Mineral exploration in the Yukon could double again this year, says Energy, Mines and Resources Minister Archie Lang.

'There are some positive signs in the mining community,' Lang said in an interview this morning, after having returned last week from the Mineral Exploration Roundup Conference (formerly known as the Cordilleran).

'It is on the upswing.'

Lang said he is hoping for $26 million in exploration investment. He would be happy with $30 million but realistically expects it will fall somewhere between $20 million and $26 million.

'It was a really impressive roundup for us in the territory, because in the summer, we depend on those exploration dollars,' said Lang.

He said there is a significant amount of interest in the Mayo and Keno City areas by companies such as Stratagold Corp. and Spectrum Gold Inc., as well as the renewed interest in the Finlayson area by mining giant Teck Cominco.

There were 600 claims staked this winter in the Mayo area, Lang pointed out.

'That we had winter staking, just that alone bodes well for the mining industry,' he said. 'That has not happened for 15 years.'

Exploration expenditures in the Yukon have spiralled downward since the mid-1990s. At that time, record highs were recorded. The peak was more than $50 million spent in 1996 during the staking rush in the Finlayson area, southeast of Faro.

Expenditures had dropped to $6.9 million in 2002 but rebounded somewhat last year to an estimated $13 million, according to figures provided by the Yukon Geological Survey.

It was said during November's Yukon Geoscience Forum that interest in gemstone properties, on the heels of the Regal Ridge emerald find by True North Gems, was largely responsible for the resurgence in exploration last year.

Lang said the interest in the Mayo area is with gold and silver, and Teck Cominco is looking to prove up what it believes to be a significant lead-zinc property in the Finlayson area.

The minister noted the steering committee which was appointed to pull the tattered Yukon Placer Authorization out of the fire was in Vancouver holding meetings during the roundup, as well.

There too are positive signs, said Lang.

'We should have something in front of the minister (federal Fisheries Minister Geoff Regan) by April that is acceptable to the industry and the minister.'

The territory's placer mining industry was sent into fits in December 2002 when then federal minister Robert Thibault announced he was phasing out the authorization in favour of a tougher regulatory regime under the federal Fisheries Act.

The announcement was quickly and harshly criticized from all corners of the Yukon. They included the territorial government, the Council of Yukon First Nations, the territory's municipalities and the business community.

There was, however, support from the Yukon Conservation Society, the Yukon Salmon Committee and national organizations that champion environmental protection issues.

But those opposed saw it as a unilateral decision to scrap the authorization with no valid evidence of the need to clamp down on the industry.

It was widely held that Thibault's announcement was a slap in the face to those who had spent months renegotiating the placer authorization, only to have it quashed by the minister.

As part of Thibault's agreement last summer to revisit his decision, the minister insisted he have something before him from the steering committee by this April.

The minister also mentioned Monday's throne speech and Prime Minister Paul Martin's pledge to clean up contaminated sites that fall within the federal government's responsibility, such as the Faro mine site.

Martin announced in the speech that the federal government will undertake a 10-year, $3.5-billion initiative to clean up the sites.

While the initiative is not directly related to mining, it could mean more money flowing into the territory, Lang suggested.