125 years ago (almost to the day) gold was discovered at Rabbit (Bonanza) Creek in the Yukon, solidifying the territory's bond to the yellow metal. The more than century old eureka moment led to the massive Klondike gold rush which brought 100,000 potential prospectors to the area, birthing many fortunes.
It even spawned a movie starring Charlie Chaplin.
The small group that ushered in the most recent and most northern gold rush consisted of American prospector George Carmack, who had made his way to the Yukon from California, and was led by a local Tagish First Nations man named Keish who is fondly referred to as Skookum Jim Mason.
READ: Whitehorse Gold receives exploration permit; commences drill program at Skukum
Additionally, Keish’s sister Shaaw Tlaa (Kate) married Carmack and was present with a familial cousin when the group made the history-making discovery in 1896.
Now synonymous with gold in Canada, the Yukon continues to be home to some of the country’s most seasoned and astute gold miners.
Due to the territory's long and profitable history with yellow bullion it is of little surprise that there are dozens of exploration and mining companies with current gold stakes and licenses in the yellow metal mecca.
One of which is Whitehorse Gold Corp. (TSX-V:WHG), an explorer keen on unlocking the value of its flagship Skukum Gold project located 55 kilometers south of Yukon’s capital city, Whitehorse.
Formerly known as the Tagish Lake gold project, Skukum is a brownfield asset home to the past-producing Mt Skukum mine.
During operations between 1986 and 1988, 233,400 tons of ore was processed in the plant, with an approximate output of 2,481 kilograms (79,750 ounces) of gold.
Getting the past-producing asset back into production is the primary focus of Whitehorse Gold, a company that was born with the sole intention of making Skukum profitable, explained Whitehorse Gold vice president of corporate affairs Steve Stakiw.
“Whitehorse Gold was spun out of New Pacific Metals (TSX:NUAG, NYSE:NEWP) in late 2020 with the Skukum Gold Project,” he said. “New Pacific initially acquired the project in 2010 and completed extensive drilling on the gold deposits in 2011 and tabled a significant resource estimate of high-grade gold in 2012, but subsequently became involved on a major silver deposit in Bolivia that is now its flagship asset.”
Recognizing the opportunity in the Skukum Gold project, a new public company - Whitehorse Gold Corp. - was created to wholly focus on the property.
“We are very excited to hold this 170-sq-km gold camp, with significant infrastructure from past production, and see strong potential to build the existing high-grade gold resource as well as the excellent exploration upside given the dozens of gold occurrences through the property,” said Stakiw. “We see a strong path of value creation with the drill bit.”
Developing strong relationships
Whitehorse Gold is also deeply committed to fostering close ties to local First Nations communities through the company’s recently updated environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) strategy.
In mid-June, the company unveiled its ESG overview which pledged to discover and develop resources in a sustainable manner. As part of the ESG efforts, Whitehorse Gold will employ members of the neighboring Carcross/Tagish First Nations (C/TFN).
“Strong community engagement and ESG are cornerstones to our values and principles,” said the VP of corporate affairs, who went on to stress the importance of strong community discourse.
“In our opinion there is simply no other way to operate as a responsible company. As we are on Carcross/Tagish First Nation Traditional Territory, we reached out and engaged with the C/TFN when we first became active in Yukon, even before submitting permit applications and work plans with the Territorial Government,” he said. “It is the right thing to do and allows us to address and align C/TFN’s comments and concerns with our planned programs. In the spirit of true partnership, we value early engagement and transparency.”
Additionally, the gold explorer is working with MGRID Energy, a C/TFN member-owned company, to implement a solar power initiative at the Skukum gold project's 50-person camp.
More broadly, the company is also part of the Yukon Mining Alliance (YMA), a strategic coalition of exploration and mining leaders from across the Territory working in partnership with the Government of Yukon.
Boasting almost two dozen member companies specializing and working across the entire resource space, Whitehorse Gold sees its inclusion in the alliance as a strategic part of responsible mining in the region.
“The Yukon Mining Alliance does excellent work highlighting the benefits that responsible mineral resource exploration and development can contribute to the region,” said Stakiw. “As a Tier 1 member of the YMA, we are excited and very pleased with our involvement with the organization. Whitehorse Gold participates in many of the events and initiatives that the YMA organizes to showcase the active resource exploration and development companies in Yukon.”
Positioned to profit
With more than 300,000 gold-equivalent ounces indicated and another 200,000 in the inferred category, Whitehorse Gold also stands to benefit from a historically high gold price.
Trading in the US$1,700=$US1,800 range since the beginning of August, the yellow metal is poised to make another potential run above US$2,000 in the next 12 months. This added upside only increases the value of Skukum’s deposit.
For Stakiw, the positive metal price-performance raises the level of interest in the precious metals space.
“As a newly-listed company Whitehorse Gold has come out of ‘the chute’ with a significant high-grade gold resource of 335,000 gold-equivalent contained ounces in the indicated category plus an additional 245,000 gold-equivalent ounces in the inferred category at our Skukum Gold Project,” he said.
“All three of our deposits remain open for expansion both along strike and to depth and will be the focus of this summer’s drill campaign of approx. 18,000 meters with three drill rigs currently active on site. We are excited at the potential to grow our gold resource as well as the exploration potential on our large district-scale property.”
Using the heightened interest as a tailwind, Whitehorse Gold is planning an aggressive drill program at Skukum, designed to expand the resource at all three deposits.
“Additionally, we have an extensive exploration program evaluating the dozens of gold zones and occurrences on our property as well as identifying new gold mineralized areas,” he said. “Ultimately our goal is to build the gold resource at our project and advance towards a development and production pathway. Watch this space!”
Contact the author at georgia@proactiveinvestors.com