The Yukon hosts numerous deposits that have been mined in the past, and the highly prospective geology continues to attract exploration interest. It lays claim to 2,700 known mineral occurrences and over 80 mineral deposits with established reserves, a number of which are world-class. The recent advances in mineral deposit modelling have brought fresh ideas about where and how to look for new deposits. The Yukon is entering a new era of economic partnerships and investment opportunities that are based on government-to-government relationships with First Nations, who are becoming full partners in the territory’s resource development. If ever there was a good time to take a look, this is it. Come explore and discover the Yukon.

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The Stewart River map area (115 O&N) is the most important historic and current placer gold producing region in the Yukon. Unfortunately, the historic placer-gold deposits are becoming depleted, and more efficient mining of existing deposits and exploration for new deposits must be encouraged. Although placer deposits in the Klondike district are well described and their origin is quite well understood, placer deposits in the remaining part of the Stewart River map area have not been so well documented. The purpose of the Stewart River placer project is to describe and document the geology of known placer deposits, to interpret the formation of the placer deposits, and to relate the geology of the placer deposits to the regional surficial and bedrock geology. The objectives of the project are to aid in the exploration and mining of placer deposits by providing a comprehensive and up-to-date placer geoscience database. The utility of the placer database is that it can be used to construct placer deposit models (general summaries of given placer settings). These models then serve as predictors for future placer exploration and mining. Fieldwork for the project began in 1998 and will be completed in 2001; results of the project will be published in a final report and a resource appraisal map for placer gold.

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for a copy of this paper please contact the Yukon Geological Survey; geology@gov.yk.ca.

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On-going compositional studies of gold from placer and lode deposits and occurrences in western Yukon provide new insights into their nature and origin. Two main compositional populations are present in placer and lode deposits in the Klondike District. The dominant population has high fineness and low mercury content, and appears to be mainly derived from lode sources in the Lone Star, King Solomon Dome and lower Gold Run Creek areas. A second population of low fineness, high-mercury-content gold is derived from lode sources on the left limit of Eldorado Creek and in the headwaters of Bear and Last Chance creeks. Placer gold in the Sixtymile District was not derived from epithermal vein occurrences like those in the Sixtymile River valley but rather has compositions more similar to Klondike-type metamorphogenic veins. Placer gold in Scroggie Creek in southern Stewart River map area appears to be derived from intrusion-related vein occurrences.

Placer gold mining in Clear Creek extends back to 1900, when the discovery claim was staked. Approximately 129,000 crude ounces (4012 kg) of gold have been reported since 1941 which includes 49,637 crude ounces (1544 kg) obtained by dredging operations (1941 to 1955, and 1981 to 1987). Placer gold morphology ranges from crystalline gold in quartz to rounded nuggets to flattened gold. The largest nugget, recovered from the headwaters of Left Clear Creek, weighed 7 ounces (218 g). Clear Creek valley was filled by ice during the pre-Reid glaciation (early Pleistocene). Pre-Reid glacial drift is preserved as till, resedimented till, and glaciofluvial sediments on the lower slopes along main Clear Creek and parts of Left Clear Creek. Alpine glaciers formed at the headwaters of Left Clear Creek, however most of the moraine deposits have been eroded. During the subsequent Reid and McConnell glacial periods local alpine glaciers formed in the headwaters of Josephine and Big creeks. Alpine glaciers, the pre-Reid ice sheet and their melt waters redistributed the gold in the Clear Creek drainage. The distribution of heavy minerals in Clear Creek drainage is varied. Over the years dredging operations intersected pockets of gravel containing cassiterite, scheelite and galena, but their precise locations were not documented. Contemporary placer mining and our heavy mineral studies have located concentrations of pyrite, arsenopyrite, scheelite and galena, in addition to gold. Exploration for the source of placer gold has resulted in the discovery of numerous gold veins in the surrounding area.

The Yukon Consolidated Gold Corporation (YCGC) tested, mined, and documented placer gold resources in the Dawson region from 1923 to 1965. The company was established to acquire the holdings of other dredging operations and smaller companies in the Klondike, and during the time it was active in Yukon, YCGC produced a robust collection of maps and textual documents including drilling results, dredge reserves, thawing and stripping layouts, and dredging limits. This paper uses historic YCGC data to summarize gold distribution characteristics in Hunker Creek and builds upon previously published summaries of YCGC data. Attributes of 1005 YCGC drill holes and shafts along lower Hunker Creek and a short section of the Klondike River were digitized, compiled, and analyzed in a Geographical Information System (GIS). A raster analysis of the digitized data allows for interpretation and examination of surficial material thicknesses and gold distribution in the project area and identifies potential prospects for further exploration.

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