Mineral exploration fell dramatically in the Yukon this year, but was still hefty compared to historical expenditures, says geologist Lee Pigage of the Yukon Geological Survey.

Pigage said this morning in his address to delegates attending this year's 40th Annual Geoscience Forum in Whitehorse that 2012 has represented a year of change.

Last year was a year of records for the amount of money spent on exploration – $300 million – and the number of new mineral claims staked, he noted.

Pigage said this year, however, began with a cool spring, hampering the ability to get in the field for companies working in mountainous terrain.

Flooding washed out the Alaska Highway and the Nahanni Range Road, he said.

But the big change, Pigage said, was the disappearing investment dollars available for exploration of companies, resulting in many companies cutting back on their projects.

That said, Pigage reminded the audience that an estimated $146 million spent on exploration this year is still the third-highest in recent memory, even if it's half of last year.

There were 80 exploration projects on the go, 32 of which spent more than $1 million.

The total number of metres drilled, he pointed out, was still the second-highest in recent memory, enough to stretch from Whitehorse to Destruction Bay if laid end-to-end.

Of the total expenditures in exploration, 69 per cent targeted gold while nine per cent was spent on looking for silver.

Pigage said Capstone Mining continues to hum along with production at its Minto Mine, processing 3,756 tonnes per day.

In the first nine months of this year, the company produced 27 million pounds of copper, 11,815 ounces of gold and 140,935 ounces of silver, he pointed out.

He said Capstone spent $4.9 million drilling almost 30,000 metres of exploration holes to prove up the economics of mining new ground.

"I like that,” Pigage said. "Because it means they can keep operating for a longer period.”

Alexco Resource is continuing to expand its opportunities, and has several new silver deposits on the radar while continuing to process 250 tonnes per day from the Bellekeno Mine.

"And the Wolverine Mine continues to ramp up to its full designed production of 1,700 tonnes per day,” he said. "In August, it was 1,400 tonnes per day.”

Pigage told the audience that Golden Predator maintains its Brewery Creek project southeast of Dawson City will be the next producing gold mine in the Yukon, while Victoria Gold insists its Eagle gold project north of Mayo will be.

"It sounds like there is a bit of a race going on,” he said.

Pigage pointed out the number of claims staked so far this year has nose-dived to 8,299, down from 94,278 last year and near the rock-bottom days of 2000 to 2004.

But the number of active claims in good standing is at an all-time high of 257,937, he explained.

Pigage said the value of gold produced this year by the placer mining industry was at $65 million, with just under 50,000 ounces of gold produced, or 3,000 more ounces than last year.

Most of the increase in placer production is related to a surge of activity in the Indian River watershed south of Dawson, he said.

"They produced about 7,000 more ounces than last year.”

Geologist Jeff Bond of the geological survey explained in an interview this morning the total of number of crude ounces produced this year is nowhere near the 30-year high.

With the price of gold, and the increased production over last year, the total value is topping out at about $5 million above 2011 and is hitting a high not seen since the early and late 1980s, he pointed out.

Bond said the average annual value of placer gold over the last 30 years is $41 million.

In a graph produced by Bond, the highest years of production by placer mines in the last 40 years were back in 1979-80-81, when placer activity shot through the roof overnight.

Production in the late 1970s, for example, went from about 20,000 ounces per year to about 63,000 in 1980, according to the figures.

It dipped back down to the low and mid-20,000s in the mid-1980s, and then shot back up to near 60,000 ounces in the late '80s.

Bond pointed out 44 per cent of all placer gold produced this year came from the Indian River country, 22 per cent from the Klondike, 13 per cent from the lower Stewart River and 11 per cent from the Sixtymile and Moosehorn drainages.

Premier Darrell Pasloski opened the geoscience forum this morning.

The mining and exploration industry, the premier said, has been and remains a cornerstone in the Yukon's economy.

Mike Kokiw, executive director for the Yukon Chamber of Mines, which organizes the annual geoscience forum, told the audience this morning registration is up again this year, with more than 500 people registered.