Expenditures by the Yukon's mining industry are again booming, both in exploration and development with the new Minto copper-gold mine.

A reflection of the expenditures draping the territory is a record-high number of delegates attending this week's 35th annual Yukon Geoscience Forum.

'We're up 25 per cent over last year,' Joanne Hainer, executive director of the Yukon Chamber of Mines, said this morning. 'It is significantly bigger.'

There are 400 delegates registered this year, compared to 303 last year, with 50 displays at the trade show, compared to 35 last year, Hainer pointed out.

Geologist Mike Burke of the Yukon Geological Survey reported to the conference this morning a dramatic increase in exploration figures in the hard rock mining sector, as well as a significant boost in the amount of money spent on mine development.

There was also a noticeable hike in the amount of placer mining and value of gold produced in the territory, William LeBarge, the geological survey's placer geologist, told delegates.

Burke said expenditures on hard rock exploration in the territory were in excess of $130 million, up 62 per cent from the $80 million-plus spent last year.

Altogether, there were about 240 kilometres of exploration drilling completed, Burke said.

He pointed out the number of new quartz mineral claims staked was about 13,000, on par or slightly ahead of last year.

The amount of money spent on mine development is also up substantially, pushed primarily by expenditures associated with the new Minto mine, which began commercial production last month, Burke pointed out.

He said expenditures on development are close to $70 million, up from $50 million last year.

Most of the exploration, Burke explained, was in search of gold, accounting for 38 per cent of all expenditures, most of it at the Ketza River property by Yukon-Nevada Gold Corp.

Burke noted several other properties around the territory that have promising potential, such the Bellekeno property in the United Keno silver belt.

Alexco Resources Corp. recently reported 18.7 million ounces of silver at Bellekeno, he said.

'I know their target was to find 10 million ounces there, so if they have 18.7 million, I know they are very happy.'

The placer geologist reported a 10 per cent increase in the amount of placer gold production and an eight per cent increase in the total value over last year.

The territory's 107 operating mines produced a total of 63,332 crude ounces up to last Friday, for a value of $37.5 million, LeBarge said.

He said he expects to see another 5,000 to 7,000 reported by the end of the year.

Placer mines on the Indian River and Dominion Creek, and their tributaries, again accounted for the most production, a full 38.6 per cent of the total, compared to 31 per cent last year, LeBarge pointed out.

Also up noticeably is production at the Forty Mile, Sixtymile and Moosehorn range, accounting for 23 per cent of all gold reported, up from 16 per cent last year.

The largest drop in production was seen on the Klondike, Bonanza and Hunker watersheds, down eight per cent from 26.5 per cent of the total last year to 18.4 per cent this year.

LeBarge said most of the operations are still family-operated, although there is a visible trend of some of the larger placer mines picking up more and more ground, and becoming larger and larger.

Also noticeable in the industry was the number of exploratory placer mines this year, which rose to 24 from nine last year, he said.