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From June 21 to 26 the Investing News Network had the opportunity to visit six mining project sites in the Yukon. These are the highlights from days one and two.
Canada’s Yukon is attracting increasing attention as a mining jurisdiction, and from June 21 to 26 the Investing News Network (INN) had the chance to see why the territory appeals to companies and investors alike.
On a six-day tour hosted by the Yukon Mining Alliance and the government of Yukon, members of the media visited sites, heard from mining executives and got a sense of what the Yukon has to offer. Overall, INN came away with a greater understanding of the region — and with plenty of information to share with those interested in the land of the midnight sun.
Scroll on for a pictorial overview of what happened on days one and two of the tour, and stay tuned to learn what went on during the other four days.
Yukon property tour — Day 1
INN made the trip up to Dawson City from Vancouver with a stopover in Whitehorse to meet up with the other members of the tour. The journey from Whitehorse to Dawson City was the first of many trips made on a plane like the one shown below.
Aerial view approaching Whitehorse.
Our transportation to most of the sites we visited.
During the evening we had the opportunity to spend some time with Peter Tallman of Klondike Gold (TSXV:KG). Tallman, the company’s president, CEO and director, took us on a tour of some historical sites near Dawson City.
Dredge No. 4 could process 1,088 MT of gravel every hour.
Among other landmarks, we saw Dredge No. 4, North America’s largest wooden-hulled dredge, and the Discovery Claim, the place where gold was first discovered on Bonanza Creek in 1896, sparking the Yukon’s famous gold rush. Klondike Gold’s land package covers the area of the 1896 to 1900 Klondike goldfields; 20 million ounces of gold have been extracted from the area since 1896.
Yukon property tour — Day 2
The second day of the tour brought our group to Western Copper and Gold‘s (TSX:WRN,NYSEAMERICAN:WRN) Casino copper-gold project.
Currently in the permitting phase, Casino has proven and probable reserves of 8.9 million ounces of gold and 4.5 billion pounds of copper, with additional inferred resources of 9 million ounces of gold and 5.4 billion pounds of copper. The project also has smaller molybdenum and silver components.
Standing where the pit will be at Casino.
President and CEO Paul West-Sells led a presentation and tour around the property, with Chris Donaldson, Mary Mioska and Heather Brown sharing additional insight.
As West-Sells explained, Western Copper and Gold is currently on the hunt for a partner or buyer for Casino. “Our goal for this year is really to partner this project or potentially sell it,” he said. With the company currently working on finalizing the design for Casino, he believes now is the perfect time to shop the project around.
Brown, senior geologist and database manager at Western Copper and Gold, shares core from Casino.
West-Sells also said he believes the timing is now right for investors to consider Casino. “Why are we excited about this year? We’re excited about this year because if you look at the copper market and where we fit in it’s a fairly exciting story,” he said, adding, “you have a healthy copper market, you have a growing copper market.”
During the afternoon we traveled to Victoria Gold’s (TSXV:VIT) Eagle gold project, where construction is underway. The company raised C$505 million in March of this year via a financing package with Orion Mine Finance, Osisko Gold Royalties (TSX:OR,NYSE:OR) and Caterpillar Financial Services, and is now wrapping up detailed engineering.
According to Executive Vice President Mark Ayranto, who gave a presentation at the site, construction is currently about 20 percent complete. This time next year Victoria expects to be into commissioning, with first production slated for the second half of 2019.
Looking across Eagle from our first vantage point.
Led by company execs including Paul Gray, vice president, exploration, our group visited two areas of the project and was able to get a sense of the scale of work going on.
Looking back across Eagle from our second vantage point.
While construction is a priority at Eagle, Gray said that exploration is ongoing. This year the plan is to build on Victoria’s exploration success in 2017, with the standout being the Nugget deposit.
“We’ve got some exciting targets, [an] exploration program [is] already underway for 2018. We’re going to see at least $2.5 million put into the ground, focused mostly on drilling [as well as] lots of trenches and lots of investment in infrastructure.” Gray added, “there’s a lot more going on than just Eagle, and we intend to prove that up and really unlock that potential to help expand the mine life of Eagle itself.”
Our group standing at the second vantage point.
Stay tuned for more in-depth coverage of Klondike Gold, Western Copper and Gold and Victoria Gold, and watch out for our overviews of the other days of the property tour.
Don’t forget to follow us @INN_Resource for real-time updates!
Securities Disclosure: I, Charlotte McLeod, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
Editorial Disclosure: Western Copper and Gold is a client of the Investing News Network. This article is not paid-for content.
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