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William LeBarge
Placer Geologist
As the Placer Geologist for the Yukon Geological Survey, Bill has studied Yukon placer gold deposits and followed the activity of the Yukon’s placer mining industry since 1993.
Bill completed his B.Sc. in Geology at the University of Alberta in 1985, and shortly thereafter started work at Exploration and Geological Services Division, Northern Affairs Program in Whitehorse. Several years later Bill returned to university and completed his M.Sc. in Geology (Sedimentology) at the University of Calgary (1993). His Master’s thesis focused on the sedimentology and stratigraphy of placer gold deposits in the Mount Nansen area west of Carmacks.
One of the main activities that Bill enjoys is liaison and consultation with the Yukon’s placer miners. During the mining season, Bill visits as many operators as possible to discuss gravel, gold and black muck over coffee. This, along with a visit to the active mining pit for a look at stratigraphy and collection of a pay sample and the process is complete. The valuable information gathered from these site visits and volunteered by the placer miners is used to update the Yukon Placer Database and the Yukon Placer Mining Industry series of reports, and sometimes leads to a more extensive detailed placer deposit study.
Recent work that Bill has been involved in includes the annual Yukon Placer Database compilation, the 2003-2006 Yukon Placer Mining Industry report and an ongoing study of placer sediment and water quality characteristics in cooperation with Client Services and Inspections. Bill is also leading a project which is studying the gold characteristics and placer potential of the Indian River drainage. His co-researchers include Dr. Vladimir Naumov of Perm State University (Russia), who for the last two field seasons has conducted joint fieldwork in the Yukon along with several of his Master’s students. Bill has managed to reciprocate (usually while on holiday in Russia) and has visited many historic and actively-mined gold, platinum, diamond and titanium placer deposits throughout the former Soviet Union.
Bill is a born and raised Yukoner and a member of the Ta’an Kwatch’an First Nation. Placer mining began in his family in the early 1930’s when his Uncle Billy and Aunt Amy Clethero sluiced gravel on Little Violet Creek in the Livingstone area (as documented in H.S. Bostock’s Pack Horse Tracks).
Selected List of Publications
LeBarge, W.P. and Welsh, C.S. (compilers) 2007. Yukon Placer Mining Industry 2003-2006. Yukon Geological Survey, 235 p.
LeBarge, W.P. (compiler), 2007. Yukon Placer Database 2007 – Geology and mining activity of placer occurrences, Yukon Geological Survey, 2 CD-ROMs.
LeBarge, W.P., 2006. Placer geology and prospective exploration targets of Sixtymile River area, west central Yukon. In: Yukon Exploration and Geology 2005, D.S. Emond, G.D. Bradshaw, L.L. Lewis and L.H. Weston (eds.), Yukon Geological Survey, p. 155-174.
LeBarge, W.P., 2005. New Placer Exploration Targets on Tertiary Gravel Terraces, Yukon Territory, Canada. In: Abstracts, Placers and Weathered Rock Deposits: Facts, Problems, Decisions, p. 70, presented at the XIIIth International Symposium on Placer and Weathered Rock Deposits, Perm, Russia, August 22-26, 2005.
LeBarge, W.P., Bond, J.D., and Hein, F.J. (2002). Placer Gold Deposits of Mayo Area, Central Yukon. Exploration and Geological Services Division, Northern Affairs Program, Yukon Region, Bulletin 13, 202 p.
LeBarge, W.P., 2000. Quaternary History and Placer Gold Potential of Dawson Range, Central Yukon. In: Abstracts, Natural and Technogenic Placer and Weathered Rock Deposits at the Turn of the Millennium, p. 105, presented at the XIIth International Symposium on Placer and Weathered Rock Deposits, Moscow, Russia, September 25-29, 2000.
LeBarge, W.P., 1997. Overview of Yukon Placer Geology, Gold Production and Prospects, In: LeBarge, W.P. and Roots, C.F, (eds.). Yukon Quaternary Geology Volume 2, Exploration and Geological Services Division, Northern Affairs Program, Yukon Region. p. 1-9.
Hein, F. J. and LeBarge, W.P. 1997. Geologic Setting and Stratigraphic Framework of Placer Deposits, Mayo Mining District, Central Yukon, In: LeBarge, W.P. and Roots, C.F. (eds.). Yukon Quaternary Geology Volume 2, Exploration and Geological Services Division, Northern Affairs Program, Yukon Region, p. 10-29.
LeBarge, W.P. 1996. Placer deposits of the Yukon: Overview and potential for new discoveries. In: LeBarge, W.P. (ed.) 1996. Yukon Quaternary Geology Volume 1, Exploration and Geological Services Division, Northern Affairs Program, Yukon Region, p. 1-12.
LeBarge, W.P. 1995. Sedimentology of placer gravels near Mt. Nansen, central Yukon Territory. Bulletin 4, Exploration and Geological Services Division, Northern Affairs Program, 155 p.
LeBarge, W.P., 1993. Sedimentology of placer gravels near Mt. Nansen, central Yukon Territory, Unpublished M.Sc. Thesis, University of Calgary, 272 pp.