The annual value of Alaska's mining and exploration industry has surpassed the $2-billion US mark for the first time, says a senior Alaskan geologist.

David Szumigala of the Alaska Department of Natural Resources says bustling activity at Cominco's Red Dog zinc mine, amid soaring commodity prices, accounted for about 60 per cent or $1.2 billion US of the total value.

Szumigala addressed the 34th annual Yukon Geoscience Forum on Monday in Whitehorse.

'This is the 11th year in a row that we have gone over $1 billion US, and this is the first time year we have gone over the $2-billion US mark, and that includes development, exploration and production,' he explained in an separate interview.

Szumigala said hard rock exploration expenditures rose to $144 million this year, up 45 per cent over 2005.

On its own, the $144 million is a record but once inflation is taken into account, the level of expenditure this year is somewhere close to on par with activity in the late 1970s.

Money spent in exploration, he added, is particularly noticeable in rural Alaska because of the direct impact it has on local communities, whether it's a grocery store supplying bush camps or highway lodges providing accommodations.

Szumigala said the increased exploration also means greater opportunities for locals to find lucrative work.

'People are still out in the camps and it's just going to flow right into 2007.'

Also of note are the advances at the Pogo gold mine, which is scheduled to go into full-blown production next year, with an estimated annual yield of 500,000 ounces, Szumigala pointed out.

He said although Pogo was not officially in production, it did produce 100,000 ounces this year.

The Pogo mine is more than just a mine, Szumigala explained. He said the investment community has been watching the project to see how it has progressed through the environmental screening and permitting process.

To have the mine officially going into production next year, after $390 million in capital investment to get it up and running and $110 million in exploration over the years, will bode well for the state as a confidence builder among investors, he said.

Szumigala said while there are several other projects approaching production, another project of particular interest to investors is the Pebble Project by Northern Dynasty Mines Inc., located in the fish-bearing waters that eventually feed into Bristol Bay.

How the Pebble project will flow through the regulatory system is of interest because of the environmentally sensitive location of the gold, copper, silver and molybdenum deposit, he suggested.

Northern Dynasty indicates it will employ an estimated 2,000 workers during construction and 1,000 permanently during the 30- to 50-year mine life..

Exploration was also up in northwestern B.C. by 20 per cent, rising to $120 million in expenditures this year compared to $100 million last year, said Paul Wojdak, of British Columbia's Ministry of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources.

Wojdak, who also addressed the forum yesterday, said in an interview this morning the $25 million to $30 million spent by Barrick Gold at its Delore Creek property was by far the single largest contributor to exploration expenditures this year.

The Delore Creek project is located south of Telegraph Creek, about 100 kilometres northeast of Wrangell, Alaska.

'It is up all over the world,' Wojdak said of the higher spending on mineral exploration.

He said growth in China and India is contributing to higher metal prices as the two countries move more and more into the modern industrial world.

'Everybody wants to have refrigerators and cars and cell phones, and all those things that metals go into.'

Hard rock exploration in the Yukon hit a record $80 million this year, conference delegates heard Monday morning.