Rediscovering the Yukon
Forget The Historic Klondike Days Of The Early 1900s Because What’s Happening In The Yukon Right Now Will Make Those Glory Days Of Mining Look Like A Day At The Beach With A Pail And Shovel. Different In That The Government Truly Values Its Minerals. In Fact, The Passing Of Amendments To The Quartz Mining Act And The Miners Lien Act In 2008 Gave New Certainty To The Yukon’s Mineral Sector.
It’s Not As If The Territory’s Gold And Other Precious Metals Grew Over The Past 100 Years Or So Because They’ve Always Been There, But It’s The Way The Yukon Government Has Made Finding And Getting At Those Treasures Less Complicated That Has Attracted Investors To The Territory. At Least That’s What No Fewer Than A Dozen Or So Mining Companies And Countless Other Prospectors Believe As They Continue To Invest Millions Of Dollars And Time Into The Exploration And Development Of The Yukon; Canada’s “Rediscovered” Frontier Of Mining.
Not Since The Aftermath Of The Klondike When Thousands Upon Thousands Of Hungry Gold Diggers Spilled Over From Alaska Into The Yukon Looking For Gold Has The Territory Attracted So Much Attention From The Mining Community. Unlike Many Other Parts Of The World Where Obtaining Permits And Other Approvals To Explore And Develop The Land Is Time Consuming And In Most Cases, Very Frustrating, The Yukon Is Different. For Example, The Claims Administration And Royalty Sections Of The Quartz Mining Act Have Been Amended To Lower Exploration Costs While Ensuring The Yukon Has Royalty Rates For Mine Development That Are Competitive With Other Mining Jurisdictions.
The Miners Lien Act has also been amended to provide more clarity and certainty for suppliers, the mining industry and lenders that provide capital for mine development.
In other words, the Yukon Government has made exploration and now, mining and production, more economically feasible and friendlier.
In fact, since the Yukon Government took over full responsibility for mineral exploration and mining in 2003, one-stop permitting has enabled it to have better control of its own day-to-day business and as a result, has made doing business in the Territory “a pleasure” by comparison to many other jurisdictions.
So much so, in fact, that according to the Yukon’s Department of Energy, Mines and Resources, more than $55 million was invested in exploration alone last year and even more exciting for the mining community, mine development expenditures jumped from $10 million in 2008 to almost $200 million in 2009.
Some reasons for this can be found on the following pages where two mines and five other potential mine sites are featured.
The emergence of these projects is what this “Mining the Yukon” feature is all about and as mentioned earlier, Canada’s smallest Territory is becoming a giant once again thanks to its government and those with the faith and finances to invest in its future.
What you are about to see is just a sampling of what’s going on in the Yukon insofar as mining and exploration and development is concerned and by many accounts, the number of projects could easily double by this time next year when Canadian Mining Journal takes another look at “Mining in the Yukon.”
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