Whitehorse Copper

60.641186°, -135.067173°

The Little Chief deposit is the largest ore body in the Whitehorse Copper Belt and provided around 60% of all the copper produced during mining. Although the deposit was one of the first staked in the early 1900's, its relatively low-grade meant that it was not economic given the high costs of underground mining, and it was not mined.

More than half a century later, modern exploration methods outlined a deposit that was suitable for lower-cost open-pit mining. Production commenced in 1967, with open-pit mining continuing until 1969. Drilling from the bottom of the Little Chief pit outlined additional ore resources and 7.4 million tons were subsequently mined with underground methods between 1972 and 1982. Collectively, these surface and underground operations at Little Chief and the adjacent Middle Chief deposit were known as "Whitehorse Copper." Ore from smaller open-pit mines in the Whitehorse Copper Belt (Arctic Chief, War Eagle, Keewenaw, Black Cub) was transported to the Whitehorse Copper site for milling and tailings disposal.

Learn about the stages of mineral exploration and mining at Whitehorse Copper in the series of panels below. The will provide some valuable context for the features that you see in the Whitehorse Copper tour, and at other sites throughout the Whitehorse Copper Belt.

Explore the Whitehorse Copper site in our virtual field trip, below. In addition to exploring features around the Little Chief open pit, make sure you click on the Tailings Complex link to explore the extensive tailings ponds and former mill site.

Click anywhere on the site tour to launch it, then make sure to click the full-screen button in the top right corner to get the full experience. Once in the tour, click on individual sites to zoom in further and interact with the site.

Join Yukon University geologist Dr. Joel Cubley for an interview with Dave Tenney, the Chief Geologist with New Imperial Mines and Whitehorse Copper Mines from 1970-1982. Mr. Tenney provides invaluable perspective on a broad range of topics including surface and underground mining at Little Chief, processing and transport of ore, and tailings disposal. The interview is split into 1-3 minute clips to focus on individual topics. Dig in!

Browse through the historic images of the Whitehorse Copper site from around 1968 (during the commencement of open pit mining). Clicking on the "i" button on each image will bring up a brief description. Photos courtesy of the Yukon Archives.