The value of exploration and mining in the Yukon has fallen significantly compared to recent years, according to territorial government records.

Figures presented Monday to the 41st annual Yukon Geoscience Forum indicate expenditures in exploration this year are estimated at $45 million.

That's down nearly 70 per cent from almost $150 million spent last year.

It's the lowest in the last nine years, since the exploration and mining industry began to emerge in 2005 from the doldrums of the late 1990s and early 2000s.

Money spent this year on exploration represents a shadow of the $300 million spent in 2011.

At that time, helicopters were hard to find and the mining recorder needed a printing press to keep up with the tags required to stake mineral claims.

In 2011, for instance, there were 114,317 new mineral claims staked. That was light years ahead of the average year with the exception of 2010, when the short-lived staking rush burst into the Yukon with 83,161 claims staked.

This year, to the end of September, there were 1,876, the lowest number of claims recorded in recent history, according to the information presented to the forum by geologist Derek Torgerson of the Yukon Geological Survey.

Torgerson explained of the $45 million that was spent on exploration this year, 73 per cent was spent looking for gold, 12 per cent for silver, six per cent for copper and another six per cent for a combination of lead and zinc.

Expenditures on development were also down, from just shy of $100 million last year to $56 million this year.

Development expenditures are counted as money spent building a mine and bringing it into production, resulting in a spike during the construction phase that drops off once the mine is in production.

Figures presented show there was little development in the territory from the late 1990s to 2006, when $50 million was spent building the Minto Mine, followed in 2007 by another $70 million.

With the Minto Mine largely in operation, money spent on development in the territory fell to under $10 million in 2008.

It jumped back up to more than $170 million in 2009 with the construction of the Wolverine Mine.

It stayed at $100 million or more through to the end of 2012 with continued construction of Wolverine along with the new mine and mill operation in Keno City.

Torgerson said most of the $50 million-plus spent on development this year was spent by the Minto Mine on a new camp and developing an underground facility.

There are currently five mining projects going through the permitting process, including the proposal to reprocess tailings at the old Whitehorse Copper Mine, he pointed out.

Torgerson said the placer mining industry produced 53,315 ounces of gold this year. While production was slightly higher, the overall value was lower, at $61.4 million.

There were about 140 active placer mines, employing some 400 people, and most were family operations, he said.

Figures show that Indian River accounted for half of the total production, with 26,662 ounces, followed by 9,764 ounces coming out of the Klondike.

The lower Stewart River accounted for 6,795, and production out of the Sixtymile-Moosehorn area fell into fourth place, with 5,767 ounces.

The Livingstone area east of Whitehorse produced 28 ounces, and there were 17.08 ounces recorded in the Whitehorse district, according to government numbers.