Yukon Geoscience - Looking to the Next Millennium

Four years after the first Yukon Geoscience Planning Workshop (the Marsh Lake Workshop, Yukon Geoscience - A Blueprint for the Future, Yukon Geology Program, March, 1995), forty-two representatives of industry, academia, and government met at the High Country Inn in Whitehorse to re-examine the state of Yukon geoscience. Over two days, with the expert facilitation of Steve Morison, Gartner Lee Ltd., the participants reviewed the first plan, the work that was done since 1995, and produced a new set of priorities to guide Yukon geoscience into the next millenium. The 1999 Yukon Geoscience Planning Workshop had a format similar to the 1995 workshop and many of the original participants were able to attend. This continuity greatly added to the quality and credibility of the input. The organization of this Workshop differed only slightly from the first. It began with introductory remarks from Mr. Maurice Albert, Deputy Minister of Economic Development, Government of Yukon; Carl Schulze, President of the Yukon Chamber of Mines; and Mike McDougall, President of the Yukon Placer Miners Association. Background information included an overview of the Marsh Lake workshop and progress to date; and update of Yukon oil and gas by Dave Downing; and an overview of recent advances in Yukon geology by Steve Gordey, Lionel Jackson and Craig Hart. On the afternoon of the first day, participants were divided into four groups to discuss:: 1) 'Hard-rock' bedrock mapping; 2) 'Soft-rock' bedrock mapping; 3) Surficial mapping and placer research; and 4) Mineral deposit studies, geophysical surveys and geochemical surveys. Each group was asked to re-examine the needs and priorities outlined in the Marsh Lake Document in light of the progress made over the last four years and the changed environment for geoscience. The groups reassembled on the morning of the second day to report and discuss priorites. The meeting adjourned at noon with group leaders remaining to write their reports in the afternoon.