AndreaBozzo/ceres-open-data-index huggingface dataset:
Yukon Mineral Deposit Profiles

The deposit models project is an attempt to classify the many known metallic mineral deposits and occurrences in Yukon into specific mineral deposit models. This work began with the initiation of regional mineral potential assessments by the Yukon government (e.g., Bradshaw and vanRanden, 2004). The quantitative method used for regional mineral assessments in Yukon is based on a method developed by the United States Geological Survey (USGS), which uses the mineral deposit models of Cox and Singer (1986). The reader is encouraged to consult this reference for further discussion on the fundamental purpose for defining mineral deposit models. In general terms, resource assessments require that tracts of land be assessed on the basis of probability for the occurrence of one or more specific deposits of a particular type with previously defined grades and tonnages. In the course of conducting regional mineral potential assessments, grade and tonnage information for deposit types that occur or potentially could occur in Yukon was compiled, grade and tonnage curves were constructed, and deposit models were assigned to known mineral deposits and occurrences (i.e., Yukon MINFILE occurrences).

Organization: Government of Yukon | Gouvernement du Yukon
New data on the geology and mineralization of the Skukum Creek gold-silver deposit, southern Yukon (NTS 105D/3).

Detailed exploration conducted during 2006 in the western part of the Skukum Creek deposit has revealed new structural, mineralogical and geochemical features.

The deposit incorporates a number of (at least six or seven) sub- parallel narrow mineralized zones, coincident with andesite-dacite-rhyolite dyke swarms extending for at least 1 km along strike and for hundreds of metres down-dip. Various mineralized zones differ in size, structural setting, intensity and composition of mineralization, and, in total, form a large mineralized package more than 200 m wide, corresponding to a property- to district-scale fault zone extending for over 10 km and traced by a dyke belt. Significant potential exists for the exploration of these structures along strike and down-dip.

The diamond drilling intersected numerous high-grade intercepts of gold and silver mineralization corresponding to the low-sulphidation sub-type of epithermal gold-silver deposits. However, strong enrichment in base metals (up to 25% of combined Zn+Pb+Cu) and arsenic suggests essential differences from typical epithermal mineralized systems.

Organization: Government of Yukon | Gouvernement du Yukon
Crustal stress near the Yakutat microplate collision from probabilistic earthquake focal mechanisms

Earthquake source characteristics provide a valuable constraint on crustal stress and regional plate tectonics. Earthquake source studies in Yukon and northern British Columbia have been limited by sparse seismic network coverage. In this work, we leverage recent seismic network improvements to estimate focal mechanisms for small- and moderate-magnitude (M > 2.0) earthquakes from P-wave first-motion polarity data. We invert these data within a probabilistic framework to rigorously quantify mechanism uncertainties. Subsequently, probabilistic earthquake focal mechanisms are used as input for inversions for the orientation of principal stress axes, and stress shape ratio, for spatial windows throughout the region. We implement a novel, data-driven approach to propagate focal mechanism uncertainty in stress inversion. Our results improve the spatial coverage of existing earthquake focal mechanisms and enable an orogenic-scale study of crustal stress near the Yakutat–North America collision. Overall, the region is characterized by a transpressive stress regime. Maximum horizontal compressive stress orientations exhibit a pattern orthogonal to the Yakutat collision syntaxis. Stress inversion results also reveal an abrupt change in orientation east-to-west, which we interpret as a change in stress regime across the Fairweather–Connector–Totschunda fault system that is likely related to coupling between the subducting Yakutat slab and North America. This work improves our understanding of potential earthquake hazards in southwestern Yukon and the surrounding region.

Organization: Government of Yukon | Gouvernement du Yukon
Gold and Silver, Lead Deposits of the Ketza River District, Yukon: Preliminary Results of Field Work

The Ketza River gold deposits, in central Yukon, are gold-bearing, massive sulphide mantos and chimneys in Lower Cambrian limestone. Mining is presently confined to oxidized portions of the deposits. The deposits are bounded on three sides by silver-rich veins. Metal zoning corresponds to a pronounced domal uplift that is thought to be related to a buried Cretaceous intrusion. The zoning may partly reflect stratigraphic control, but distance from the buried intrusion is considered the prime control.

Organization: Government of Yukon | Gouvernement du Yukon
Bedrock geology of Lansing Range map area (NTS 105N), central Yukon

Mainly schitose clastic strata of the northern Selwyn basin underlie Lansing map area. These strata form rounded mountains, although jagged ridgelines occur in the thermal metamorphic aureoles surrounding six Cretaceous granitic plutons. Major faults occupy some broad northwest-trending valleys: two of these extend eastward as the Hess and Macmillan faults (Abbott and Turner, 1990) in the Macmillan Pass area; another appears to contine westward as the Robert Service Thrust Fault. Argentiferous galena veins were intermittently mined from the east edge of the map area from 1976 to 1985; whereas the stratiform base metal and disseminated gold potential of these rocks have been investigated during the 1990s.

Organization: Government of Yukon | Gouvernement du Yukon
Late Devonian conodont biostratigraphy of the earn group with age constraints for stratiform mineral deposits, Selwyn and Kechika Basins, northern British Columbia and Yukon

A copy of this thesis is available at the EMR library – QE195 I7 1990.
This thesis is available online at https://open.library.ubc.ca/cIRcle/collections/ubctheses/831/items/1.0052650

Organization: Government of Yukon | Gouvernement du Yukon
Mineral Industry Report 1977

This report is a review of the Yukon mineral industry for 1977 by the Geology Section, Yukon, Northern Affairs Program, 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 technical 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
Volcanogenic iron and base metal occurrences in Klondike Schist

The term "Klondike Schist" describes metamorphosed igneous and sedimentary rocks first described from the Klondike area and later from south central Yukon. This paper describes the geology and chemistry of selected iron and base metal occurrences in Klondike Schist and proposes a model to assist further exploration for and evaluation of this type of mineralization. Four mineralized occurrences were examined in 1978, three on the northeast side of Tintina Fault in the Pelly Mountains - Fire Lake, North Lakes and Wolverine Lake and one southwest of the Tintina Fault, the Boundary prospect west of Dawson.

Organization: Government of Yukon | Gouvernement du Yukon
Yukon hard rock mining, development and exploration overview 2022

Yukon mineral exploration activity in 2022 normalized, somewhat, as the restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic abated. However, headwinds remained for explorers in Yukon: continued worker shortages, rising labour costs, high fuel prices, supply chain issues, and difficult financial markets. A surprising number of companies were not able to raise the funds necessary to execute exploration programs in 2022.
The good news is that precious and base metal prices were generally strong, however, they did soften slightly towards the end of the summer. Expectations are that year-end exploration expenditures will be approximately $124 million ($123 million in 2021). Development expenditures for the year are expected to be $105 million, up from $86 million in 2021. These estimates are compiled by the Yukon Geological Survey from data posted on company websites and conversations with explorers. The expected value of year-end hard rock metal production for 2022 is approximately $543 million ($525 million in 2021; Fig. 1).

Organization: Government of Yukon | Gouvernement du Yukon
Uranium-copper mineralization and associated breccia bodies in the Wind-Bonnet Plume River area, Yukon

During the summer of 1976, prospecting and mining exploration activity in the Wind-Bonnet Plume River area was concentrated on uranium-copper mineralization associated with breccia bodies in Lower Proterozoic rocks. As well, Geological Survey of Canada sponsored several projects in the area, including a geochemical survey and water, stream sediment and rock sampling. This report provides an overview of the geology and mineralization in the Wind-Bonnet Plume River Area.

Organization: Government of Yukon | Gouvernement du Yukon
Marg property, central Yukon

The Marg deposit consists of four stacked massive sulphide lenses hosted by Devono-Mississippian felsic metavolcanic rocks. Based on 1988 and 1989 diamond drilling, reserves are estimated 2.86 million tonnes grading 1.62% Cu, 2.25% Pb, 4.17% Zn, 55.9 g/t Ag and 0.89 g/t Au.

Organization: Government of Yukon | Gouvernement du Yukon
Paleozoic stratigraphy, tectonics and metallogeny of the Pelly Mountains, Quiet Lake and Finlayson Lake map areas (NTS 105F and G), central Yukon: Project outline and preliminary field results

Paleozoic rocks of the Pelly Mountains, central Yukon, preserve greater than 150 m.y. of sedimentation, magmatism and base-metal mineralization. To identify secular trends in regional tectonics and metallogeny, a multi-year project on the stratigraphy of the Pelly Mountains in the Quiet Lake (105F) and Finlayson Lake (105G) map areas was initiated. Field studies during summer 2015 focused on two stratigraphic intervals: (1) mafic volcanic, volcaniclastic and clastic rock successions assigned to the Cambrian-Ordovician Cloutier and Groundhog formations (Kechika group); and (2) felsic volcanic, volcaniclastic and clastic rock successions assigned to the Devonian-Mississippian Black Slate and Felsic Volcanic formations (Seagull group). Cambrian-Ordovician strata were deposited in a marine environment characterized by episodic mafic volcanism and extensional tectonism. Devonian-Mississippian strata record the transition from an extensional turbidite basin to a metalliferous volcanic rift basin, and resemble key rock assemblages of the Selwyn basin (Earn Group) and Yukon-Tanana terrane (Grass Lakes and Wolverine Lake groups).

Organization: Government of Yukon | Gouvernement du Yukon
Yukon Exploration and Geology 2005

The 2005 volume has four parts. The first Mineral Industry includes overviews of hardrock and placer mining, development and exploration in the territory as well as a summary of the Yukon Mining Incentives Program. The second part Government outlines the activities and organization of the Yukon Geological Survey, and includes announcements of the sixth Mining Land Use Reclamation Awards, the Robert E. Leckie Awards. The third part Geological Fieldwork contains reports describing regional mapping, and more detailed geoscience studies. The last part Property Description is meant for submissions from the mineral industry on mineral occurrences and deposits. This year there is only one paper on a mineral occurrence in the Mayo area.

Organization: Government of Yukon | Gouvernement du Yukon
Interim Report on the Recent Deglacierization of the Wheaton River Watershed, YT

Over the past several decades, the rate of temperature increase in the Arctic has been twice that of the rest of the planet. Climate modeling suggests that this region will experience greater climate warming over the remainder of this century than other parts of the world. We are studying the effects of recent, rapid and significant warming on physical environments of southern Yukon Territory, which is within sub-Arctic Canada. In this paper, we document rapid glacier retreat in the Wheaton River watershed, which presently supports the only glaciers on southern Yukon Plateau. Our research involves study of the largest of the glaciers in the Wheaton watershed, hereafter referred to informally as “Wheaton Glacier”. It addresses three questions: How has Wheaton Glacier changed over the past century? What is the relationship between historic activity of the glacier and regional climate? What have been the effects of climate warming and glacier retreat on the watershed? Wheaton Glacier has shrunk in area by 41% since the first photographs of it were taken in 1948. Glacier retreat has accelerated in the past 40 years, and the glacier is now so thin and short that it may disappear within the next 20 years. The main cause of glacier thinning and retreat is an increase in mean temperature; average winter snowfall has gradually increased over the period of record. Warming and glacier recession are altering sediment delivery in the upper Wheaton River watershed. A pulse of sediment is moving downstream from the Wheaton Glacier forefield and affecting the fan at the mouth of the valley. Large, out-of-channel debris flows are spilling across the fan, aggrading and shifting the stream channel. Evidence from cores and ground-penetrating radar surveys suggest that debris flows have dominated sedimentation on the fan during the last half of the Holocene, coincident with Neoglacial advances culminating in the Little Ice Age and the period of rapid glacier retreat following the Little Ice Age. Triggers identified for some of the debris flows include the draining of a proglacial lake, a rockfall possibly caused by permafrost melt, increased sediment availability associated with glacier retreat; and rock glacier activity.

Organization: Government of Yukon | Gouvernement du Yukon
Gold and sulphide mineralization in the Hunker Creek area, Yukon Territory, Canada

The Hunker Creek area is located 30 km southeast of Dawson City, Yukon. Gold and sulphide-bearing quartz veins (MINFILE 115O 067, 068) crosscut metamorphic rocks of the Klondike Schist. The veins are enclosed by envelopes of sericitic (inner) and propylitic (outer) alteration. Locally, carbonatization occurs between propylitized and sericitized rocks. Three stages of vein mineralization can be distinguished:: (1) quartz, carbonates, gold, arsenopyrite, pyrite, pyrrhotite, chalcopyrite, and galena; (II) quartz, carbonates, chalcopyrite, sphalerite, tetrahedrite, freibergite, polybasite, 'polyargyrite', argentite, pyrostilbnite and galena; (III) quartz and gold.

Fluid inclusion data indicate that stage I minerals precipitated from hydrothermal solutions containing CO2. Homogenization temperatures range from 260° to 390°C. Stage II aqueous fluid inclusions homogenize between 190° and 260°C. Stage III inclusions homogenize between 120° and 210°C. Salinities of the three stages range from 0 to 7.2 wt-% NaCl equiv. and show no significant changes with time.

It is suggested that stage I mineralization was initiated by unmixing of an original single-phase H2O and CO2 bearing fluid, and that subsequent hydrothermal evolution was controlled mainly by decreasing temperature.

Organization: Government of Yukon | Gouvernement du Yukon
TAD - an unusual porphyry occurrence in the Dawson Range, Yukon

The Tad mineral showing is an unusual porphyry-style occurrence in west-central Yukon as it contains zinc as its primary metal. This is unlike the majority of porphyry deposits in the Dawson Range which contain copper and some combination of molybdenum and gold. The Tad occurrence is hosted in a 2 km wide plug that is composed of a crowded plagioclase-quartz-biotite porphyry. A radiometric survey over the Tad property indicates that it has a large area with a low Th/K ratio. This signature is similar to, although larger and slightly less intense than, the Casino copper-molybdenum-gold deposit. The Tad property also contains supergene oxide gold mineralization, and molybdenum mineralization is hosted in the adjacent quartz monzonite country rocks.

Organization: Government of Yukon | Gouvernement du Yukon
Yukon Exploration 1991

Yukon Exploration 1991 consists of three parts: Part A is a comprehensive overview of mining and exploration activity in Yukon, Part B summarizes the activities of the Exploration and Geological Services Division (EGSD) of the Northern Affairs Program, Yukon Region, and Part C documents significant new or previously unpublished information based on property visits by EGSD staff and affiliated geoscientists. Each geological paper in Part C is searchable as a separate metadata record.

Organization: Government of Yukon | Gouvernement du Yukon
Bedrock Geology, Seagull Creek (105B/3), southern Yukon (1:50,000 scale)

The map area spans the western edge of the old North American continent and the terranes that accreted to it in Mesozoic time, which together form a generally west-dipping structural stack, separated by layer-parallel thrust faults. Three major elements are represented: 1) tilted strata of the ancient North American margin (Cassiar Terrane), 2) overthrust rocks that originated as volcanic arcs and off-shore sediments (Yukon-Tanana Terrane), and 3) granitic bodes injected into this thickened crust after the Cordilleran orogeny.

Organization: Government of Yukon | Gouvernement du Yukon
Regional mineral resource assessment of Cassiar Terrane and eastern Yukon-Tanana Terrane

In February 2000, Yukon Government Mineral Resources Branch convened a panel of industry geologists to estimate the likelihood of new discoveries in Cassiar Terrane and eastern Yukon-Tanana Terrane. The estimates were processed in a mineral deposit simulator. The simulated tonnage of metal for each tract (approximately 1000 km² of coherent geology) was converted to a dollar value, which in turn was used to rank the tracts relative to each other, from lowest to highest mineral potential. Separate runs of the simulator for significant deposit models were completed to produce model specific maps.

Organization: Government of Yukon | Gouvernement du Yukon
Flip property, southeastern Yukon

Exploration has not been done on this property since 1979. The property was originally staked to cover float boulders containing 12.8% Zn, 8.1 % Pb, 1.1 % Cu, 202.3 g/t Ag and 1-2% WO3. The mineralized rock is an actinolite skarn at the southwest margin of the Billings Batholith. Cursory examination of trench outcrops suggests that mineralization may have been emplaced in a zone of permeable breccia related to a fault.

Organization: Government of Yukon | Gouvernement du Yukon
Lead isotopic constraints on the metallogeny of southern Wolf Lake, southeastern Teslin and northern Jennings River map areas, Yukon and British Columbia: Preliminary results

Southern Wolf Lake (105B), southeastern Teslin (105C) and northern Jennings River (104O) map areas contain a wide variety of styles of mineralization, including carbonate replacement deposits, skarns, greisens and veins, as well as several apparently stratiform occurrences that have been interpreted to be syngenetic in origin. Lead isotopic compositions of galena and other sulphide minerals from many of these occurrences help to constrain the nature and approximate age of individual occurrences. Preliminary results of this study indicate that most mineralization in the area, including that at Dan, Logan, Logtung, Arsenault, Fiddler and Hart occurrences, is epigenetic and of Mesozoic to Early Tertiary age. Galena analyses from the Cabin Lake and Mor occurrences in southwestern Wolf Lake and southeastern Teslin map areas, respectively, yield relatively non-radiogenic compositions that are consistent with a syngenetic (VMS) origin and broadly Devono-Mississippian age.

Organization: Government of Yukon | Gouvernement du Yukon
Geological characteristics of high-level subvolcanic porphyritic intrusions associated with the Wolverine Zn-Pb-Cu volcanic-hosted massive sulphide deposit, Finlayson Lake District, Yukon, Canada

During the 2000 field season, a project was initiated to study the geology, geochemistry and alteration characteristics of high-level subvolcanic porphyritic intrusions associated with the Wolverine volcanic-hosted massive sulphide deposit in the Finlayson Lake district, Yukon. Subvolcanic porphyritic intrusions within the Wolverine deposit are located approximately 10-20 m beneath exhalative sulphide bodies or iron-formation in four zones (Wolverine/Lynx, Fisher, Sable and Puck). Most intrusions are K-feldspar porphyritic (Fisher and Wolverine/Lynx Zones); however, a few are quartz and K-feldspar porphyritic (Puck and Sable zones).
Feldspar-porphyritic intrusions consist of euhedral to subhedral grains of K-feldspar in a grey fine-grained matrix. Quartz-feldspar porphyritic intrusions contain slightly smaller feldspar crystals and blue to black glassy quartz eyes set in a fine-grained matrix. Most of the intrusions have non-peperitic upper margins with carbonaceous argillite (Wolverine/Lynx, Fisher, Puck). Some of the quartz- feldspar porphyritic intrusions are in contact with fine-grained volcaniclastic rocks along their upper margins (Sable); both types of intrusions have lower contacts with fine-grained volcaniclastic sedimentary rocks. These intrusions are, for the most part, unaltered and have only minor sericite-silica ±chlorite ±pyrite alteration and small mm-to cm-scale veinlets of quartz-sericite ±chlorite ±pyrite ± sphalerite. This suggests a pre-to syn-mineralization timing for the emplacement of the intrusions. The contribution of these intrusions to the heat and metal budget of the Wolverine deposit is the focus of ongoing research.

Organization: Government of Yukon | Gouvernement du Yukon
Yukon Geological Survey 2021 overview

Following a challenging year in 2020, activities at the Yukon Geological Survey (YGS) began to return to near-normal in 2021. While a number of provisions related to COVID remained in place, staff returned to working at the office, field activities proceeded without significant delays, and access to core library services for clients resumed. Visits to hard rock exploration projects also picked up over the summer, and face-to-face meetings were held with a few First Nations representatives.
In November, Yukon government announced a state of emergency in the territory as a result of a sharp increase in COVID cases. At the time of writing, staff are working mainly from home, although they are still available to respond to client requests and the Core Library remains open. Clients accessing the Core Library facilities must wear a mask, and access is limited to no more than two clients.

Organization: Government of Yukon | Gouvernement du Yukon
Lone Star property, west-central Yukon

The Lone Star property covers a large number of gold and silver-bearing mesothermal quartz veins which are believed to be the main source of gold placers in the Klondike area. Recent rotary drilling in the Boulder Lode area intersected a concordant, rusty zone 200 m long and up to 31 m thick which has the potential for a bulk tonnage oxide gold deposit. One drill hole returned results of 2.7 g/t Au over 7.6 m and 5.4 g/t Au over 6.0 m.

Organization: Government of Yukon | Gouvernement du Yukon