Dawson City’s mining office is booming, and some thank reality TV – by Cheryl Kawaja (CBC News North – July 14, 2016)

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/

‘A lot of people don’t understand how the mining system works here,’ says Dawson mining recorder

Dawson City’s mining recorder is having a busy summer, and some locals believe reality TV is one of the reasons. “It’s been fairly hectic,” said Janet Bell-MacDonald at the Dawson Mining Lands Office. “We have up to 30 visitors a day coming through our office.”

Bell-MacDonald says 1129 quartz claims were staked last month, up from just 184 in June of last year — a six-fold increase. The number of placer claims staked is also up, from 57 in June 2015 to 265 last month.

What accounts for the jump? Bell-MacDonald said it’s hard to say exactly, since there are no statistics to track why people are staking, but she said there are likely several factors.

“We speculate that probably some of the situation in Alberta, with the downturn in oil and gas, probably had some people thinking that this might be an alternate place to find work,” she said.

Explaining the rules

Then there’s the TV factor — with a rich vein of popular reality programs about living and mining in Yukon.

“Definitely the television series, the reality mining shows, are encouraging people to come to the territory. Some just to visit and see what is going on, others to try their hand at mining.”

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