Connect with us

Mining

The Yukon: Where Mineral Potential is Coming of Age

Published

on

In a remote corner of Canada’s north lies the Yukon – a territory that is renowned for both its legendary mineral potential and its storied mining history.

But while the Yukon only produced 2.2% of Canada’s gold in 2016, the territory’s considerable potential may finally be getting realized in a big way. In the last few years, globally significant discoveries have been made, and now mining giants such as Barrick, Goldcorp, and Agnico Eagle are making their move into the Yukon to get in on the action.

A Coming of Age Story

Today’s infographic comes from Strikepoint Gold, and it showcases some of the reasons on why the most important chapter in the Yukon’s mining story may just be beginning.

The Yukon: Where Mineral Potential is Coming of Age

Although the Yukon has been known to possess incredible mineral potential for a long time, it is only in the last few years that signs have been pointing towards this being realized in the form of globally significant discoveries, investment from major players, and mines being built.

A New Era in the Yukon

For gold to be produced, it must first be discovered.

The Yukon has been home to many of some of Canada’s most exciting discoveries in the last 10 years. The new project pipeline contains impressive deposits, but even more importantly – it contains some impressive names.

White Gold
Famously found by prospector Shawn Ryan and Underworld Resources in 2008, the White Gold discovery triggered much of the modern interest in the Yukon. Kinross purchased Underworld Resources for C$139.2 million at the height of the gold market. More recently, major Agnico Eagle has bought into the district for C$14.52 million.

Coffee Project
Discovered in 2010, this project is just kilometers away from the White Gold project. It too is based off of Shawn Ryan’s claims. Most recently, Goldcorp bought the project for C$520 million through its acquisition of Kaminak Gold. It currently has 5.2 million oz of gold (M&I + Inf.) in resources.

Casino Project
Currently under environmental review, this massive porphyry deposit owned by Western Copper and Gold could be the largest mine in Yukon history, if constructed. Right now, the deposit has reserves of 4.5 billion lbs of copper, and 8.9 million oz of gold.

Rackla
The only Carlin-style district in Canada, this project is being advanced by ATAC Resources. Recently, ATAC Resources generated headlines with an investment from major Barrick Gold, who put in C$8.3 million while also committing up to a further C$55 million to earn-in 70% of the property’s Orion project.

Eagle Gold
Eagle Gold is on track to become the Yukon’s largest gold-only mine in history. Victoria Gold, the project’s owner, expects its first gold pour in 2019. Currently the mine has 2.66 million oz of gold in reserves.

Major Arrivals

In the last year or so, some of the world’s most prolific gold miners such as Barrick, Goldcorp, and Agnico Eagle have set up shop in the Yukon – and it could be a sign that the territory is close to reaching its ultimate potential as a top tier mining destination.

Here are some of the other reasons that miners and investors are looking northwards:

1. Government Support
The Yukon Government is well-known for supporting prospectors and miners developing projects. Current programs include the Yukon Mineral Exploration Program, which provides a portion of risk capital to help explorers locate and grow deposits, as well as the Fuel Tax Exemption, which makes miners and other off-road industries exempt from fuel taxes.

2. A Rich Mining History
From the placer mining of the famous Klondike Gold Rush, to the mining today in the Yukon – the territory has always welcomed mining. In fact, mining is still the most important private industry today in the Yukon by GDP share (19%).

3. First Nations Approach
First Nations and the Yukon Government have recently championed a new “government-to-government” relationship to ensure that industry, the territorial government, and First Nations are on the same page for mineral projects.

4. Momentum
From Shawn Ryan’s discoveries to the arrival of majors in the region, it has been an eventful decade for Yukon miners. Many expect the best is yet to come.

Click for Comments

Uranium

Charted: Global Uranium Reserves, by Country

We visualize the distribution of the world’s uranium reserves by country, with 3 countries accounting for more than half of total reserves.

Published

on

A cropped chart visualizing the distribution of the global uranium reserves, by country.

Charted: Global Uranium Reserves, by Country

This was originally posted on our Voronoi app. Download the app for free on iOS or Android and discover incredible data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources.

There can be a tendency to believe that uranium deposits are scarce from the critical role it plays in generating nuclear energy, along with all the costs and consequences related to the field.

But uranium is actually fairly plentiful: it’s more abundant than gold and silver, for example, and about as present as tin in the Earth’s crust.

We visualize the distribution of the world’s uranium resources by country, as of 2021. Figures come from the World Nuclear Association, last updated on August 2023.

Ranked: Uranium Reserves By Country (2021)

Australia, Kazakhstan, and Canada have the largest shares of available uranium resources—accounting for more than 50% of total global reserves.

But within these three, Australia is the clear standout, with more than 1.7 million tonnes of uranium discovered (28% of the world’s reserves) currently. Its Olympic Dam mine, located about 600 kilometers north of Adelaide, is the the largest single deposit of uranium in the world—and also, interestingly, the fourth largest copper deposit.

Despite this, Australia is only the fourth biggest uranium producer currently, and ranks fifth for all-time uranium production.

CountryShare of Global
Reserves
Uranium Reserves (Tonnes)
🇦🇺 Australia28%1.7M
🇰🇿 Kazakhstan13%815K
🇨🇦 Canada10%589K
🇷🇺 Russia8%481K
🇳🇦 Namibia8%470K
🇿🇦 South Africa5%321K
🇧🇷 Brazil5%311K
🇳🇪 Niger5%277K
🇨🇳 China4%224K
🇲🇳 Mongolia2%145K
🇺🇿 Uzbekistan2%131K
🇺🇦 Ukraine2%107K
🌍 Rest of World9%524K
Total100%6M

Figures are rounded.

Outside the top three, Russia and Namibia both have roughly the same amount of uranium reserves: about 8% each, which works out to roughly 470,000 tonnes.

South Africa, Brazil, and Niger all have 5% each of the world’s total deposits as well.

China completes the top 10, with a 3% share of uranium reserves, or about 224,000 tonnes.

A caveat to this is that current data is based on known uranium reserves that are capable of being mined economically. The total amount of the world’s uranium is not known exactly—and new deposits can be found all the time. In fact the world’s known uranium reserves increased by about 25% in the last decade alone, thanks to better technology that improves exploration efforts.

Meanwhile, not all uranium deposits are equal. For example, in the aforementioned Olympic Dam, uranium is recovered as a byproduct of copper mining occurring at the same site. In South Africa, it emerges as a byproduct during treatment of ores in the gold mining process. Orebodies with high concentrations of two substances can increase margins, as costs can be shared for two different products.

Continue Reading

Subscribe

Popular