these compositional differences are due to different fractionation paths; a conclusion consistent with the observed mineral abundances near the glasses. Pearce Element Ratios show that at least one of the lava flows sampled is not comagmatic with the others. Thermodynnmic modeling of silicate melts and textural observations indicate that the pressure-temperature path of fractionation was polybaric, and that the minimum depth of melt separation from the source rocks was 60 km. The volcanic rocks host dunite and lherzolite nodules consisting of diopside and hypersthene, olivine and chromian spinel. Deformation textures and mineral compositions are different from other occurrences in western North America. Geothermometry on the xenoliths provide temperature estimates between 930°C and 1350°C. The range of equlibrim pressures for the nodules is estimated from phase equilibria at 20 to 45 kilobars.

Organization: Government of Yukon | Gouvernement du Yukon
Mapping the rate of change of select glaciers using satellite and ground-based observations, Yukon and northwestern British Columbia

Glacier mass loss is accelerating throughout Yukon. This mass loss is confirmed by multiple studies and methods. New remotely-sensed and field-measured terminus retreat rates for select glaciers representative of the glaciated watersheds throughout Yukon are presented and compared to previous studies. Photographic data and measurements from field monitoring stations occupied from 2004 to 2022 confirm rapid mass-loss and provide relatable images for communicating the striking rate of glacier retreat. The rapid rate of glacier mass loss in Yukon will have variable impacts on downstream hydrology including discharge, temperature, chemistry, sedimentation and turbidity that are, with some exceptions, poorly quantified at present.

Organization: Government of Yukon | Gouvernement du Yukon
New investigations of basal Laberge Group stratigraphy, Whitehorse trough, central Yukon

The tectonic evolution of the Whitehorse trough in central Yukon is largely preserved by the Early to Middle Jurassic Laberge Group, an ~3000-m thick succession of synorogenic clastic strata that unconformably overlies arc and arc marginal rocks of the Lewes River Group. A two-year project was initiated to test a Sinemurian to Toarcian transgression of basal Laberge Group strata westward across the Whitehorse trough and examine the regional relationships between the timing of Jurassic exhumation, sedimentation, and terrane accretion in the northern Canadian Cordillera. Field studies in 2017 targeted basal Laberge Group strata at seven locations in central Yukon. At each field locality, basal Laberge Group strata are known or inferred to unconformably overlie the Povoas formation and multiple units of the Aksala formation. Pre-Early Jurassic unconformities may indicate variable basin topography due to the complex internal stratigraphy of the Lewes River Group, or that regional exhumation and erosion affected the Whitehorse trough prior to Laberge Group sedimentation.

Organization: Government of Yukon | Gouvernement du Yukon
Evidence of hydrothermal alteration in White Channel sediments and bedrock of the Klondike area, west-central Yukon

A post-depositional hydrothermal alteration product in White Channel sediments and underlying bedrock is divided into 3 zones. These zones, termed the Bleached Zone, the Iron Zone, and the Footwall Zone, are characterized by the development of secondary clay minerals with moderate to high crystallinities. Trace element concentrations of Fe, Mn, As, Sb, Hg, Co, Ba and S are anomalously high in the Iron and Footwall zones. Three types of low temperature, post-metamorphic veins appear to be spatially related to both the distribution and intensity of alteration. Field relationships of altered and unaltered White Channel sediment show zoning patterns which cannot be explained by surface weathering and percolation of meteoric surface fluids.

Economic implications of the alteration of White Channel alluvium are that there may be a hydrothermal style of gold mineralization, in addition to gold which was initially deposited in a placer environment. Testing and exploration of altered White Channel alluvium should be done with this in mind, particularly for extremely fine-grained gold which may accompany the alteration product.

Organization: Government of Yukon | Gouvernement du Yukon
Geological Map of Slats Creek Area (NTS 106D/16), Wernecke Mountains, Yukon

Geological map (1:50,000 scale) of Slats Creek area, Wernecke Mountains, central Yukon (NTS 106D/16) including geological cross sections, mineral occurrences and preliminary isotopic age determinations.

Organization: Government of Yukon | Gouvernement du Yukon
Sedimentology of Placer Gravels Near Mt. Nansen, Central Yukon Territory (115 I)

Unconsolidated sediments in the Mount Nansen area can be subdivided into eight clastic facies: 1)clay-rich diamicton; 2) massive/stratified silt/clay; 3) massive/disorganized pebbly sand/sand; 4) stratified pebbly sand/sand; 5) disorganized muddy gravel; 6) massive/stratified sandy gravel; 7) disorganized gravel; and 8) massive to crudely stratified gravel. Diamicton is interpreted as glacial till; other facies are fluvial/glaciofluvial in origin. 
Sediments have a number of geomorphic setting, including: 1) Holocene colluvium, alluvial fans and stream deposits; 2)Reid periglacial alluvial fans; and 3) pre-Reid glacial and glaciofluvial deposits.
Previous workers suggested that significant placer gold concentrations occur only in alluvium that lies either upon bedrock or glacial till. New data from this study suggest that significant amounts of placer gold also occur in the diamicton, primarily at the diamicton/bedrock contact. Gold concentration in the diamicton is likely due to glacial erosion and incorporation of a supergene- enriched bedrock mantle and pre-existing auriferous alluvium.

Organization: Government of Yukon | Gouvernement du Yukon
Late Wisconsinan McConnell ice-flow and sediment distribution patterns in the Pelly Mountains, Yukon

Late Wisconsinan McConnell glaciation (ca. 24-11 ka) occurred in four phases in the Pelly Mountains of southern Yukon. Phase 1 marked the onset of ice accumulation in cirques above 1524 m above sea level (a.s.l.). These local glaciers expanded and fed valley glaciers that extended into the surrounding lowlands (after 26.3 ka). At glacial maximum or phase 2, the development of ice-divides to the east and south of the Pelly Mountains permitted Cordilleran ice lobes to invade the lesser glaciated Pelly Mountains, which resulted in up-valley ice-flow. This ice-flow arrangement continued into early deglaciation (phase 3), a period characterized by re-advances of the invading ice lobes. Following retreat of the ice lobes from the Pelly Mountains, some local cirque glaciers above 1600 m a.s.l. resumed limited down-valley flow (phase 4). For drift prospecting purposes, the dominant glacial dispersion trajectory in these high relief areas is controlled by the last phases of ice-flow (either phase 3 or 4).

Organization: Government of Yukon | Gouvernement du Yukon
Mineralogical Analysis of Ore Specimens from the Rare Earth Deposits of Dodgex (Part 1 and Part 2)

A mineralogical study was conducted by the Applied Mineralogy Group on a niobium-bearing rare earth ore from the Lancer deposit in Yukon as a cost recovery project for Mr. Dodge, President Dodgex Ltd. The study was conducted in two parts. One part is to identify the minerals and to determine the compositions and modes of occurrence of rare earth minerals, and the second part is to determine the relative quantities of the rare earth minerals and to determine their liberation characteristics.

Organization: Government of Yukon | Gouvernement du Yukon
Initial results from the first year of the Permafrost Outreach Program, Yukon, Canada

In 2007, a permafrost outreach program was initiated in Yukon, Canada by installing long-term permafrost monitoring stations near public schools in Whitehorse, Faro, Ross River, Dawson, Old Crow and Beaver Creek. Shallow boreholes were drilled near participating schools, and data loggers were installed to measure hourly air and ground temperatures at a variety of depths. Frost tubes were also installed in fall 2008 to start monitoring seasonal freezing and thawing trends in the active layer. School students are actively engaged with field data collection and interpretation of results posted on a central website. The program also provides baseline data that can be used to characterize local permafrost conditions and detect long-term changes. A snapshot of current permafrost conditions is provided for each monitoring station, based on the first year of data collection.

Organization: Government of Yukon | Gouvernement du Yukon