AndreaBozzo/ceres-open-data-index huggingface dataset:
Yukon placer mining 2024 development and exploration overview

The Yukon placer industry has continued to thrive amid strong and rising gold prices. There was a slight increase in activity this past season. A total of 156 operations were active across the Yukon, which was up from 147 in 2023. The Dawson Mining District remained most active, and included 70% of operations in the territory, while the Mayo and Whitehorse districts accounted for 21 and 9%, respectively. A combination of strengthening gold prices, favourable weather, and increased activity resulted in record placer revenue from April 1 to November 1, 2024. The reported placer production in 2024 of 85 799 crude ounces yielded a production revenue of C$230 million, which marks the highest in Yukon’s placer gold production history since 1886. This highlights the industry’s resilience and growth, bolstered by positive economic conditions and advancements in mining technology.

Organization: Government of Yukon | Gouvernement du Yukon
Preliminary results of a petrological study of ultramafic rocks of the Northern Cordillera

The Cache Creek (CCT) and Slide Mountain terranes (SMT), including the Seventymile Terrane in Alaska of the Northern Cordillera consist of oceanic assemblages that have been tectonically emplaced. The CCT has been enclosed by a series of arc terranes, whereas the SMT has been thrust onto pericratonic North America. Detailed studies of ultramafic rocks in CCT, SMT, Livengood Terrane and the Kluane metamorphic assemblage across Yukon, Alaska and British Columbia were conducted at nine site locations. The most common type of ultramafic rock present at these localities is serpentinized harzburgite. The ultramafic rocks from the CCT and SMT have been interpreted as the lower layers from dismembered ophiolite complexes. Samples collected from the CCT are consistently harzburgite, whereas samples from the SMT are both mantle-derived harzburgite and lherzolite. The variety of ultramafic rock present in the SMT suggests they were generated within contrasting geological settings.

Organization: Government of Yukon | Gouvernement du Yukon
The Yukon Digital Bedrock Geology compilation

The Yukon Digital Bedrock Geology dataset was first released in 1999. It was rebuilt and expanded in 2016 and has since received regular updates. This paper summarizes the enhancements made to the bedrock geology dataset since 2016, the other ancillary geoscience datasets available, and the various ways to access and use the dataset.

Organization: Government of Yukon | Gouvernement du Yukon
Industrial Minerals and Minor Metals and their Potential for Development in the Yukon

The industrial minerals and minor metals are reviewed alphabetically. Where applicable, information has been included on mineral types, uses, deposit characteristics, mining methods, producers, market specification, prices, Canadian deposits and Yukon occurrences.

Comments are also made on the likelihood of the discovery of Yukon deposits and the potential for their development.

Industrial minerals and minor metals which have been identified as deserving more attention in the Yukon are grouped as follows:

Group 1: Industrial mineral deposits known to occur in Yukon which could be developed given a likely change in market conditions. barite
Group 2: Industrial minerals and minor metals which are presently known to occur in Yukon in uneconomic amounts, but for which there is a reasonable chance of discovering economically viable deposits. Cassiterite, fluorspar, gypsum, jade, nepheline syenite, olivine, phosphates, rare earths, talc.
Group 3: Industrial minerals which, though presently unknown in Yukon, could be expected to occur, and which command a high enough price to encourage exploration. Celestite, china clay (kaolin), cryolite, diamonds, lascas
Group 4: Industrial minerals and rocks for which baseline studies and inventories are needed to assess the potential for development or improve their present exploitation. Dimension stone, lime, peat, sand and gravel

Organization: Government of Yukon | Gouvernement du Yukon
Petroleum Resource Assessment, Peel Plateau and Plain, Yukon Territory, Canada

The Peel Plateau and Plain in Yukon is a potentially prospective petroleum province that lies north of the Mackenzie Mountains and east of the Richardson Mountains up to the inter-territorial boundary. The area contains a Lower Cambrian to Upper Cretaceous stratigraphic succession up to approximately 4.5 km thick. Nineteen exploratory wells have been drilled within the region without economic reserves or production, but with some petroleum shows. A probablilistic petroleum resource assessment suggests that there is a significant potential for natural gas throughout the region. In general, petroleum potential is inferred to decrease both westward, and with increasing depth and stratigraphic age. The small size of gas pools will be an impediment to their development because of their location. No crude oil potential can be estimated due to an inferred lack of oil-prone sources in strata of suitable maturity. Where previous work speculated that the history of petroleum systems in the Peel Plateau and Plain was distinctive from that of surrounding regions that are suitably characterized, this work finds no justification for such a distinctive petroleum system history. The resulting undiscovered potential is, therefore, considered to be consistent with the results of the exploration history.

Organization: Government of Yukon | Gouvernement du Yukon
Whole-rock geochemistry of samples from Carlin-type gold zones, Nadaleen trend, Yukon

This report releases whole-rock geochemical assay results of 102 samples collected by the Geological Survey of Canada (GSC) and Yukon Geological Survey (YGS) from four Carlin-type gold zones (Conrad, Sunrise, Osiris and Anubis) in the Nadaleen Trend, Yukon.

Organization: Government of Yukon | Gouvernement du Yukon
Distribution of Miles Canyon basalt in the Whitehorse area and implications for groundwater resources

Miocene Miles Canyon basalts play a critical role in the historical development and modern economics of the City of Whitehorse. Where cut by the Yukon River, the unnavigable waters at Miles Canyon and the Whitehorse Rapids formed a natural terminus that became a transportation hub that in turn encouraged settlement. Today, this basalt is responsible not only for efficient and economical hydroelectric power, but also for hosting the groundwater resources for many of Whitehorse's rural residents. Much of the city is underlain by Cretaceous granodiorite of the Whitehorse Batholith, which is a relatively poor aquifer due to its lack of porosity. Miles Canyon basalt however, has significantly higher innate hydraulic permeability and thus provides better opportunities for additional groundwater resources and aquifer development. Miles Canyon basalts have reported hydraulic conductivity values around 2 x 10^-6 m/s, which are 20 to 50 times higher than reported hydraulic conductivity values for unfractured granodiorite aquifers. As such, the loci of basalt limits have important implications for the siting of productive private water wells.

This paper summarizes details of Miles Canyon basalt occurrences within the limits of the City of Whitehorse and provides updated mapping of the extent and distribution of the basalt within the City. The discussion includes a summary of six outcrop observations, twelve water-well record data, a shallow reflected seismic survey and interpretation of regional aeromagnetic data related to basalt distribution. Thickness of Miles Canyon basalt intersected in drill holes ranges from as little as 1.8 m up to 110 m, although most drill holes did not penetrate the total basalt thickness.

Organization: Government of Yukon | Gouvernement du Yukon
Geological Map of Blind Creek (105K/7 SE), Central Yukon (1:25 000 scale)

Geological map (1:25,000 scale) of Blind Creek area, central Yukon (NTS 105K/7 SE) including a geological cross section, mineral occurrences, isotopic age dates, fossil samples and geochemical samples.

Organization: Government of Yukon | Gouvernement du Yukon
Seismic line recovery in the Southeast Yukon: Patterns and processes

Increased interest in oil and gas exploration in the Yukon is leading to an increase in the use of seismic exploration as a tool for identifying potential drill sites. Although there are a number of techniques that have been developed over the years to minimize disturbances associated with seismic exploration, in some cases the information that needs to be gathered dictates that a less than environmentally optimal treatment be employed. Seismic line cuts can cause a number of outcomes from significant environmental degradation to lines that are barely a whisper on the landscape. Studies conducted in the Eagle Plains and Peel Plateau areas in 2006 and 2007 have provided significant information on the ecology of recovery of seismic lines in these areas. The results of these studies were presented at the 2007 Oil and Gas Best Management Practices Symposium in Inuvik in October, 2007. The South Eastern region is different ecologically from the Eagle Plains and Peel Plateau region. The lower elevation sites in the South Eastern region are vegetated by substantial forests of white spruce, poplars and birch while the Eagle Plains area is tundra at higher elevation and black spruce / Labrador tea scrub forests at lower elevations. The relation to recovery processes in the North Yukon bears consideration as the general processes of recovery illustrate elements that should be considered when seismic lines are cut. This study builds on the studies completed in 2006 and 2007 and provides information that illustrates the ecological characteristics of seismic line recovery as a tool for the continued development of best management practices and standard operating procedures for oil and gas exploration.

Organization: Government of Yukon | Gouvernement du Yukon
Preliminary geology of the southeastern part of Ddhaw Ghro Special Management Area

Ddhaw Ghro Special Management Area (SMA) is currently withdrawn from mineral claim disposition. A mineral resource assessment of Ddhaw Ghro SMA will be carried out during the fall, 2001, in support of finalizing its management plan. Mapping at 1:20 000 scale, sampling, and prospecting in southeastern Ddhaw Ghro SMA shows complex structural and stratigraphic relations in layered rocks, which are further complicated by intense contact metamorphic alteration around McArthur Batholith. Rocks in roof pendants in the McArthur Batholith are pervasively altered. Southeast of the batholith, a structurally imbricated sequence of Ordovician (Duo Lake Formation) through Devonian (Portrait Lake Formation) rocks contain a slice of maroon and green shale, which may represent a far travelled thrust sheet of Early Cambrian Narchilla Formation, or a facies change in upper Road River Group towards Nogold Unit type lithologies. Sulphide minerals are common in strongly oxidized areas in the contact metamorphic aureole, and in more localized skarn-altered zones.

Organization: Government of Yukon | Gouvernement du Yukon
Sedimentology of White Channel Placer Deposits, Klondike, West Central Yukon

The White Channel placer deposit in the Klondike area is a Pliocene to early Pleistocene braid plain sequence with tributary alluvial fan and gravity flow deposits.

Lithofacies types range from laminated silt and clay to massive and disorganized boulder gravel. A total of 14 lithofacies types have been identified with cryogenic features such as ice wedge casts found in the upper half of the White Channel section. Dominant lithofacies types include distinctly stratified and crudely stratified gravel which is clast-supported and matrix-filled. An alteration product is recognizable in both White Channel sediments and underlying bedrock.

Proximal White Channel sedimentation is characterized by interbedded channel sequences deposited under fluctuating, high discharge and flood conditions. Medial to distal positions are dominantly sequences of low relief unit barforms and channel lag deposits. Sorting and stratification improves up-section, and facies trends are not consistent. Deposition of White Channel sediments in valley margin positions is characterized by gravelly mass flows which are interbedded with stratified fluvial sediments.

Placer gold is found in all of the White Channel gravelly facies sampled. Concentration of gold in proximal gravelly facies is due to the development of convergent flow in shallow channels during peak discharge intervals. In medial to distal positions, heavy minerals are concentrated in channel sluiceways and aggraded unit bars. Convergent flow in sluiceways between unit bars is not as susceptible to fluctuating discharge levels, and as a result, sorting and concentration mechanisms are more efficient up-section. Gold is also concentrated in gravelly mass flow deposits through shear and suspension sorting.

A copy of this thesis is available at the EMR library – TN414.C32 Y87 1985.

Organization: Government of Yukon | Gouvernement du Yukon
Faro Down Valley Tailings Research Program Report: Tailings Reprocessing Executive Summary

The Faro Down Valley Tailing Ponds contain residual quantity of minerals that have a total value of more than a billion dollars, however, only a portion of these minerals may be recoverable through research. A research proposal for the development of an economical reprocessing method for the recovery of this resource, which would create jobs and eliminate an environmental liability, was appoved for co-funding by the Government of Yukon, Department of Economic Development (Canada/Yukon Economic Development Agreement). This ambitious and diligent research program involved Canmet (Mineral Sciences Laboratories), Lakefield Research, Normet and Curragh Inc.

The laboratory test results from the initial research programs are very encouraging with the production of a marketable bulk concentrate of 50% lead plus zinc metal content at a zinc metal recovery of 58%. There is considerable confidence in the Faro Down Valley Tailings reprocessing approach because of the mettalurgical results attained, the implementation of proven new technology equipment, the use of current reagents and the availability of the Faro Mill (low capital requirement) when the known, economic reserves are depleted.

Organization: Government of Yukon | Gouvernement du Yukon
Geology of Seagull Tin District

The Seagull District is noted for its tungsten, tin, molybdenum, lead, zinc, gold and silver bearing skarn, vein and porphyry deposits which are associated with Cretaceous intrusions. Mapping in the area by the author has resulted in a reinterpretation of the geology and a clearer definition of the geologic setting of the mineral deposits.

Organization: Government of Yukon | Gouvernement du Yukon
Age and setting of dinosaur trackways, Ross River area, Yukon Territory (105F/15)

Chert-bearing clastic strata are a common component of Jurassic and younger terrestrial sequences in the Yukon. The discovery of dinosaur trackways in a small inlier of chert-bearing clastic strata within the Tintina Trench, 3 km west of Ross River, led to reevaluation of its sedimentary framework and previously assumed Eocene age. A mid-Cretaceous (middle Albian to early Cenomanian) age is inferred from a miospore assemblage that includes the angiosperms Cupuliferoidaepollenites minimus, Retitricolpites prosimilis, Retitricolpites virgeus and Senectotetradites amiantopollis. The trackways are preserved on at least three levels within the >427 m of section exposed along and north of the Robert Campbell Highway. They occur in splay deposits associated with small, sandy meandering rivers that flowed parallel to the direction of the Tintina Trench. Most trackways appear to be heading towards the southeast, suggesting systematic migration patterns during the wet season. Conglomeratic strata were deposited by wandering gravel-bed rivers that also flowed parallel to the trench. Individual channels were up to 12 m deep and more than 50 m wide.

Organization: Government of Yukon | Gouvernement du Yukon
Textural characteristics of the Venus vein and implications for ore shoot distribution

Underground observations indicate Venus formed from hydrothermal solutions by both open space filling and replacement processes. Quartz deposition was ubiquitous throughout the sequence. Arsenopyrite and pyrite occur underground in bands near outer edges of the vein, implying early precipitation. Repeated movement along curved planar surfaces opened more space for sulphide deposition. At some point in the sequence, gold was introduced and deposited in the wider portions of the vein and in other areas.

Although precipitation of gold was probably controlled by physio-chemical conditions operating during ore deposition, the mechanism for concentration of gold into ore shoots is unknown. Recurrent opening and closing of the fissure along warped planar surfaces generated available open spaces for movement of gold-rich fluid.

If there is a structural control on ore shoot occurrence at Venus, it is most likely that the ore is concentrated in shoots by physical fluid behaviour and available open space during deposition of gold-bearing fluids.

Organization: Government of Yukon | Gouvernement du Yukon
Ar-Ar geochronology and Pb isotopic constraints on the origin of the Rau gold-rich carbonate replacement deposit, central Yukon

The Rau deposit in central Yukon is a gold-rich carbonate replacement deposit hosted in mid-Paleozoic carbonate rocks of the Mackenzie Platform in the footwall of the Dawson thrust. Gold-bearing sulphide mineralization is peripheral to a zone of hornfels and local tungsten-bearing skarn that is associated with several small bodies of granitic aplite and pegmatite that have yielded 40Ar/39Ar muscovite ages of 62.3 ± 0.7 Ma, 62.4 ± 1.8 Ma and 59.1 ± 2.0 Ma. These intrusions are geochemically different and slightly younger than the 65.2 ± 2.0 Ma McQuesten plutonic suite farther to the south. Most Pb isotopic analyses of sulphides from the Rau deposit cluster within compositions of igneous feldspars from the associated intrusions; however, some analyses fall on a trend toward more radiogenic compositions that were determined for the host carbonate rocks. The data are consistent with the Rau sulphide mineralization being genetically related to the early Paleocene felsic intrusions, and forming peripheral to more proximal zones of hornfelsing and tungsten-bearing skarns.

Organization: Government of Yukon | Gouvernement du Yukon
Regional stream sediment geochemical data, Wolf Lake, Yukon (NTS 105B)

This data package contains results for parts of the Wolf Lake survey area (NTS 105B). 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 Wolf Lake map area in 1978 and covered parts of NTS map sheet 105B (Geological Survey of Canada, 1986). Stream sediment and water samples were collected from a total of 959 sample sites. Additional analytical work completed in 1985 was undertaken by the GSC as part of the Canada-Yukon Economic Development Agreement, 1985-1989.

As part of the 2014 Yukon Database Upgrade Project, original material collected from the 959 sample sites were selected for reanalysis. Representative 2 gram splits were successfully recovered from a total of 1016 samples. 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
Geology and mineralization of the Hopkins Lake area, 115H/2, 3, 6, 7, Yukon

The Hopkins Lake area was mapped and mineral showings were sampled in June, 1980. Mapping was done at 1:25,000-scale. Sampling was done to establish metal contents in mineral showings in sites of earlier prospecting activity in unexplained limonitic gossans and unmineralized tactite.

Organization: Government of Yukon | Gouvernement du Yukon
On the geology of the Tertiary Wrangell lavas in the St. Clare province, St. Elias Mountains, Yukon

The Wrangell lavas in the St. Clare province of southwestern Yukon are part of the larger Wrangell volcanic belt that has been active throughout the Late Cenozoic. These lavas have erupted in a transitional tectonic environment that reflects regional transpression along the Queen Charlotte transform-Fairweather-Totschunda Fault System and subduction of the Farallon Plate beneath North America. The volcanic province is composed of subalkaline basalt (31%), basaltic andesite (30%), andesite (21%), dacite (2%) and nepheline normative basalt (16%).

The hypersthene normative basalt is (in order of appearance) spinel-olivine-plagioclase ± Fe-Ti oxide ± clinopyroxene phyric, whereas andesite contains plagioclase, Fe-Ti oxide, clinopyroxene, ± orthopyroxene phenocrysts, and dacite and intrusive latite contain phenocrysts of plagioclase, ± clinopyroxene, hornblende, ± biotite, ± sanidine.

The nepheline normative rocks, where porphyritic, contain phenocrysts of olivine, plagioclase and hornblende. In the central part of the map area, the lowermost flows are nepheline normative basalt that are interbeddded with clastic sediments and overlain by basaltic andesite, andesite and volcanic conglomerate. This succession is overlain by basalt interbedded with clastic sedimentary rocks and pyroclastic rocks. In the southern part of the map area, alkaline basalt occurs at this stratigraphic level. The uppermost Wrangell lavas are andesitic with minor interbedded volcaniclastic rocks.

The hypersthene normative lavas of the St. Clare province are transitional in terms of their Na2O + K2O/SiO2 ratios between alkaline and subalkaline magma series and in terms of their FeO/MgO versus SiO2 ratios between tholeiitic and calc-alkaline series. Chemical composition of these rocks reflects the unique tectonic setting within which they are found.

Organization: Government of Yukon | Gouvernement du Yukon
Mineral Assessment of the Proposed Frances Lake Special Management Area, Yukon

Yukon Government, Liard First Nations, and Ross River Dena Council agreed to create a Special Management Area designated as Natural Environment Park over Frances Lake. The Frances Lake SMA covers an area of significant Pb-Zn-Cu mineralization and multi-element geochemical anomalies, abuts to Cominco's advanced Fin prospect, and encloses quartz claims over the Matt Berry deposit.

Field work conducted in the summers of 2000 and 2001 showed that: mineralization in the Matt Berry deposit is related to a previously unreported volcanic belt that extends over 30 km to the northwest; Matt Berry deposit has characteristics of VMS-style deposits, such as those in the Finlayson Lake Belt; the style of deformation interpreted for the Matt Berry suggests repetition of the mineralized unit at depth; Maxi prospect is a significant exploration target.

A detailed mineral assessment of the area bounded by Robert Campbell Highway and Nahanni Range Road shows the highest mineral potential along a belt in the western part of the area, which coincides with the core of the proposed SMA. An examination of the detailed mineral potential map resulted in the following recommendations: the proposed protected area be shifted to the northeast, where there are large tracts of land with lower mineral potential, and equally easy road access; YTG Mineral Resources Branch should carry further field work to map intrusive phases in the northern-most portion of Billings Batholith, and to establish the source of a pronounced geochemical anomaly south of Simpson Tower.

Organization: Government of Yukon | Gouvernement du Yukon