The Whitehorse Cross Country Ski Club is trying to find out what the intention is behind mineral claims staked over part of its ski trails, says club spokesman Tom Ullyett.

Ullyett said today it's not of much a surprise that the claims were staked, given the historical context of the Whitehorse copper belt.

Rather, it's a matter of uncertainty for the ski club whenever additional interests are expressed in the publicly-owned land on which their trail system is located, he explained.

The club, Ullyett said, is attempting to find out who is behind the 85 claims registered in October 2007.

Several of them fall directly on top of the trail system.

He said the club would be surprised if the City of Whitehorse would have any interest in seeing mining developed within the city limits.

Ullyett also emphasized that having the claims recorded is just the beginning of what could be a very lengthy process leading to exploration and possibly a mine.

Nonetheless, the club is interested in meeting with the principals behind the initiative to get a better sense of where they're headed, he said.

'There is over 70 kilometres of trail and almost 1,000 ski club members. So there is a lot of people in Whitehorse who have an interest in maintaining the future of that trail network.'

Ullyett said the issue is with the club's land tenure committee for further research.

Though the 85 claims were recorded by five individuals last Oct. 10, all the claims are identified as the Juice claims.

There were 40 Juice claims recorded in the area in March 2006.

The 2006 and 2007 claims are generally west of the Granger and Copper Ridge subdivisions, running from just north of the city landfill to just south of McRae. A good number fall directly over the ski club's Mount McIntyre ski trail network.

Joanne Oberg, manager of mining lands for the Yukon government, said it appears the claims were staked by individuals hired by the same company.

She said the Whitehorse mining recorder is currently conducting her due diligence to check if there are any overlapping mineral interests before she officially issues the claims.

The presence of existing and overlapping mineral claims, Oberg explained, is about the only hard and fast reason to refuse new claims on public land open for staking.

The presence of ski trails, she said, would not be a valid reason to deny the claims.

Almost certainly, the mining recorder will issue instructions to the owners of the Juice claims to contact the ski club before doing any work, Oberg said.

She said claim holders do not require a permit or an environmental assessment to conduct grassroots, pick-and-shovel type exploration.

Permits and assessments are required for more advanced and involved exploration activity, she pointed out.

Oberg said having mineral claims staked inside municipal boundaries occurs regularly in Whitehorse and across Canada.

Three years ago, the issue of staking inside city limits hit the fan when it was learned a company had staked 109 mineral claims over the new Whitehorse Copper subdivision, and parts of the Spruce Hill country residential properties.

Sales of the Whitehorse Copper lots have gone ahead and the mineral claims are still registered.

To keep the claims in good standing, claim holders must pay an annual fee of $100 per claim or do the equivalent in work.

Work on one mineral claim can be used as the annual fee for up to 16 other claims, provided those claims are attached to one another.