Mining-related expenditures in the Yukon could climb above a quarter of a billion dollars, Energy, Mines and Resources Minister Archie Lang is forecasting.

Lang made the prediction earlier this week before a room full of executives and representatives of various mining and exploration companies attending the annual Mineral Exploration Round-up in Vancouver.

'The Yukon mining industry has turned around in a very short time, and in a very big way,' Lang told delegates attending the reception sponsored by the territorial government.

The Yukon, he said, has become Canada's hotspot for the industry, with exploration swelling 10-fold to $80 million last year from a mere $8 million in 2002. And it's expected to increase again this year, Lang said.

Several exploration projects are in the advance stages while several companies have plans to spend money in mine development.

But Lang also told delegates the government is shifting its focus from providing incentives for the exploration side of the mineral industry to the development side.

Upon his return to Whitehorse, Lang explained in an interview this morning the government is now looking at several areas where it can assist the industry by streamlining costs and providing additional tax incentives.

The minister said the Mineral Exploration Incentive Program has done what it was meant to do, but now is becoming too expensive for Yukoners to fund.

'You can't give the treasury to one industry,' Lang said.

Last year, he pointed out, the government provided approximately $6 million under the program to companies that spend money in the Yukon and were eligible for up to 25 per cent reinbursement on qualified expenditures.

The government announced last year it was capping reinbursements to individual companies at $300,000.

The program will expire at the end of March and will be discontinued.

Lang said for a small jurisdiction like the Yukon, the exploration incentive program was fine when expenditures were $8 million, and the program was always meant to end when exploration activity hit $30 million.

Lang said he didn't know how much of the money that would otherwise be spent on the exploration incentive program will be redirected to other areas related to the mining industry.

The government is searching for ways to streamline the method of doing business in the Yukon and reduce costs, he added.

One company working in the Yukon last year spent approximately $3 million on its program, a full third of it staking its mineral claims, he pointed out.

Companies may be required to place fewer claims in areas where they are block-staking as a means of reducing costs, he suggested.

Lang said the government is exploring programs in other provinces to see what might work here.

Proposals like allowing companies to depreciate assets quicker for tax purposes once a primary condition for companies wanting to build the Alaska Highway pipeline are being considered, he said.

Formulating new policies and ideas to keep the industry interested in the Yukon won't happen overnight, the minister acknowledged.

There is a process of checks and balances to go through, he said, adding it's not just a matter of him signing off new policies.

'I would say in 12 months we could see something on the ground.'

Focusing on improvements in infrastructure required by the industry, such as upgrades to the Robert Campbell Highway, in the heartland of mineral exploration country, is needed, Lang said.

The industry in the Yukon, Lang believes, is set to blast off with several projects marching forward, leaving millions and millions of dollars' worth expenditures in their wake.

Sherwood Copper and its Minto mine development will have spent $110 million by the time the open-pit copper-gold production goes into production this year, the minister noted, citing several other advanced projects.

Alexco Resources is expected to spend $40 million on the Elsa-based silver mines formerly owned by the bankrupt United Keno Hill Mines Ltd. They were closed 18 years ago last month.

Alexco, he said, has had great success with its exploration drill program since taking over the assets last year.

'It's mind-boggling the money being spent in exploration in the Yukon,' Lang said. 'And that in turn is going to produce product, and product is mines.'