Yukon’s placer operations pour out more gold in 1989 than any year

Dave Latoski told the 17th annual Geoscience Forum in Whitehorse recently that placer gold production to the end of October, 1989, was 163,906 crude ounces (about 88% gold) which already exceeds total 1988 production of 162,492 crude ounces by 1%.

“If gold continues to increase as it has the past month, then we’re likely to see another record year for placer gold production in 1990,” Latoski said in an interview after his presentation.

Placer gold this year was worth $58 million, he said, although gold prices per ounce were $90(C) lower on average than in 1988. Gold production in that year was worth about $68 million.

Latoski told mining industry representatives that while the dropping price of gold this year led to reduced exploration activity in the territory, it didn’t seem to slow production of placer gold.

Since 1987, placer mining has been second only to Curragh Resources’ lead-zinc mine at Faro in value of metal extracted, noted Latoski, placer inspector Leo Van Kalsbeek and federal geologist Bill Lebarge in their 1989 summary.

That makes placer mining the number two contributor to the Yukon’s resource- based economy, they said.

In 1989, there were placer claims and leases on more than 4,345 km of Yukon creeks.

About 220 placer operations directly employed about 700-800 people for the 5- to 6-month season, the summary stated, with many more employed indirectly in support industries.

“In addition, there are many workers employed during the winter months in such activities as overhauling equipment, stripping overburden, exploratory work and fabricating various recovery or classification devices,” the report said.

And underground placer mining operations, which operate in frozen gravel, employ people year-round as they drill and blast in the winter and sluice thawed paydirt in the summer.

Most major 1989 placer gold producers were in the Dawson mining district.

Teck Corp. (TSE) continued work on Gold Run Creek, a tributary of Dominion Creek, with total 1989 production of 8,383 oz.

Gold City Resources (ASE) continued to mine on three locations on the Indian River, at the mouths of Quartz Creek, Ruby Creek and McKinnon Creek.

The summary said that this 20-person operation produced more than 5,400 fine ounces, and that the Indian River — essentially unmined before 1984 — is now the top gold-producing area in the Yukon. In the past five years, more than 80,000 crude ounces have been produced from gravel once written off as too low grade to be economical.

Other major operators included Queenstake Resources (TSE) and Canada Tungsten Mining (TSE). Queenstake produced 3,250 fine ounces from their operation on Maisy May Creek and 660 fine ounces from Blackhills Creek. Canada Tungsten Mining produced 4,932 fine ounces from their Swamp Creek operation in the Moosehorn Range, in the Dawson district (but it falls under the Whitehorse mining district).

While placer operations were active throughout the Yukon, the summary states that more than 75% of the gold was mined from unglaciated areas such as the Klondike, Sixtymile and the Indian River drainage areas around Dawson City. Placer operations in the Livingstone Creek, Clear Creek, Burwash, Big Creek and Mayo areas produced the remaining 25%. In the record year of 1917, there were 13 dredges and many large-scale hydraulic operations active. Federal staff attribute recent improvements to better equipment and recovery and more experienced miners.

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