The Yukon will see a "healthy” year in exploration in 2012, according to Energy, Mines and Resources Minister Brad Cathers.

Cathers, who spoke to the Star Wednesday from the Mineral Exploration Roundup in Vancouver, admitted it's unlikely the territory beat the $300-million mark the Yukon saw last year.

"2011 was a record-breaking year,” he said. "Now some companies are going to take the time to review and reflect on the activity.”

Cathers met up with representatives from the Yukon's producing mines and companies planning to open mines in the next few years.

He said Victoria Gold Corp.'s open-pit gold mine northwest of Mayo looks like it will be the territory's next producing operation.

Construction is slated to begin this fall, opening up 350 new jobs.

It will cost the company about $350 million to build the mine. When the mine is in operation, it will employ an estimated 400 people.

Cathers said the exploration conference, which began Monday, brought no "real surprises” to the table.

"Things are going as we have been expecting.”

The minister repeated the line often heard during last October's fall's election.

He said the Yukon has its share of challenges related to growth, but when comparing it to "Canada and Canada to the world”, at least our issues are associated with a strong economy.

NDP Leader Liz Hanson and Liberal MLA Sandy Silver also attended the conference.

Hanson said the feeling at the roundup was one of "excitement with an undercurrent of fear”.

She told the Star Wednesday the territory needs to cut all the "boom” hype.

"Let's not keep building on this notion of another gold rush,” she said.

Hanson said we need to stay away from the mistakes that other economies, like the United States, have already made.

"We have a highly inflated housing economy. People are putting their lives on the line with highly priced mortgages,” she said.

"We don't want to have this super-hot economy and then have it crash.”

Hanson emphasized it takes a long time to go from exploration to a producing mine.

"You don't just snap your fingers.”

She thinks Yukoners need to get down to serious work on diversifying the economy to avoid an economic bust.

Hanson travelled to the roundup last year, shortly after she had been elected to the house in December 2010.

She thinks it's important for all political leaders to network at these sorts of conferences to understand what's going on with the sector.

Silver, who represents the Klondike, said he and interim party leader Darius Elias went to the roundup to show that the Liberals are pro-mining and pro-private sector.

"We're not here as critics; we're here to lend support.”

Silver said the conference has been a "whirlwind” of meetings. As well, the amount of his reading material has expanded exponentially.

The Klondike MLA said the conference made him realize we have a lot to learn when dealing with regulatory issues and how to increase the conversation with First Nations.

"There is no more exciting place than the Yukon right now, but we can't be just giving everything away,” Silver said. "We need to figure out what level of mining will stimulate the local economy.”

The theme of this year's roundup is "Celebrating our First Century of Global Discovery”.

There were approximately 7,000 people at the conference, which will end later today.