Yukon Special Report for SUBSCRIBERS ONLY by James Kwantes Editor, Resource Opportunities August 14, 2017

Yukon special report FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY By James Kwantes Editor, Resource Opportunities August 14, 2017

Arcus Development Group, Pg. 3 Alexco Resources, Pg. 4 ATAC Resources, Pg. 6 Banyan Gold, Pg. 7 Golden Predator, Pg. 7 Independence Gold, Pg. 8 Initiating coverage: K2 Gold, Pg. 8 Klondike Gold, Pg. 9 Rockhaven Resources, Pg. 10 Strategic Metals, Pg. Trifecta Gold, Pg. 11 Fireweed Zinc, Pg. 11 Metallic Minerals, Pg. 13 1 White Gold Corp., Pg. 14

The above advertisement was in a 1910-circa Montreal newspaper plastered on the wall of a (badly leaning) Klondike Gold Rush-era mining outpost on Klondike Gold’s Lone Star property outside of Dawson, Yukon. One can only hope that Anson Prieur & Co.’s how-to guide on speculation did a better job of insulating investors from speculation risks than such newspapers did keeping miners warm in minus-30 winter temperatures 100 years ago.

“Prieur” is French for prior. And much has changed since men who lived in that building “moiled for gold,” as Robert W. Service put it in The Cremation of Sam McGee. Artisanal miners still work plenty of ground globally even as they’ve been overtaken by drill rigs and exploration companies in historic districts like the Klondike. Other things have not changed. Whether 1910 or 2017, price is one of the determining factors of whether a speculator will make money on any given investment.

I recently returned from site visits in the Yukon funded by the Yukon economic development ministry and industry group Yukon Mining Alliance. This level of support -- which saw more than two dozen analysts, newsletter writers and reporters tour Yukon mining projects -- is one indicator of just how mining-friendly the Canadian Territory is. There is lots of junior activity and placer mining, and Goldcorp continues to develop the Coffee project. But the Yukon needs more bedrock mines and right now there is only one: Capstone’s Minto copper operation, which is running out of ore.

There had been a change of government since last summer, from the incumbent Yukon Party to the further-left Liberal Party. But the incoming Liberals are pro-mining and the effect on operators in the Territory should be limited. Liberal Party leader Sandy Silver represents the riding at the epicentre of the Klondike Gold Rush. Ranj Pillai, the deputy premier and minister responsible for mining, actually has junior mining experience working with First Nations Development Corporations and Gorilla Minerals, where he was a director. Gorilla explored the Wels property now being developed by K2 Gold (KTO-V), the new John Robins-helmed junior (Pillai has no involvement in any decisions or matters related to K2). More on K2 Gold later.

There has been serious money flow into the Yukon since Goldcorp moved first by purchasing Kaminak Gold and its Coffee gold deposit for $520 million last spring. The total runs to well over $650 million when you tally up the deals -- $63.3M from Barrick to ATAC, $53M from Newmont to Goldstrike, and White Gold Corp. landing investments of $14.5M from Agnico Eagle and $60M (cash and shares) from Kinross, the latter for the original White Gold deposit.

The sentiment now: money flows need to be accompanied by new discoveries, which could in turn set the stage for more M&A activity in the Territory. One of the discoveries with potential is K2 Gold’s Wels property, with assays announced last week that included 28.5 metres of 2.37 g/t Au and 12.5m of 5.08 g/t. We are initiating coverage on K2 Gold as it has many of the attributes

2 we like in a junior exploration company: high-quality management, a discovery that includes high-grade gold and a strong treasury.

This year I visited projects run by three new-ish companies: Metallic Minerals (MMG-V), White Gold Corp. (WGO-V) and Fireweed Zinc (FWZ-V), the latter a Resource Opportunities portfolio company. This report will include assessments of those stories and updates on other Yukon mining plays. Drill plays and exploration companies are the focus of this report, although I also touch on developers that are part of the Resource Opportunities portfolio.

Stock prices for Yukon plays typically ebb and flow depending on the seasons. That flow has been a bit choppy this year along with the gold price, which has lately trended up. In early January I published a Yukon exploration report featuring companies that I thought could have speculative upside from depressed levels during the winter deep freeze. Some of the stocks have moved; others have not budged. There should be plenty of news flow for these companies in the coming months, which could drive share price increases.

A cautionary note on drill assays -- I am already hearing many reports of lab delays so it will likely take longer for exploration companies to get drill results back this year. The closure of assay labs during the long bear market is one of the factors responsible.

Arcus Development Group (ADG-V, ARCUF-OTC) Resource Opportunities portfolio company Arcus just started drilling at its Dan Man property directly north of and adjacent to Goldcorp’s Coffee project. While the priority is RC drilling, Arcus will also do soil sampling, geological mapping and prospecting.

The budget is $1.26 million and Goldcorp -- which bought a 19.9% stake in Arcus last year -- is providing logistical support. Goldcorp telegraphed from the start that it has district plans for the Coffee deposit. If Arcus hits, and I like their chances, Goldcorp could move on them sooner rather than later. Arcus CEO Ian Talbot is staying at Goldcorp’s camp at Coffee, and will remain at Dan Man until drilling wraps up (likely the end of August). Talbot, a geologist and lawyer, is the chief operating officer for Strategic Metals (SMD-V) and former Vancouver counsel for BHP Billiton. Arcus is a Strategic Exploration Group company.

How close is Dan Man ground to Goldcorp’s Coffee? Note the two square-shaped outlines at the top of the map on the next page, including the box hosting the “North” arrow. That’s Arcus ground, and it’s very near much of the Coffee mineralization. The map was attached to a Goldcorp second-quarter exploration update issued July 26, which outlined an aggressive exploration program at the former Kaminak Gold asset. The company drilled 28,775 metres in the second quarter including 12,600 metres of exploration targets, even as it advances through permitting.

Arcus shares have moved up a bit since January but the company remains very under-the-radar. Arcus’s latest NR, issued June 20, has yet to make it onto the company website. What might success with the drill bit at Dan Man look like? The best hits at Supremiato, a mineralized zone very close to Dan Man, included 12.19 metres of 1.36 g/t gold, 10.67m of 1.79 g/t and 6.09m of 6.57 g/t.

One interesting nugget from Arcus’s June 20 NR: the company has staked 91 new mineral claims to expand its Touleary property, which is north of the Yukon River and butts into White Gold Corp.’s properties. Touleary hosts an Arcus VMS discovery from 2011 that has been dormant thanks to the bear market. The best intersection from a very small program that year was 2.25 metres of 7.18% copper, 116 g/t silver, 3.55 g/t gold and 4.3% zinc. If Arcus hits at Dan Man, the natural outcome would be a sale of that project to Goldcorp (at a healthy premium to current prices) and a shift in focus to Touleary. See the Oct. 24, 2016 Resource Opportunities flash alert for more on Arcus, which has two other White Gold properties.

Price: 0.14 Shares outstanding: 72.18 million (88.5M fully diluted) Price on Jan. 5: 0.10

Alexco Resources (AXR-T, AXU-NYSE) Resource Opportunities portfolio company Two years ago, Alexco was in a holding pattern even as modest drill programs increased the number of ounces at its Keno Hill silver district. The company was an ultra-high-grade producer of silver from early 2011 until it announced a shutdown in July 2013 in response to plummeting

4 silver prices. A prohibitive 25% Silver Wheaton stream on the entire Keno Hill silver district -- a “deal with the devil” agreed to in the depths of the bear market -- also acted as an anchor on share price upside.

Much has changed. The silver price has perked up in the past couple of years and the number of ounces at Alexco’s flagship deposits has steadily increased. Importantly, the ounces that have been added at the Bermingham and Flame & Moth deposits, especially Bermingham, are extremely high-grade. Alexco’s March 2017 PEA shows a life-of-mine head grade of 843 g/t silver. That would be the highest silver grade mined globally; second place isn’t even close.

But at the Bermingham deposit, which will contribute 220,000 tonnes of the total 1.021 million tonnes of production, the grade is 1,276 g/t Ag. Alexco is drilling 12,000 metres at Bermingham using three drills, with results expected in the fourth quarter.

Alexco’s next move is to drive an exploration decline into the Bermingham deposit, followed by a winter exploration program. Alexco recently raised $9 million in a flow-through financing (at $2.15/share) that ensures the company is fully funded through 2017. Further ounces from Bermingham will improve economics, which at an after-tax IRR above 75% are already extremely healthy. Intercepts at Bermingham routinely hit in the kilograms per tonne and have graded as high as 7,462 g/t (across 5 metres).

Alexco also amended the Silver Wheaton (now Wheaton Precious Metals) silver stream, at a cost of 3 million Alexco shares. The prior deal gave the silver streamer the right to purchase 25% of production at US$3.90 an ounce. The amended agreement shifts the $3.90/oz rate to a percentage of the spot silver price that increases with lower head grades and lower silver prices, and decreases with higher grades and higher silver prices. 5

How important was the amended silver stream? It was announced in the same March 29, 2017 news release as the PEA, and details about the latter came second. However, investors yawned and the silver spot price has not cooperated. With all-in sustaining costs of US$12.18 an ounce, Keno Hill is economic at current silver prices. Startup costs on the mothballed plant are minimal and Alexco has a new ball mill on-site. Initial capex is about $27 million for an 8-plus-year mine life producing about 3.5 million ounces a year (higher production and grades in first 3 years).

In a rising silver price environment, Alexco shares offer strong leverage to the precious metal. The company has made strides in recent months on several fronts, including adding high-grade ounces and amending the silver stream. Bermingham assays are pending. Yet the stock has drifted lower. That’s called a buying opportunity, especially if gold catches a bid and silver comes along for the ride. Alexco shares offer tremendous leverage to the price of silver, especially at these levels.

Price: $1.73 Shares outstanding: 101.2 million (113.3M f-d) Price on Jan. 5: $1.97

ATAC Resources (ATC-V, ATADF-OTC) Resource Opportunities portfolio company ATAC got an early jump on drilling, announcing June 5 that drills were turning as part of a $10-million, 15,000-metre drill program at its Osiris and Rau projects. In April Barrick Gold (ABX-T) bought into ATAC’s Orion project for a total of up to $63.3 million. The deal included an $8.3-million financing and a two-staged $55-million earn-in that could give Barrick 70% of Orion.

It’s important validation for ATAC and its exploration for Carlin-type gold, which mimics the mineralization found in the legendary Nevada district. The Carlin Trend has produced more than 70 million ounces and its deposits have been company makers for Barrick and Franco Nevada, among others. Importantly, Orion was not ATAC’s flagship project and the transaction bolsters the treasury as the company focuses on Osiris and Rau.

It’s the largest drill program undertaken in years by ATAC, which aggressively protected its treasury during the bear market. One interesting nugget that emerged from the buy-in news: Barrick already owned 9.2% of ATAC shares and now owns a 19.9% stake. ATAC shares offer powerful leverage to gold and peaked above $9 a share in July 2011, when discovery and gold’s blistering advance proved a powerful one-two punch.

The stock has been choppy since getting a bump off the Barrick news. But the company’s market capitalization does not even hint at the size of the potential prize. ATAC’s properties are remote but the company holds a vast land position that could host large amounts of gold mineralization. It’s why Barrick stepped in. The gold giant’s investment derisks ATAC, to an extent, and replenishes the treasury in an area of the Yukon where exploration is not cheap.

Price: 0.58 Shares outstanding: 139.6 million (151M f-d) Price on Jan. 5: 0.435

Banyan Gold (BYN-V, BYAGF-OTC) It’s been a busy few months for Banyan Gold. A Phase 1 $1-million, 4,000-metre drill program is underway at its Hyland gold project in southeastern Yukon, which hosts a deposit of almost 400,000 AuEq ounces at grades of about 1 g/t AuEq. Drilling will focus on expanding the deposit as well as testing new targets at the road-accessible project.

Early this year, Banyan picked up a second project -- Aurex-McQuesten -- in the heart of Yukon mining country. It was a strategic transaction that simultaneously diversified Banyan’s project portfolio and strengthened its partnership with two Yukon mining heavyweights. Banyan picked up options on the Aurex property from Victoria Gold (VIT-V) and the McQuesten property from Alexco Silver (AXR-T). It’s the first time the two land packages, which lie south of the western part of Alexco’s property, have been combined. The consolidation has already yielded valuable historical data and a Phase 1 exploration program -- including a 10-hole, 1,420-metre drill program -- has been completed. Assays are pending.

The Aurex-McQuesten deals included financings that gave Alexco and Victoria Gold equity stakes, 6.7% and 5.3% respectively, in Banyan. Banyan CEO Tara Christie is married to Victoria Gold CEO John McConnell and there are other links -- Banyan chairman Mark Ayranto is Victoria’s Executive Vice-President and the two companies share a VP Exploration, Paul Gray. Banyan’s ability to get Alexco on board -- for a property that must have had other bidders -- shows it’s a Yukon exploration play to contend with. Banyan will also have about $1.2 million in the treasury after the Hyland work, enough for another drill program at either project if merited.

Price: 0.10 Shares outstanding: 65.5 million (79.3M f-d) Price on Jan. 5: 0.05

Golden Predator (GPY-V, NTGSF-OTC) Drill hits have driven Golden Predator’s share price since early January but the stock also moves in mysterious ways. From mid-January to mid-February, for example, shares moved from 75 cents to $1.95. Golden Predator announced some nice intercepts on Jan. 19 but the stock kept going, and going, and going …

The company went to work early this season, announcing on Feb. 23 it had begun to drill at the lower-elevation Spades Zone at the 3 Aces project, which will see another 20,000 metres of drilling. Golden Predator raised $17.25 million in March at higher prices so is well positioned to deliver more high-grade intercepts at its southeastern Yukon project. Non-core projects are

7 being shed, although the company retains the Brewery Creek mine project, a former past-producing heap leach gold mine.

Price: $1.18 Shares outstanding: 92.4 million (136M f-d) Price on Jan. 5: 0.75

Independence Gold (IGO-V, IEGCF-OTC) Resource Opportunities portfolio company Independence Gold is one of the Coffee area plays that Goldcorp bought a 19.9% stake in last year. The deal came with a 30-day right-of-first refusal on any sale of the Boulevard project, which borders Coffee to the west. A 1,500-metre diamond drilling program is underway in the Sunrise-Sunset zone at Boulevard, which saw reverse-circulation drilling the past two seasons. (Diamond drilling is more expensive but gives you a more accurate depiction of exactly what’s in the hole.)

Independence CEO Randy Turner is on a temporary leave of absence due to his wife’s illness (IDM Mining’s Mike McPhie is interim chairman and CEO and Kendra Johnston is interim president). However, Turner remains in the mix, albeit in a more limited way. On June 8 the company announced the staking of an additional 1,460 hectares west of Boulevard, taking the project to 19,960 hectares, as well as the staking of a 4,385-hectare property (Stinger) in a placer gold camp 60 kilometres west of Dawson. Independence shares are trading slightly below where they were on January 5, one of the few Yukon plays that has dropped since then.

Patience is required on this play (especially this year with assay delays), because Independence is a non-promotional company with long periods between news releases. Last summer it took almost two months for Independence to release assays after drilling at Boulevard wrapped up, but the wait was worth it: hits included 7.73 g/t gold across 6.1 metres.

Price: 0.185 Shares outstanding: 56 million (60M f-d) Price on Jan. 5: 0.195

K2Gold (KTO-V, KTGDF-OTC) Resource Opportunities portfolio company K2 Gold (formerly West Melville Metals) ticks three important boxes: quality management team, tight share structure and jurisdiction. The new junior’s chairman is geologist John Robins, a Northern prospecting veteran and cofounder of Kaminak Gold ($520-million sale to Goldcorp) and many other companies. The CEO is Steve Swatton, a former Yorkton analyst and BHP exec. K2 Gold still has about $1.4 million in the bank after its initial 1,200-metre drill program at the flagship Wels project, which followed up a 2014/2015 drilling and trenching program from a previous operator.

8 Assays announced last week from Wels, about 60 km south of Coffee, were good: 28.5 metres of 2.37 g/t Au and 12.5 metres of 5.08 g/t. Those are economic intercepts in the Yukon, especially if there is infrastructure nearby. In the case of Wels, there is an old air strip 20 kilometres to the west that is attached to a major road route, the Alaska Highway. K2 has identified a near-surface high-grade gold zone within a larger low-grade halo in what it’s calling the Saddle Zone. K2 also did soil sampling that confirmed gold-related anomalies in the three main zones: Saddle, North Ridge and Southwest Spur.

K2 shares ran up as high as 55 cents on Aug. 10, the day the assays were announced. But the stock has since descended and now trades just a few pennies above where it was prior. With only 17.2 million shares outstanding, this stock is poised to move hard on any further discoveries. CEO Swatton told me K2 is permitted for followup drilling and the company is currently planning what that program might look like. I also wouldn’t rule out acquisitions of additional projects in North America, especially given treasury levels and the tight share structure.

Price: 0.40 Shares outstanding: 17.2 million (27.2M f-d)

Klondike Gold (KG-V, KDKGF-OTC) Resource Opportunities portfolio company Klondike CEO Peter Tallman’s quest is to find the bedrock source for placer gold that continues to be dug out of some of the Klondike goldfields’ richest producing creeks. The company is zeroing in on its Lone Star property and Tallman may be zeroing in on his objective.

It’s been a wild ride for Klondike shares since coverage was initiated about a year ago. Then, the stock was trading in the low .30s, en route to 45 cents, and assays were pending from the Violet Ridge and Lone Star properties. (Those properties hosted two of the only historical hard-rock gold mines in the Klondike.) The 17 Violet Ridge drill holes, some of which had visible gold, were dusters. The stock plummeted, bottoming at 14 cents during December.

The market largely ignored subsequent high-grade hits from Lone Star that were reported on Nov. 1, 2016 and Jan. 19 of this year. The intercepts, including 37 metres of 2.4 g/t Au and 11.3 metres of 3.5 g/t, outlined 700 metres of mineralized strike associated with an IP anomaly.

Klondike shares have moved this year despite gold’s choppiness, and early indications are positive. On July 11 and Aug. 1, Klondike reported a total of 11 assays. All holes intersected near-surface gold mineralization and several of the hits were impressive, including: ● 41.1 metres of 2.1 g/t Au ● 40.9m of 2.4 g/t ● 30.7m of 1.6 g/t Au Assays are pending for stepout holes 500 metres in one direction and 700 metres in the other. Both contained visible gold -- which, as you’ll recall, is no guarantee of economic hits.

Klondike CEO Peter Tallman with core from two 2016 Lone Star holes 50 metres apart, showing very similar mineralization (37m of 2.4 g/t Au and 27.7m of 1.2 g/t).

Klondike’s cost of drilling is low and the company has an aggressive exploration program this year. Among the assays pending are two stepout holes drilled 500 metres to the east (Pioneer) and 700 metres to the west (O’Neill). If those hit and continuity can be established, it will take the potential mineralized target length to two kilometres. Klondike has strong backers, including major shareholder Frank Giustra with about 15% of outstanding shares. The company just raised another $5 million, which will help pay for the expanded 80-hole summer drill program.

Price: 0.34 Shares outstanding: 65.8 million (99.5M f-d not including the Aug. 1 $5M financing) Price on Jan. 5: 0.195

Rockhaven Resources (RK-V, RKHNF-OTC) Resource Opportunities portfolio company Drills are turning at Rockhaven’s Klaza project as part of a 16,000-metre program this season. The objective is to expand near-surface mineralization through infill and stepout drilling in the Klaza and BRX zones, explore for new mineralization and collect material for metallurgical and other test work. Rockhaven has landed Coeur Mining, which operates a mine in neighbouring Alaska, as a shareholder and technical partner.

Entry price is one of the most important factors determining whether investors make money on a stock. Since the beginning of the year Rockhaven shares have sunk 25%, despite an aggressive drill program that will both add ounces and could identify new discoveries. It makes Rockhaven shares a compelling speculation at these levels. Rockhaven’s Klaza is the Yukon’s

10 highest-grade gold deposit of more than 1 million ounces. The deposit already contains, in the Inferred category: - 1.36M oz of gold grading 4.48 g/t; - 26.96M oz of silver grading 89 g/t; - 198M lbs of zinc grading 0.95%; - 155M lbs of lead grading 0.75%.

Price: 0.16 Shares outstanding: 133.5 million (148.8M f-d) Price on Jan. 5: 0.20

Trifecta Gold (TG-V, TRRFF-OTC) Resource Opportunities portfolio company Trifecta was spun out of Strategic Metals on June 15 and is in the process of raising $2 million in hard-dollar and flow-through funds to explore its road-accessible Trident and Eureka projects. The Trident property, 75 km northwest of Goldcorp’s Coffee deposit in the Matson Creek placer gold camp, will see drilling first. Trifecta has a tight share structure and the stock could move hard if CEO Dylan Wallinger and team can make a discovery.

Trident consists of land optioned from Metals Creek Resources and a prospector, as well as wholly owned claims. Trifecta has steadily added claims at Trident, including a further 193 announced in early June, to take the total to 718. The project is permitted for up to 300 diamond drill holes annually. 2013 intercepts during a limited drill campaign included 21m of 1.55 g/t Au and 114 g/t Ag and 12 metres of 1.7 g/t gold and 81.78 g/t silver.

The Eureka project is in the Klondike gold fields and straddles the headwaters of the Eureka and Black Hills creeks, which have produced about 200,000 ounces of gold since 1978. The 70-sq-km property is located along the proposed Goldcorp haul route to Coffee and has seen little modern exploration.

Price: 0.19 Shares outstanding: 27.1 million (29.1M f-d) - after first tranche of recent financing

Fireweed Zinc (FWZ-V) Resource Opportunities portfolio company Fireweed Zinc’s Macmillan Pass project already had size and grade, and it just got bigger. The new Yukon play announced on Aug. 8 it will option from Newmont a 16,780-hectare property that quadruples the project size. The new property covers the northwest extension of the geology that hosts mineralization at the Tom and Jason deposits, formerly owned by HudBay.

The two deposits are about five kilometres apart in northeastern Yukon near the border with the Northwest Territories. Tom was staked by HudBay in the early 1950s and Jason was purchased by HudBay in 2007. Fireweed IPOed on June 5 and is optioning the two projects from HudBay

11 (HBM-T) for $1 million in cash, a commitment to spend $1 million on exploration and about 15% of Fireweed shares.

Fireweed recently launched a 2,000-metre drill program to verify the existing (non-43-101 compliant) resource and test some stepout holes. The two deposits have seen about 70,000 metres of historical drilling and some of the assays are very rich, including the sample on the right (366.9 g/t silver, 21% zinc, 28% lead). A new resource estimate is expected before the end of 2017, and a Preliminary Economic Assessment will follow in the first half of 2018.

In addition to size and grade, the Macmillan Pass deposits have lead and silver. The combined historical resource is impressive, ranking among the top 10 undeveloped zinc projects in the Americas: Indicated: 6.43 million tonnes at 11.5% ZnEq (6.33% zinc, 5.05% lead, 56.55 g/t silver) Inferred: 25.55 million tonnes at 10.2% ZnEq (6.71% zinc, 3.48% lead, 33.86 g/t silver)

The company’s biggest hurdle -- remoteness -- was on display during the 1-hour, 40-minute flight from Dawson to the site (some historical plane wreckage caused a few jitters for some on the tour). In fact, the Tom and Jason deposits likely never would have been discovered if not for the Second World War. The Canadian and U.S. governments teamed up to build an oil pipeline from Norman Wells, NWT, to Whitehorse, where an oil refinery would be constructed to help the Pacific war effort. The Canol Road was built to lay the pipeline, which didn’t operate long before the war against Japan was over.

The Yukon government continues to maintain the Yukon part of the road, a key feature given that remoteness. Macmillan Pass is located 200 kilometres northeast of Ross River, which is the nearest community and CEO Brandon Macdonald’s hometown. Maintaining the existing good relationship with the Ross River Dena First Nation is a high priority, CEO Macdonald told me.

Macdonald was our tour guide during the site visit. The new father is younger than most CEOs and the project is his first public-company leadership gig. The stock he owns is subject to three-year escrow. So he’s motivated. The drill had just arrived prior to our site visit and Macdonald took us on a walking tour of the property. The water even testifies to the richness of

12 the minerals in the surrounding mountains -- it’s very acidic, with naturally occurring acid rock drainage.

Macdonald emphasized that despite the size of the current deposits, they “could get a lot bigger.” The recently announced property option helps illustrate that possibility. Macdonald is optimistic that the richness of the metal grades will ensure the deposit is economic despite its remoteness. The PEA, due to land next year, will help tell the tale. Fireweed raised $4 million in the IPO and is financed through delivery of the PEA.

Price: 0.80 Shares outstanding: 17.8 million (23.5M f-d)

Metallic Minerals (MMG-V, MMNGF-OTC) High-grade silver -- the Yukon has some of the largest concentrations of it in the world. Most of the motherlode is in Alexco Resources’ Keno Hill silver district, which has produced about 200 million ounces of silver historically at average grades of 1,250 g/t Ag. Alexco is eyeing a restart of their mill as they prove up a new deposit, Bermingham, that may host the district’s highest grades yet.

Metallic Minerals is a new silver play in the area, which emerged out of Bill Harris’s Monster Mining. Harris is a second-generation Yukon prospector with deep relationships in the Territory, a key advantage for Metallic. It helped the company consolidate a jumble of separately owned claims covering strike on the eastern portion of the Keno Hill district.

13 On Aug. 9, Metallic announced a Phase 1 drill program that will focus on five targets at the Keno silver project. The budget for the 2017 exploration program is about $1.6 million. Eight of the 12 known mineralized trends in the silver district continue onto Metallic’s land package, and that’s the starting point for Metallic. The company is in the middle of a $1.5-million exploration program that involves narrowing down targets and then drilling the best prospects later. Metallic is helmed by Yukon veteran Greg Johnson, a Northern specialist who was formerly CEO of Wellgreen Platinum.

Community relations and support? Check. Metallic geologists are embedded in the community -- the company is renting the “beer bottle house” in Keno City, a formerly thriving mining town whose population has dwindled to about two dozen (less in winter). The house was built by the former bartender/owner of the Keno City Hotel, which houses one of the town’s two pubs. The house made of “stubbie” beer bottles was an innovative solution to the lack of recycling at the time in the town full of thirsty miners.

I came away from Metallic’s site visit favourably inclined towards the company, with one main caveat. There is really only one logical acquirer of Metallic or its projects and that’s Alexco, which has a vast land package of its own. While that limits the potential upside -- a bidding war is unlikely -- Alexco’s interest in Metallic’s properties will undoubtedly rise in direct proportion to Metallic’s success with the drill bit. Metallic shares also offer good leverage to the price of silver.

Price: 0.29 Shares outstanding: 45.3 million (74.8M f-d)

White Gold (WGO-V, GFRGF-OTC) Shawn Ryan is a Yukon prospecting legend. He grew up in the mining town of Timmins, but ventured to the Yukon to pick mushrooms during one of the cyclical mining industry’s meltdowns. The mushroom angle led him into soil sampling as a method for identifying prospective gold camps in the Yukon, much of which was unglaciated (making soils a valuable indicator for mineral prospectivity).

Ryan prospected the White Gold property that Underworld Resources sold to Kinross in 2010 for $139 million, kicking off the Yukon’s modern-day gold rush. Things have come full-circle -- Ryan’s latest gold play, White Gold Corp., recently purchased the project back from Kinross in a deal that made Kinross a 19.9% shareholder in White Gold Corp, along with Agnico Eagle (also

14 19.9%). Ryan, who optioned his White Gold claims to the company, has secured the backing of a powerful Toronto team of financiers for his White Gold Corp. Kaminak cofounder Rob Carpenter is a director, and Ryan is a large shareholder himself. Ryan’s GroundTruth Exploration -- a high-tech operation that uses drones and low-impact track-mounted drills -- has a contract to explore for White Gold Corp.

It was fascinating to watch how GroundTruth Exploration has harnessed technology to make exploration cheaper and “gentler.” Low-impact soil sampling helps narrow down prospective targets. Track-mounted drills make drilling faster, cheaper and less invasive. From above, drones sharpen the focus and give the entire operation a bird’s eye view. Below the surface, cameras within the drills transmit detailed images of mineralization -- or lack thereof. Our tour guides were Ryan and Jodie Gibson, director of exploration at GroundTruth. Gibson was an exploration geologist at Underworld.

White Gold Corp. is the largest claims holder in the Yukon’s White Gold district, which is good and bad. Good, because it’s one of the hottest gold exploration camps in North America right now. Bad, because narrowing down which of the 100s of targets to drill is a daunting task. It’s helped by the hundreds of thousands of soil samples taken by Ryan and his team, but even going through those is a rigorous job.

Ryan’s name is synonymous with money and exploration success in the Yukon, but it has also been “diluted” by his other endeavours. There’s GroundTruth, the exploration contractor that works for White Gold as well as other Northern explorers, including Auryn Resources. Ryan has also been staking up a storm in Newfoundland and Labrador, as the Northern Miner’s Lesley Stokes outlined in a recent article. “I staked so many claims in Newfoundland that their system crashed. It was down for two weeks,” he told Stokes with a chuckle.

The acquisition of the 1-million-ounce (M&I) Golden Saddle deposit from Kinross turns White Gold Corp. from an exploration play to an exploration/development play. The company is cashed up, with more than $20 million in the treasury, but is still working on targets for the 2017 exploration program.

At this share price level, White Gold Corp. has a fully diluted market cap of about $170 million. That’s a lot of market cap for the Yukon, and I see better value at several other Yukon-focused companies, as outlined in this letter. That said, White Gold has plenty going for it -- two gold majors helping pay the bills, a chief technical advisor who is something of a genius, and two thirds of the shares in tight hands. I would never bet against Shawn Ryan in the Yukon. But at these levels, it’s relatively expensive to bet on him through White Gold Corp.

Price: 1.60 Shares outstanding: 88.1 million (106.5M f-d)

Disclosure: I own shares of Arcus Development Group, Alexco Resource Corp., ATAC Resources, Banyan Gold, Fireweed Zinc, Independence Gold, K2 Gold, Klondike Gold, Rockhaven Resources, Strategic Metals and Trifecta Gold. Strategic Metals is a Resource Opportunities sponsor.

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