The Yukon Geological Survey stores a significant amount of geological information gathered by exploration companies in compliance with the Quartz Mining Act.  This information is primarily contained in assessment reports (AR).  Since 1920, more than 8000 hardrock assessment reports have been collected, with more than 6000 of these containing geochemical data on surficial samples (e.g., soil, rock, stream sediment, and vegetation).  The sheer volume and historical depth of these data provide valuable insight into the mineral potential of the Yukon.

Exploration companies rely on data from ARs to search for exploration targets.  To aid exploration companies, YGS has developed this database to consolidate geochemical data extracted from assessment reports. This database, the Geochemical Assessment Report Data Extracted database (GARDEd), was created by extracting and compiling data from more than 300 assessment reports.  GARDEd was initially populated with data from samples within a 75 km radius of the Casino deposit to evaluate the data extraction procedures and assess the feasibility of the database.  Data capture focused on recent ARs because these were available in digital format.  The initial release of this database contains approximately 10% of the geochemical data from surface samples within Yukon ARs.

YGS encourgages users to send feedback to geology@yukon.ca to assess the usefulness of the dataset and determine how much effort should be invested to capture older, non-digital ARs.