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CanadaNewsGroup.com News Commentary — The Yukon has become one of the most closely watched mining jurisdictions in North America, a stable, mineral-rich territory where district-scale copper and gold discoveries are once again drawing exploration capital. As the 2026 field season opens, drills are turning across the territory — and that activity is pulling Yukon Metals Corp. (CSE: YMC) (OTCQB: YMMCF) (FSE: E770), Selkirk Copper Mines Inc. (TSXV: SCMI) (OTCQB: SKRKF), Gold Strike Resources Corp. (TSXV: GSR), White Gold Corp. (TSXV: WGO,OTC:WHGOF) (OTCQX: WHGOF), and Silver North Resources Ltd. (TSXV: SNAG) (OTCQB: TARSF) into the spotlight.
For an exploration company, the start of a fully funded drill season is the moment a thesis meets the rock. Yukon Metals has just reached it on two of its flagship copper-gold properties at once — with rigs already turning and core in hand.
Yukon Metals (CSE: YMC) announced on June 1, 2026 the start of its 2026 exploration programs at the AZ and Birch copper-gold properties in the Yukon. The fully funded programs are designed to advance porphyry- and skarn-style copper-gold targets and support their earlier stage exploration pipeline through drilling, geophysics, surface sampling and alteration mapping. Drill rigs are on site at both properties, with the first core produced at AZ on May 28, 2026 — and a 3D Induced Polarization (IP) geophysical survey already underway targeting porphyry zones at AZ.
The plan calls for approximately 2,000 metres of diamond drilling at AZ and 3,000 metres at Birch — a 5,000-metre program in total — supplemented by drone aeromagnetic surveying, surface geochemical sampling and alteration mapping to refine the geological models and vector toward the best targets. At AZ, the work focuses on refining porphyry and skarn copper-gold targets supported by prior geochemistry and geophysics; at Birch, the program builds on positive 2025 drill results.
"Seeing rigs turning at both AZ and Birch is exciting. We have first core in hand at AZ, a 5,000-metre program underway, and highly compelling targets at both properties," said Jim Coates, Chief Executive Officer of Yukon Metals. "The Sumo property addition makes an already interesting belt even more intriguing — more copper-gold-molybdenum targets, more district-scale, and more reasons to be optimistic about what this season's drilling is going to show us."
Coates' reference to Sumo points to how quickly Yukon Metals has been expanding its footprint. In April 2026 the company optioned the Sumo copper-gold property — 75 quartz claims totalling roughly 1,875 hectares, located about 10 kilometres east of Birch — from Yukon prospector Ryan Burke, enlarging its position in what it describes as an emergent district-scale copper-gold belt. That followed a string of encouraging results across its portfolio, including 2025 Birch drilling that cut a 47.4-metre skarn section grading up to 14 g/t gold (averaging 0.4 g/t), rock samples up to 250 g/t gold at its Carter Gulch property, and 11.7 g/t gold within an extensive vein system at Star River.
The portfolio itself is notable for its pedigree: Yukon Metals is built on more than 30 years of prospecting by the Berdahl family — the same prospecting team behind the primary gold assets of Snowline Gold Corp., one of the Yukon's marquee recent discovery stories. The technical work on the 2026 programs has been reviewed and approved by Helena Kuikka, P.Geo., the company's VP Exploration and a Qualified Person under National Instrument 43-101.
CONTINUED… Read this and more on Yukon Metals at: CanadaNewsGroup.com
Other industry developments and happenings in the market include:
Selkirk Copper Mines Inc. (TSXV: SCMI) (OTCQB: SKRKF) is advancing one of the Yukon's most significant copper-gold stories at the past-producing Minto Mine. The company reported high-grade results from its 50,000-metre Phase 1 drill program, including an intercept of 3.52% copper, 3.51 g/t gold and 17.04 g/t silver over 16.7 metres at the Minto East zone, with a Preliminary Economic Assessment targeted for mid-2026.
"These latest results, combined with results announced in December and January, continue to grow our confidence that the Minto property," said M. Colin Joudrie, President and CEO of Selkirk Copper, pointing to the project's expanding high-grade copper-gold-silver footprint. For Yukon Metals, Selkirk is the clearest read on the value the market places on high-grade Yukon copper-gold — exactly the style of mineralization AZ and Birch are chasing.
Gold Strike Resources Corp. (TSXV: GSR) is assembling one of the largest consolidated land positions in the Yukon's Tombstone Gold Belt. The company announced a $15 million bought-deal financing alongside a strategic quartz-claim purchase agreement to acquire the Florin, FLR and RJ gold projects — roughly 320 square kilometres adjacent to Sitka Gold's RC project — building on its earlier Gold Strike One and Gold Strike Two acquisitions.
Gold Strike shows the scale of capital and land consolidation flowing into the Yukon's gold belts as the 2026 season opens — a backdrop that benefits well-positioned explorers like Yukon Metals working district-scale ground.
White Gold Corp. (TSXV: WGO,OTC:WHGOF) (OTCQX: WHGOF) holds one of the Yukon's largest exploration portfolios, with claims across the White Gold District. In March 2026 the company announced a new high-grade copper discovery with bedrock samples grading up to 0.96% copper at its newly identified Lost Pup target on the 100%-owned Hen Property, while continuing to expand high-grade gold at its flagship Golden Saddle deposit, where drilling intersected 3.23 g/t gold over 56.1 metres.
White Gold illustrates the growing recognition that the Yukon hosts not only gold but meaningful copper porphyry potential — the dual copper-gold thesis at the heart of Yukon Metals' AZ and Birch programs.
Silver North Resources Ltd. (TSXV: SNAG) (OTCQB: TARSF) rounds out the group with its flagship Haldane Silver Project. The company outlined its largest exploration program to date, signing a two-year contract keeping two drills on site for 10,000 to 14,000 metres of drilling and a SkyTEM airborne geophysical survey to refine targets across its Main, West, Bighorn, Johnson and Middlecoff zones.
Silver North reflects the breadth of the Yukon's 2026 exploration season — silver and base metals alongside copper and gold — and the willingness of investors to fund multi-year programs in the territory, the same environment in which Yukon Metals is drilling.
Across the group, the common thread is the one drawing attention to Yukon Metals: the Yukon is in the middle of a genuine exploration cycle, capital is flowing to district-scale copper and gold, and the companies turning drills this season are the ones with the chance to make the next discovery. With rigs already turning at both AZ and Birch and core in hand, Yukon Metals has put its 2026 thesis to the test — though, as with all exploration, results are uncertain until the assays return later this year.
FURTHER READING: Yukon Metals — Canada News Group Profile
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Certain statements in this article constitute "forward-looking information," including statements regarding the 2026 exploration programs at AZ and Birch and their design, scope and timing; planned drilling, geophysics and sampling; the prospectivity of the properties for porphyry- and skarn-style copper-gold mineralization; the significance of historical and prior results; the Sumo option; and the markets for copper, gold and silver. Exploration results are uncertain and historical or prior results are not necessarily indicative of future results; rock and grab samples are selective by nature. Such statements are subject to risks and uncertainties — including exploration risk, the early-stage and unproven nature of the targets, financing and dilution risk, permitting and jurisdictional risk, commodity-price volatility, and other factors — that could cause actual results to differ materially. Readers are advised not to place undue reliance on forward-looking information. Comparable companies referenced herein are independent, publicly traded third parties included for industry context only; their inclusion is not a recommendation, and MIQ has no business relationship with them.
SOURCES:
https://www.yukonmetals.com/news/news-2026/news-2026-az/yukon-metals-breaks-ground-on-metre-drill-program-at-az-an2026-06-01-040501
https://selkirkcopper.com/selkirk-copper-intersects-high-grade-copper-gold-silver-at-the-minto-east-zone-and-continues-to-expand-the-minto-north-west-zone/
https://www.whitegoldcorp.ca/news/
https://silverseek.com/article/silver-north-signs-significant-drill-and-geophysical-contracts-2026-silver-exploration
