Good morning, Yukon.

Gold can rise significantly, and fast. Getting a drill rig into the mountains takes considerably longer.

This week, we look at why a much higher gold price hasn’t produced an exploration boom to match. Then we turn to another question familiar to anyone watching the driveway in October: when does the snow finally stay?

There’s also a buyer for the Eagle mine, a team of NHL alumni who took the game to Old Crow, a world championship coming to Whitehorse, and a Halloween weekend with plenty happening beyond the front doorstep.

Support the Almanac: If you enjoy reading it, consider buying or listening to a book from us, Anne Angelo Publishing House. We publish timeless classics that will make you wiser and look great on the shelf.

Put the coffee on. Let’s get into it.

Gold’s annual average price in Canadian dollars more than tripled between 2011 and 2025. Exploration spending in Yukon still hadn’t caught up to its 2011 record.

If you follow our Market Board, you’ve probably noticed that Yukon exploration companies often rise and fall together. Most aren’t selling metal yet. They’re raising money to try and find it. Almost all publicly traded Yukon “mining” companies are junior miners.

The money they raise pays for drill rigs, helicopters, geologists, camp cooks and assay labs. It turns an investor’s optimism into work on the ground.

But the relationship between gold prices and how much people spend searching for it is less straightforward than you might expect.

In 2011, gold averaged about C$1,550 an ounce. Exploration and deposit-appraisal spending in Yukon reached a record $332 million.

By 2025, gold averaged roughly C$4,765 an ounce, more than three times higher. Exploration spending reached $242 million. That was the most since 2011, but still about a quarter below the record. When adjusted for inflation, which I didn’t do, it looks signicantly worse.

A company with gold in the ground cannot use it to pay the helicopter bill.

Many exploration companies fund their work by selling shares. A higher gold price can make their projects more attractive, but investors still have to decide the search is worth financing.

The graph shows two years when rising gold prices weren’t enough.

In 2020, gold’s annual average price in Canadian dollars jumped about 28%, while Yukon exploration spending fell roughly in half, to $84 million. Pandemic restrictions disrupted the field season.

In 2024, gold set another annual price record, but exploration spending fell to $163 million. The Yukon Geological Survey subsequently suggested that the Eagle mine’s heap-leach failure had made investors more cautious about backing early-stage projects in the territory.

A valuable metal helps. Confidence, financing and the ability to get work done matter too.

Even when money becomes available, a company cannot instantly turn it into a larger drilling programme.

Companies must select targets, secure permits, hire crews, and book equipment. Remote camps need supplies, and much of the work must fit into a short field season. Companies also work in stages: results from one drilling round help determine where the next round should go.

The financial calculation matters, too. Raising money at a low share price means issuing more shares and diluting existing shareholders. A company may choose a smaller programme while it waits for better financing conditions.

Gold trades every weekday. Exploration moves at the pace of budgets, permits, logistics and results.

Companies told Natural Resources Canada they intended to spend approximately $323 million in Yukon in 2026, putting the territory within reach of its 2011 spending record.

That remains an intentions figure, collected before the field season, rather than a final accounting of what was spent. It is also measured in nominal dollars. Matching the old record would still buy less work after fifteen years of rising costs. We will follow up next year to see if we hit a new record.

Still, the planned increase is substantial. For Yukoners working in aviation, drilling, camps, transportation and other services, those budgets represent potential work close to home, and a more prosperous territory.

The gold price helps explain why companies want to explore. The final spending figure will show how much of that enthusiasm reached the ground.

Sources: Natural Resources Canada, exploration and deposit-appraisal expenditures and 2026 spending intentions; Yukon Bureau of Statistics, Statistical Review 2024; Yukon Economic Review 2012; 2026–27 Economic Outlook; and Yukon Geological Survey overview, 2025. Calculations by Almanac of the Yukon.

The first snowfall is easy to dismiss as it rarely sticks around.

It covers the lawn, causes a brief search for the windshield scraper, and disappears. A few days later, the same thing happens again.

Then comes the snowfall that doesn’t leave.

At first, there's rarely anything remarkable about it. Several mornings later, you simply notice that the grass still hasn’t returned. Winter has moved in.

In Whitehorse, the historical averages suggest that change usually happens around late October or early November. Airport records from 1981 to 2010 show an average of 8.5 days with snow on the ground in October, compared with 28.3 days in November.

That isn’t an official arrival date. It describes the transition: occasional white mornings become an almost continuous white landscape.

Snow can show up much earlier, of course. On August 1, 1948, nearly 9 centimetres fell on Whitehorse. July is the only month the city has never recorded snow.

Whether a snowfall survives depends on what happens after it lands. Warm ground and a mild afternoon can erase an early dusting. As days shorten and temperatures fall, the next layer is more likely to last.

Snow changes its surroundings, too. Its bright surface reflects sunlight, while air trapped between the flakes insulates the ground beneath. A blanket of snow can protect the soil from the much colder air above.

Once established, that blanket lasts much of the year. Whitehorse historically averaged about 171 days with at least a centimetre of snow on the ground, almost six months.

The winter snowpack stores more water than it used to. Yukon’s 2024 State of the Environment report found that maximum snow-water equivalent across its 57 manual survey locations had increased approximately 20% since 1980. That measures the water contained in the snow, not just how deep it looks beside the driveway.

For the rest of us, the transition is measured less precisely: the last bike ride, the first ski, the shovel moved from the back of the shed to beside the door.

The first snow gets our attention. The snow that stays changes how we live.

Best find the shovel before it disappears beneath the evidence.

About the figures: Snow-cover averages refer to the Whitehorse airport’s 1981–2010 climate normals and count days with at least 1 cm on the ground. Late October or early November is an inference from monthly averages, not an official date or a forecast for this winter. The snow-survey network includes sites in Yukon and neighbouring parts of British Columbia and Alaska.

Sources: Environment Canada climate normals, reproduced by Current Results, Whitehorse Daily Star and Government of Yukon, State of the Environment 2024.

On October 22, the Yukon government announced that the court-appointed receiver for Victoria Gold has agreed to sell the Eagle Gold Mine to Boroo for $140 million.

The money arrives in stages: $40 million by closing, expected before the end of the year, then $50 million once restart permits are in hand and another $50 million when commercial production begins. Boroo would also take over the ongoing cleanup and post an additional $104 million in security.

That matters for taxpayers. The Yukon government has advanced $185 million to the receiver and is first in line to be repaid from the sale. The deal still needs court approval, and any restart must meet the Independent Review Board’s recommendations.

After this week’s graph, it’s a fitting footnote. The failure that spooked investors may finally be heading toward a resolution.

Source: Government of Yukon, October 22.

You won’t need a flight to watch a world championship this November.

The 2026 IFBA World Broomball Championships are coming to Whitehorse from November 3 to 7, with games at the Canada Games Centre and Takhini Arena.

If you’ve never watched broomball, imagine the speed and territorial battles of hockey, played on ice in special shoes, with sticks shaped for striking a ball. Staying upright is part of the challenge.

For local players and volunteers, it is a chance to welcome the sport’s international community. For the rest of us, it is a good excuse to pick a team and discover a new spectator sport.

Source: Sport Yukon, World Broomball Championships.

A touring team of former NHL players spent last week on the road in the Yukon, stopping in Old Crow, Carmacks and Teslin before facing the U18 Mustangs at Takhini Arena on October 16.

The roster included 1999 Stanley Cup-winning captain Derian Hatcher, Stéphane Richer and brothers Rich and Ron Sutter, with Chris “Knuckles” Nilan coaching from the bench. Between them: more than 7,000 NHL games and six Stanley Cups.

The alumni won, but the real winner may have been the Whitehorse Food Bank. Admission was free, with donations going to the food bank. One of the organisers, the Yukon First Nations Hockey Association, is also marking its 50th year and recently received B.C. Hockey’s Indigenous Impact and Legacy Award.

Source: Yukon News, October 20.

Mac’s Fireweed Books, at 203 Main Street in Whitehorse, carries northern books alongside general titles, magazines, puzzles and games.

It’s a fitting stop for an edition featuring Robert Service: a chance to find another Yukon story to carry into winter.

If this week’s poem landed for you, ask for Robert Service’s Songs of a Sourdough. It’s the 1907 collection that first appeared with The Spell of the Yukon, along with The Shooting of Dan McGrew and The Cremation of Sam McGee.

A good book also works perfectly well at minus forty.

Browse Mac’s Fireweed Books.

This week, the whole poem. With gold in the graph and winter approaching, a few lines didn’t seem enough.

Robert W. Service

I wanted the gold, and I sought it,
I scrabbled and mucked like a slave.
Was it famine or scurvy — I fought it;
I hurled my youth into a grave.
I wanted the gold, and I got it —
Came out with a fortune last fall, —
Yet somehow life’s not what I thought it,
And somehow the gold isn’t all.

No! There’s the land. (Have you seen it?)
It’s the cussedest land that I know,
From the big, dizzy mountains that screen it
To the deep, deathlike valleys below.
Some say God was tired when He made it;
Some say it’s a fine land to shun;
Maybe; but there’s some as would trade it
For no land on earth — and I’m one.

You come to get rich (damned good reason);
You feel like an exile at first;
You hate it like hell for a season,
And then you are worse than the worst.
It grips you like some kinds of sinning;
It twists you from foe to a friend;
It seems it’s been since the beginning;
It seems it will be to the end.

I’ve stood in some mighty-mouthed hollow
That’s plumb-full of hush to the brim;
I’ve watched the big, husky sun wallow
In crimson and gold, and grow dim,
Till the moon set the pearly peaks gleaming,
And the stars tumbled out, neck and crop;
And I’ve thought that I surely was dreaming,
With the peace o’ the world piled on top.

The summer — no sweeter was ever;
The sunshiny woods all athrill;
The grayling aleap in the river,
The bighorn asleep on the hill.
The strong life that never knows harness;
The wilds where the caribou call;
The freshness, the freedom, the farness —
O God! how I’m stuck on it all.

The winter! the brightness that blinds you,
The white land locked tight as a drum,
The cold fear that follows and finds you,
The silence that bludgeons you dumb.
The snows that are older than history,
The woods where the weird shadows slant;
The stillness, the moonlight, the mystery,
I’ve bade ’em good-by — but I can’t.

There’s a land where the mountains are nameless,
And the rivers all run God knows where;
There are lives that are erring and aimless,
And deaths that just hang by a hair;
There are hardships that nobody reckons;
There are valleys unpeopled and still;
There’s a land — oh, it beckons and beckons,
And I want to go back — and I will.

They’re making my money diminish;
I’m sick of the taste of champagne.
Thank God! when I’m skinned to a finish
I’ll pike to the Yukon again.
I’ll fight — and you bet it’s no sham-fight;
It’s hell! — but I’ve been there before;
And it’s better than this by a damsite —
So me for the Yukon once more.

There’s gold, and it’s haunting and haunting;
It’s luring me on as of old;
Yet it isn’t the gold that I’m wanting
So much as just finding the gold.
It’s the great, big, broad land ’way up yonder,
It’s the forests where silence has lease;
It’s the beauty that thrills me with wonder,
It’s the stillness that fills me with peace.

Source: The Spell of the Yukon and Other Verses, Project Gutenberg. First published in 1907.

Sunday, October 25 · 7:30 p.m.
Yukon Arts Centre · Adults $33 / youth $15, including box-office fees

Trombonist and JUNO nominee Audrey Ochoa brings a playful mix of jazz, groove and Latin influences to Jazz on the Wing. A strong reason to stretch the weekend by a few hours.

Concert details and tickets.

Wednesday, October 28 · 8–9:45 p.m.
Yukon Theatre · $5

Montréal’s SPASM festival brings a selection of unusual short films mixing humour, fantasy and the unsettling. An inexpensive way to get into the Halloween spirit, with more surprises than your usual movie night.

The programme may include frightening or shocking scenes.

Programme information and tickets.

Friday, October 30, and Saturday, October 31 · 8 p.m.
Yukon Arts Centre · See ticket listings for prices

Major Funk joins forces with Problematic Orchestra for two nights, with Morningcloak opening the evening.

A local funk band and an orchestra sharing the stage should make for a rather bigger sound than the average Halloween playlist.

Show details · Yukon Arts Centre tickets.

Saturday, October 31 · 1:30–5 p.m.
Canada Games Centre · Free glow skate and skate rentals from 4–5 p.m.

Give the costumes an afternoon outing before the evening candy circuit.

Games, bouncy castles, mini-putt, indoor trick-or-treating, circus performers and a photo booth run from 1:30–3:30 p.m. A Scared Shrekless screening follows at 3:45, then the Halloween glow skate rounds out the afternoon.

Full programme.

World Broomball Championships · November 3–7
Canada Games Centre and Takhini Arena

International competition, home-town crowds and a chance to watch something different. Check the tournament information for game schedules and admission details.

Tournament information.

Blue Feather Music Festival · November 6–7 · 7 p.m. each night
Yukon Arts Centre

Two nights of live music to brighten early November. The announced programme includes Nick Gilder & Sweeney Todd on Friday and William Prince on Saturday. Follow the festival’s ticket links for current prices and availability.

Festival lineup and tickets.

The Comic Strippers · November 20–21 · 7:30 p.m.
Yukon Arts Centre · $49 plus fees · Adults only

An improvised comedy show about a fictional male-stripper troupe whose confidence considerably exceeds its competence. Audience suggestions help steer the show, so nobody quite knows what they’re getting into.

Show information and tickets.

Friday, October 23, 2026

It was a difficult week across the Yukon mining board, and a live example of this week’s graph. Gold fell 4%, and every company we track finished below its previous Friday price. Banyan and Gladiator remain substantially ahead for the year.

Commodity prices are in US dollars and use spot or cash prices.

Sources: Gold and silver spot-price histories; LME copper cash prices; EIA WTI spot prices; TSX, S&P 500 and CAD/USD histories. Precious-metal YTD changes use Texas Precious Metals’ December 31 spot quotations and are approximate because provider cut-off times differ.

Share prices are Canadian dollars, except Hecla, which trades in US dollars.

This is a Friday-afternoon snapshot, including delayed intraday quotations, rather than a complete set of final closing prices. ³ Yukon Metals’ latest verified quotation remains October 22.

About the calculations: “Week” compares with October 16; “Month” compares with September 23; “YTD” compares with December 31, 2025. These are price changes, excluding dividends, fees, taxes and currency conversion. White Gold’s figures also exclude the value of any spinout shares distributed to shareholders. Calculations by Almanac of the Yukon.

This week’s graph is about the money that pays for the search. The Coffee project shows the next stage: the money needed to build a mine.

On October 15, Talamore announced the first $20-million draw under a project debt facility of up to $450 million.

The financing is staged. The full amount has not arrived, and later advances remain subject to conditions, including final permits for the largest tranche.

Still, there is a meaningful difference between announcing a financing plan and receiving the first money. For Coffee, that first instalment moves the project another step along the path towards a construction decision.

Sources: Talamore’s October 15 financing announcement and September financing update.

Thanks for spending part of your Sunday with the Almanac.

A useful thread runs through this week’s edition. People come north looking for one thing and often find something else worth staying for. Sometimes it’s gold. Sometimes it’s the mountains, the neighbours, or a very good night of live music.

Robert Service put it rather better than I can.

Have a good week, find the shovel, and send me anything happening around Yukon that deserves a place in the next edition.

Michael
Almanac of the Yukon