Around the turn of the 20th century, American prospector George Carmack discovered gold on Bonanza Creek, a river in the heart of Yukon’s Klondike Region. This discovery kick-started the historic Klondike Gold Rush, which saw tens of thousands of prospectors migrating to the area in their hopes of amassing their own fortune. Many had success, although the majority left disappointed. However, there is no doubting the economic and cultural impact of this momentous event. Since 1896, 20 million ounces of placer gold has been recovered from the Klondike area, now called the White Gold District and the allure of riches continues to be a modern day attraction, with the Yukon seeing a resurgence in activity.
Since the turn of the century, the Yukon and Canadian governments have also actively supported the development of the mining industry in the district. Given the large impact that the mining industry has on the Yukon economy, it is only logical for the government to invest in the industry to further drive growth in the territory. A perfect example includes the initiatives led by the Diefenbaker government, which helped enact various road, power and airport infrastructure projects. In addition, the famous US Army-Built Alaska Highway running through the centre of the district offers essential road infrastructure to the area. Along with continued federal and territorial government support today, Yukon has become one of the most pro-mining jurisdictions in the world.
While the placer miners continue to be active, it has been hardrock explorers that have recently showed up and garnered the most attention through their activities and success in searching of the sources of the placer gold endowments. This has created a new gold rush. Starting just this past decade, there have been several notable hardrock gold discoveries across the Yukon. These include the 4 million ounce Coffee gold deposit that Goldcorp bought from Kaminak for $520 million in 2016 and the 1.5 million ounce Golden Saddle and Arc deposits that Kinross bought from Underworld Resources for $139 million in 2011. And just this year, the territory also commissioned a new multi-million ounce gold mine – Victoria Gold’s Eagle Mine 85 km north of Mayo, with numerous others at various stages of exploration and development.
For example, White Gold Corp., the largest claim holder in the White Gold District with 420,000 hectares, is diamond drilling on the Ryan’s Surprise target located approximately 2 km west of its flagship Golden Saddle/Arc deposit and 11 km south of its VG deposit.
However, even with all of placer mining and recent hardrock gold discoveries in the territory since the Klondike Gold Rush, the Yukon still remains one of the few under-explored and highly prospective gold districts in a world-class mining friendly jurisdiction. These features are undoubtedly, why the allure still lives strong today and why there is a new gold rush underway in Yukon’s White Gold District.
White Gold Corp. [WGO-TSXV, WHGOF-OTC, 29W-FRA] is the largest claim holder in the Yukon’s prolific White Gold District owning a portfolio of 21,207 quartz claims which makes up over 420,000 hectares and over 40% of the district.
Over a century ago, the Klondike Gold Rush spurred tens of thousands of prospectors to flock to this district in search of gold, which has now produced over 20 million ounces of placer gold. Today, a modern Yukon gold rush is underway in the district again, with over 7 million ounces of hard rock gold discoveries since 2007 driving numerous junior and major mining companies alike to try and claim a piece of this prolific district. As the largest claimholder in the district, White Gold Corp. is at the forefront of the modern Yukon gold rush, with ~1.77M oz of gold deposits, numerous high-grade gold discoveries and a large and highly prospective land package located throughout the district.
Furthermore, White Gold is led by the same team that made the recent discoveries in the district in the 21st century. White Gold’s experienced management team includes notable prospector Shawn Ryan, Chief Technical Advisor and Director, who has over 20 years of experience prospecting gold in the Yukon. A global leader in his field, his prospecting and specialization on advanced soil work led to the discovery of millions of gold ounces including the Golden Saddle and Arc deposits and Kaminak’s Coffee deposit which was sold for $520 million in 2016 to Gold Corp. Ryan has been involved with every major discovery in the White Gold District and his proprietary “drones to drill” exploration methodology continues to produce numerous new discoveries for White Gold since its inception in 2016. The company is also headed by David D’Onofrio, Chief…
Read More: An underexplored world-class gold district – Resource World Magazine