Yukon Gold Mines: 4 Major Projects, Status and Size

Eagle, the Yukon’s best-known modern hard-rock gold mine, is in receivership and under a sale process, and the three large projects behind it (Casino, AurMac and Coffee) are still in permitting or study. Placer operations on the Klondike creeks are still active, with 165 reporting gold in 2025. This guide compares four large hard-rock gold projects checked against company releases and filings (the dates are shown next to each figure), shows what each owner says it holds, explains what is really “for sale”, and corrects a common mix-up: the 16 to 1 Mine is in Alleghany, California, not in the Yukon.

Spot gold was US$4,169.50 per troy ounce at 4:26 p.m. ET on 15 October 2026 (Kitco). A troy ounce is 31.1035 grams, and “g/t” means grams of gold per tonne of rock. Prices move daily, so use the calculator further down with the price on the day you read this.

How we chose these Yukon gold projects

We looked for Yukon gold properties that have published numbers a buyer can check: a reserve or resource estimate, a study or past production, and a filing or release from the owner or a regulator in 2026 or the last full year. Four projects met that bar and are ranked below by the gold in the owner’s own latest figure. The ranking is a size order, not a quality order, because the figures are not the same kind. A reserve is the part of a deposit that a study shows can be mined at a profit. A resource is mineralisation with reasonable prospects of being mined, split into measured, indicated and inferred by how well drilling defines it. Inferred is the least certain. A preliminary economic assessment (PEA) is an early study that may include inferred ounces.

This is not a list of every Yukon gold property. Smaller deposits, placer ground and silver-lead-zinc districts are left out or covered separately. The Keno Hill district, for example, is a silver mine: Hecla reports it produced about 3.02 million ounces of silver in 2025 and does not report gold output there.

Yukon gold projects ranked by gold ounces

The table sets the four projects side by side. Gold figures are in millions of ounces (Moz). Grades are averages across the quoted tonnage, which we calculated from the owners’ tonnes and ounces where the owner gave categories separately.

Chart

Gold ounces against average grade

Owners’ latest figures; reserves for Casino, resources (including inferred) for the others

1. Casino: the largest gold figure, in a copper-gold project

Best for: readers who want the biggest reserve and accept a long permitting road. Pros: the owner reports 8.5 Moz of gold in mill ore (0.22 g/t) and 1.78 Moz in heap-leach ore (0.26 g/t), with an effective date of 13 June 2022. Western Copper and Gold holds the project through a wholly owned subsidiary. Cons: the grade is low, so the project depends on moving very large tonnages. The reserve was calculated at a gold price far below today’s, and the company states it has not yet received the licences and permits it needs. The territory’s assessment board asked for more information on 2 February 2026, and the company filed its answers on 15 July 2026. A 2.75% net smelter return (NSR) royalty, a share of sales revenue paid to a royalty holder, sits on the claims and is held by Osisko Gold Royalties.

2. AurMac: the largest gold resource in this list, still at exploration stage

Best for: readers who follow exploration-stage growth and the road to a first study. Pros: Banyan’s 19 May 2026 update gives 3.64 Moz indicated (167.3 million tonnes at 0.68 g/t) and 4.98 Moz inferred (267.2 million tonnes at 0.58 g/t), effective 15 May 2026, with a PEA expected in the second half of the year. The project is 40 km from Mayo, crossed by the main Yukon highway and served by a three-phase power line. Cons: more than half the ounces are inferred, and there is no study yet, so no capital cost, no operating cost and no permit application. The project lies in the traditional territory of the First Nation of Na-Cho Nyäk Dun. Banyan agreed in August 2025 to buy the last 25% of the property from the Victoria Gold receiver for C$3.6 million, paid in two instalments, after owning 75% since 2017.

3. Eagle: built, producing, then failed, and now for sale

Best for: readers who want to understand what a restart sale looks like. Pros: Eagle is a built open-pit heap leach mine. Victoria Gold reported 166,730 oz of gold produced in 2023, up from 150,182 oz in 2022, and at the end of 2023 the company stated 2.3 Moz of reserves (114 million tonnes at 0.63 g/t), 4.4 Moz measured and indicated and 0.7 Moz inferred. Cons: on 24 June 2024 the heap leach pile collapsed, and at least 280,000 cubic metres of cyanide-containing solution escaped containment, and Canadian Press described about two million tonnes of cyanide-tainted ore released. The company went into receivership about six weeks later with PwC as receiver. The Yukon government has said the receivership loan facility is capped at C$220 million, and the cause of the failure was still under review by an expert panel at that time. A buyer would need new regulatory authorisations before any restart.

4. Coffee: PEA done, permits expected by year-end

Best for: readers who want a project with a recent study and a dated permitting schedule. Pros: Fuerte Metals owns 100% and published its PEA on 22 February 2026. Measured and indicated resources are 80.0 million tonnes at 1.15 g/t (2.96 Moz), with 0.80 Moz inferred. The plan is an open-pit heap leach mine with a 13-year life, producing 249,000 oz a year on average over the first five full years and 217,000 oz a year over the life of mine. The grade is the highest of the four. Cons: initial capital is C$983.1 million, all-in sustaining cost is US$1,274 per ounce over the life of mine, and the quartz mining licence and water use licence are expected only by the end of 2026, with a construction decision targeted for early 2027. Access is by a 214 km northern route from Dawson City, of which about 40 km is new road. Fuerte bought the project from Newmont in a deal worth up to US$150 million, with Newmont keeping a 3% NSR royalty that Fuerte can repurchase for up to US$100 million.

Annual output: the Coffee plan against what Eagle delivered

A PEA is a plan, not a record. The chart sets Coffee’s planned yearly output beside the two years of actual output that Eagle reported before it stopped. Eagle’s record year, 166,730 oz, sits below Coffee’s planned 217,000 oz life-of-mine average, which shows the scale Coffee would need to reach.

Chart

Gold per year: Coffee plan against Eagle actual

Thousand ounces a year; Coffee figures are PEA plan, Eagle figures are reported production

Gold price sensitivity: Coffee as a worked example

The Coffee PEA shows how much a project’s value depends on the gold price assumed. After tax, with a 5% discount rate, the study gives a net present value of US$983 million at US$2,500 per ounce, US$2.3 billion at the consensus long-term price of US$3,620, and US$4.0 billion at a US$5,000 spot case. Net present value (NPV) is today’s value of the future cash flows after costs. At the consensus price the after-tax internal rate of return is 47.8% with a 1.7-year payback. These are study outputs from the owner, not a forecast, and they include inferred ounces.

Chart

Coffee after-tax NPV at four gold prices

US$ million, 5% discount rate, PEA base case

Yukon placer gold output: what the survey reports

Placer gold is gold that erosion has already freed from rock and concentrated in gravel; miners wash it out with water, with no mill and no heap leach. The Yukon Geological Survey reports it from royalty returns in crude ounces, which means unrefined gold including impurities. Its 2025 overview gives 104,367 crude ounces for the season from 1 April to 1 November 2025, from 165 operations, with 68% of operations in the Dawson Mining District, 18% in Whitehorse and 14% in Mayo. The survey values the season at about C$401 million at the season-average price of C$4,811 per ounce, and says 1997 remains the highest year on record at 116,383 crude ounces.

The survey’s 2024 overview reported 85,799 crude ounces for the 2024 season and revenue of C$230 million, the highest on record since 1886 (Yukon Geological Survey, 2024 overview). Later press reports quoted higher early figures for the same season, so use the survey numbers for comparisons. For the claims, creeks and licences behind these numbers, see our guide to Yukon gold claims, the Eagle mine and placer records, the history in the Klondike gold rush and its impacts, and the practical notes in mines in the Yukon and gold panning claims.

▶ Follows a small clay nugget from rock to ring to show how gold is mined and refined. · 5:27

The 16 to 1 Mine is in California, not the Yukon

The Original Sixteen to One Mine is an underground hard-rock gold mine in the Alleghany Mining District of Sierra County, California. The Mining History Association’s tour notes say Tom Bradbury found the vein in 1896, the mine was incorporated in 1911, and it produced over 165,000 oz of gold between 1930 and 1950. Lucky Chance Mining Corporation acquired it in 1983. The vein is famous for specimens of crystallised gold, which the company sells with gold jewellery.

The company’s last annual report on SEC EDGAR is its 10-K for 2021, filed in August 2022, and EDGAR shows an SEC revocation of its registration dated 7 November 2023, so it no longer files regular reports. Its 10-K for 2017 states that more than 1,113,165 troy ounces have been recovered since 1896. Neither that filing nor the 2021 one describes a mine offered for sale, so ask the company for its current status.

For a buyer, the lessons carry over from this one example. A patented claim is privately held land with its own title, and it still needs a title check. A mine can have more than a century of gold output and still be in an “exploration state” with no proven reserves under SEC rules, as this company says of itself. And a famous name proves nothing about today’s ounces. If you want US listings with prices, read our guides to cheap gold and uranium mines for sale and gold mines for sale in Nevada. For another Canadian case, see the Bralorne mine in British Columbia.

Yukon gold mines for sale: what is actually on offer

Three kinds of gold assets change hands in the Yukon, and the buyer, the price and the risk differ for each.

• A mine in a sale process. On 23 April 2026 the receiver signed an exclusivity agreement for Eagle and some related assets with Boroo, a Singapore-based private mining company, giving it 90 days to do due diligence and negotiate. In July 2026 the Yukon government said the exclusivity period was extended by another 90 days (Canadian Press, 27 July 2026), and no sale had been announced at the time of writing; the price was not disclosed. A PwC report in 2025 had estimated Eagle’s assets at C$824.7 million, although the receiver did not say what price it would seek. The Yukon government has said it wants a buyer with the financial strength to deal with the site and to work with the First Nation of Na-Cho Nyäk Dun.
• Royalties. Franco-Nevada agreed on 24 February 2026 to buy six royalties previously held by Victoria Gold for C$55 million. A royalty gives a share of sales without running a mine.
• Exploration ground. The receiver sold non-core exploration assets, including the last quarter of AurMac, to Banyan for C$3.6 million. Claims can also be staked directly. The Yukon government guidance says staking is done on the ground with posts, there is no map staking, and anyone aged 18 or over can stake, with no requirement for Canadian citizenship or Yukon residency. The rules sit in the Quartz Mining Act, enacted in 1924.

Mine-for-sale listings on brokers’ sites rarely give resource categories or permits. Treat a listing as a starting point only, and ask for the technical report, the licences and the title search before any price talk.

▶ Shows how good rock can still be unmineable when land access is blocked. · 2:05

How to value a gold property: ounces, recovery and royalty

Contained gold is tonnes times grade divided by 31.1035. Not all of it is recovered, because processing loses some, and the owner of an NSR royalty takes a percentage of revenue before costs. The calculator below turns any published tonnage and grade into contained ounces, recovered ounces, revenue at a price you choose and the royalty cost. Try the AurMac indicated figures (167 Mt at 0.68 g/t) or the Coffee figures (101 Mt at 1.16 g/t). Heap leach recovery varies by ore, so enter a figure from the study you are reading rather than a default.

Revenue is not profit. Coffee’s study shows an all-in sustaining cost of US$1,274 per ounce over the life of the mine and a capital bill of C$983.1 million before the first ounce is poured. A property with a low average grade, like Casino at 0.22 g/t, only works at very large scale. The cut-off grade, the lowest grade that pays for mining and processing, rises with costs and falls with the gold price, which is why reserves change when the price assumption changes.

Five checks before you buy a Yukon gold property

1. Title. Confirm the claims or leases on the government mining map and with the Mining Recorder, and confirm the seller owns them with no liens. Ask who holds royalties; NSR royalties exist on both Casino and Coffee.
2. Licences. A resource is not a mine. Check whether a quartz mining licence and water licence exist and are valid for the plan you intend to run.
3. First Nation agreements. Eagle and AurMac lie in the traditional territory of the First Nation of Na-Cho Nyäk Dun, and the Yukon government has said it wants a buyer that will work with that nation.
4. The technical report. Read the resource categories, the cut-off grade, the gold price used and the date. A 2022 reserve built on an old price is not a 2026 reserve.
5. Legacy and security. Eagle shows that a heap leach failure can end an operator within weeks. Ask what water treatment, reclamation security and insurance are in place. Our guide to environmental site assessment covers what a baseline study should include, and how Yukon gold mining shapes land and water gives the regional context.

Infographic

Buying a Yukon gold property in 5 checks

1. 1TitleConfirm claims and liens on the government map and with the Mining Recorder.
2. 2LicencesCheck the quartz mining licence and water licence match your plan.
3. 3First NationRead the agreements and consultation record for the territory.
4. 4Technical reportCheck resource category, cut-off grade and the gold price used.
5. 5Legacy and securityAsk about water treatment, reclamation security and insurance.

Satellite images can help with the first screening. Farmonaut can take a KML, KMZ or polygon of a licence area and screen it from satellite images before crews go in. It does not replace drilling, a resource estimate or a legal title check.

▶ Explains why owning a gold claim is not the same as owning the land, and how to check the ground first. · 3:19

For a closer look at a related question, see our guide: Hudbay Minerals Flin Flon: Mines, Mills and Status.

If this topic matters to you, read Copper Mining Case Studies: 5 Major Mines Compared next.

Frequently asked questions

Which Yukon gold mines are operating?

The only large hard-rock gold mine in this guide that has operated, Eagle, is suspended and under a receiver’s sale process after the June 2024 heap leach failure. Casino, AurMac and Coffee are projects, not mines. Placer operations are active: the Yukon Geological Survey counted 165 placer operations that reported gold in the 2025 season.

Is the 16 to 1 Mine in the Yukon?

No. The Original Sixteen to One Mine is in Alleghany, Sierra County, California. It has recovered more than 1.1 million troy ounces since 1896, according to its 2017 SEC filing.

Is the 16 to 1 Mine for sale?

The company’s 2017 and 2021 annual reports describe a company with shareholders and do not describe a sale, and its SEC registration was revoked in November 2023. Ask the company directly before assuming anything is on offer.

Which Yukon gold project has the most gold?

By the owners’ own figures, Casino reports the most (10.3 Moz of reserves, mostly at 0.22 g/t), followed by AurMac (8.6 Moz of indicated and inferred resources), Eagle (5.1 Moz including inferred) and Coffee (3.8 Moz including inferred). The categories differ, so these are not like-for-like.

Who owns the Eagle gold mine now?

The assets remain in receivership, and PwC is the court-appointed receiver. The receiver signed an exclusivity agreement with Boroo on 23 April 2026 for the mine and certain related assets, and the exclusivity period was extended by 90 days in July 2026. No sale price has been announced, and no sale had closed at the time of writing.

Who owns the Coffee gold project?

Fuerte Metals owns 100% after buying it from Newmont. Newmont kept a 3% NSR royalty and holds about 27% of Fuerte’s shares.

How much gold does Yukon placer mining produce?

The Yukon Geological Survey reported 104,367 crude ounces for the 2025 season, worth about C$401 million at the season-average price. The 1997 season, at 116,383 crude ounces, remains the highest on record.

Can a foreigner stake a claim in the Yukon?

Yes. Yukon government guidance says anyone 18 or older can stake a quartz claim, with no citizenship or residency requirement. Staking is on the ground, and map staking is not allowed.

How do I check what a Yukon gold property is worth?

Start with the technical report: resource category, grade, cut-off grade and the gold price assumed. Then use the calculator above for contained and recovered ounces and royalty cost. Only a full study with capital and operating costs shows profit.

What does inferred resource mean?

An inferred resource is the lowest-confidence category. The geology suggests the gold is there, but drilling is too wide to be sure. It cannot be converted directly into a reserve, and PEAs may include it.

Is Keno Hill a Yukon gold mine?

No. Keno Hill is a silver district owned by Hecla, which reported about 3.02 million ounces of silver produced there in 2025.