Leaders in the Yukon's mining industry - heck, just about everyone in every industry - were awestruck by the speed of the economic implosion.

Right up until late spring, share prices remained buoyant for junior and senior companies, for the most part.

Expenditures on hard rock exploration ventures were not what they'd been in the red-hot year of 2007, when companies looking for new ore bodies or expanding existing ones dropped a record $140 million into the Yukon's economy.

They were, nonetheless, still brisk at an estimated $100 million - the second-highest on record.

By early summer, a downturn was in the wind.

Commodity prices were sliding, some more than others.

Copper was a robust $4 US per pound in early July, and was still sitting at an attractive $3-plus in September. It's at $1.35 today.

Prices for zinc, lead and other base metals have followed.

But while silver is almost half of what it was in July, it remains well over a very profitable $10 US an ounce.

Gold lost almost 25 per cent of its value in a short two-month nosedive, but has since regained a lot of its composure and is trading at $869 CDN an ounce, slightly stronger than it was at this time last year.

The ferocious fear caused by the collapse of the markets in the world, however, have left some companies reeling in the stranglehold of economic uncertainty, even for some who otherwise appear healthy.

For the Capstone Mining Corp., which merged this fall with Sherwood Copper and its producing Minto Mine, the ride has been hard.

Despite continued operation and profit from the Minto Mine, Capstone shares haven't yet been able to recover from the tumble, which saw the price fall from $4.47 in the summer to 84 cents today.

The big guys are getting slammed with the same uncertainly. Mining giant Teck Cominco Ltd. was enjoying a share price of $52.90 last May.

Today - $5.94.

It was just a year ago when Cash Minerals was embroiled it a huge public debate over its desire to push a winter road up the Wind River to aid in its uranium exploration plans, with its share price hovering around 52 cents.

Today - 3.5 cents.

A year ago, the Adanac Molybdenum Corp. had just finished a $4 million road-project to improve access to its ore body north of Atlin, and then moved into a shutdown mode while seeking the required $600 million to get into production.

It announced late this month it was forced to seek court protection of its assets to allow time for financial restructuring.

The list goes on.

What a difference a year can make.

Ever the optimists, however, those in the mining business maintain 2009 might yet produce a healthy bit of activity in the territory.

Of the $100 million spent on hard rock exploration last year, 38 per cent was spent looking for gold, and 27 per cent for silver.

The Alexco Resource Corp. was still able to secure financing late this year to advance plans to bring its Bellekeno silver mine into operation in 2010, with production of more than three million ounces annually. It maintains it can produce an ounce of silver at a fraction of what it's selling for today.

Production at the Minto Mine is scheduled to go up - again - in 2009.

And though the placer mining industry was held together by solid gold prices in 2008, profit margins were squashed by exorbitant fuel prices to run heavy equipment.

An ounce of gold isn't selling for $950 an ounce these days, though it's still up there. The price of fuel, on the other hand, has been slashed, at least for now.

It's certain the exploration industry this coming year won't be what it was over the past two years, and likely not even close. Even the optimists have their eyes closed.

But with Minto ramping up production, and Alexco advancing plans to open up the Yukon's second producing hard rock mine, the hit may not be as hard here as it could be.