Expenditures for mineral exploration in the Yukon will plummet by 50 per cent this year, the president of the Yukon Chamber of Mines believes.

"That is a guess," Carl Schulze said in a recent interview. "We don't have any figures yet to really confirm that."

Exploration expenditures hit an all-time high of $140 million in 2007. They fell to $100 million last year, though $100 million would represent a record beside any other year but 2008.

Schulze said it's not all doom and gloom on the horizon, as the worldwide recession is locking down equity that would otherwise be available for investment in exploration projects and such.

There were, for instance, three significant gold discoveries in the Yukon last year, and he believes those three companies will have an easier time finding financing.

He suspects expenditures will continue to flow from projects in the advanced stages, such as the Wolverine zinc property purchased last summer by a large Chinese corporation, and Alexco's Bellekeno silver project.

North American Tungsten is continuing its push to establish the Mac Tung deposit, and Schulze believes Western Copper is still working on its Carmacks Copper proposal.

"I think there are four or five in the advance stages ... They are probably going to move forward."

The Minto mine is in production but has also had a brisk exploration program as well, he pointed out.

"Where the industry is going to go down quite a bit is with stuff that is in the early stage of exploration," he said.

"So basically, anything that is at the grassroots."

There is investment money still available, but a lot less than there used to be, he said.

The Yukon government announced late last month it is increasing the fund available under its Yukon Mining Incentive Program from $700,000 to $1.8 million to help stimulate exploration activity.

In the since months since the stock markets began imploding, shares prices have plunged dramatically, particularly for junior exploration companies.