Yukon’s gold rush shows no signs of slowing

[Locutus]

At the turn of the 19th century it played host to the famed Klondike Gold Rush that drew thousands to the rugged wilderness in search of riches, but now the Yukon entertains a newer, more modern kind of mining rush.

For the past two years, mineral exploration here has been through the roof, nearly half-a-billion dollars spent searching for the next motherlode of gold, silver, copper, zinc, molybdenum or tungsten and nearly 200,000 claims staked.

“From July [2011] I flew 10 months worth of hard staking and we probably single-handedly staked 25 to 30,000 claims,” said Ben Drury, a pilot with Horizon Helicopters, one of the many charter services in the Yukon that benefited from the staking craze.


“We’d show up at a remote location and there were piles and piles of staking posts stacked six feet high waiting for us, coming in a steady stream of Twin Otter [plane] loads, 500 posts at a time.”

From there, Mr. Drury would ferry prospectors into even more remote areas to gobble up the territory’s real estate ahead of the competition. Stakers like Billy Bromell were also ensconced in work, earning upwards of $500 per day driving stakes for a host of junior venture companies locked in a game so secretive that even Mr. Bromell didn’t know who he was making claims for.

From this staking surge, today more than 20% of the Yukon’s land mass is set aside for potential resource exploitation. If exploration continues at the same pace this season, that percentage could exceed more than 30. (By comparison, in Ontario — whose hinterland is a comparable treasure trove of similarly coveted minerals — just 6% has been reserved.)






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[skookumchuck]

In BC all staking is now done online through MTO (Mineral titles online). This allowed numerous crooks to literally steal claims from long time prospectors/claim holders by computer treachery while lots of legitimate prospectors and miners, many living in the bush with no access to the internet or knowledge of how to use it lost their living.
Imagine being at the gov't office at the stroke of nine to renew your claim only to find that a claim flipper had grabbed it online at 12 am plus 1/10th of a second.

That situation has, over the past few years, gradually ironed out but hurt a lot of good people. Claim flippers can stake for 40 bucks then sell Moose pasture for hundreds or thousands. The provision that miners had to provide proof of having worked or developed their claim or pay cash in lieu was ignored.

No problem for a 100 thou a year politician but damn tough on hard working HONEST peeps.

 

[lone wolf]

It's so much easier for flipper to mine the gold in someone else's pocket

 

[MHz]

In BC all staking is now done online through MTO (Mineral titles online). This allowed numerous crooks to literally steal claims from long time prospectors/claim holders by computer treachery while lots of legitimate prospectors and miners, many living in the bush with no access to the internet or knowledge of how to use it lost their living.
Imagine being at the gov't office at the stroke of nine to renew your claim only to find that a claim flipper had grabbed it online at 12 am plus 1/10th of a second.

That situation has, over the past few years, gradually ironed out but hurt a lot of good people. Claim flippers can stake for 40 bucks then sell Moose pasture for hundreds or thousands. The provision that miners had to provide proof of having worked or developed their claim or pay cash in lieu was ignored.

No problem for a 100 thou a year politician but damn tough on hard working HONEST peeps.

The solution would be to allow for renewal before the due date, same as we can do for our vehicle plates. Claims are usually run by the owner so you could even write in a grand-father clause that said the claim automatically went to a family member rather than a business partner. Say Alaska Gold Rush ran for another season but this time they were into tailings like the ones that covered most of their old claims and that would make it hazardous waste by the enviro standards of any Province. They and all their staff would need all tickets that would apply. Safery alone takes the owner\operator out of the bush and a comp and net connection should be his first purchase. A handful of software applications and he has cut the expense of an office and office staff up to and including accounting and advertising. Lawyers and Insurance are part of the business registration process, at least you can get a debit card in the company's name.