Helicopter support services take off

As mining activity heats up in Yukon Territory, vendors and suppliers are flush with a corresponding rise in demand for their services.

Business is booming, in particular, for helicopter support services as exploration and development companies rush to mount their 2011 field programs as soon as weather permits north of the 60th parallel this spring.

In 2010, mining exploration and development spending in the Yukon exceeded C$290 million, with exploration expenditures setting a new yearly record as activity accelerated in many parts of the territory.

Preliminary forecasts for 2011 call for even greater comparable expenditures as 2010 discoveries of gold and other minerals spark more interest in exploration.

However, the most up-to-date measure of mining exploration activity in the Yukon is claim-staking activity, which is tracked monthly by the Government of Yukon, according to Yukon communications officer Jesse Devost.

"It's really busy. 2010 was a record year for claim staking in Yukon, and 2011 appears to be on course for another record still," Devost told Mining News April 15.

From January to the end of March 2011, quartz claims staked in Yukon Territory totaled 34,012, nearly quadrupling such activity during the same period (Jan-March) of 2010 when a total of 8,902 claims were staked. By comparison, Yukon claims staked in the first three months of 2009 totaled 283, and of 2008 numbered 418.

"Prior to this, the numbers are very similar to the 2008 statistics," Devost reported.

Flight activity climbs

Aircraft movement can be another indicator of the level of mining activity in that exploration companies routinely hire helicopters and small airplanes to gain access to many of the remote areas of the Yukon where claim staking and prospecting activity has skyrocketed in recent months.

Helicopter traffic recorded by NAV CANADA at small airports without air traffic control towers in Yukon Territory, for example, held steady or show increases in year over year activity during the past year, according to Statistics Canada.

In Faro, Yukon, for example, itinerant movements of helicopters rose to 34 in January, up more than 50 percent from 22 trips during the first month of 2010, while comparable activity at the height of the field season in July 2010 leaped to 231 trips and continued to show strength late in the season with 145 trips in October.

At the tiny airport, in Mayo, Yukon, itinerant movements of helicopters jumped to 78 in January from just a single helicopter trip a year earlier. In July, comparable activity climbed to 171 trips and held steady at 170 trips in October.

In Dawson, Yukon, where mining explorers have mounted numerous field expeditions in the new White Gold mining district and other areas of the historic Klondike in recent seasons, itinerant movements of helicopters numbered 51 in January, down slightly from 53 a year earlier. In July 2010, however, Dawson recorded 133 itinerant movements of helicopters before climbing nearly 75 percent to jaw-dropping 232 trips in October.

Local companies respond

The surge in mining activity is giving Yukon's helicopter support companies more than enough business in 2011.

"This has been the best year ever. Right now we have all of the mining companies up here, and everybody is trying to get a piece of the action," said Fireweed Helicopters owner Bruno Meili.

"I've been in the Yukon since 1980, and this is, by far, the best season we've had," he told Mining News. "We're probably going to operate 16 helicopters this year, where we had 11 helicopters in 2010."

Meili said the only business for helicopter service companies in Yukon Territory a few years ago was in supporting government and forest firefighting activities.

"Now, everybody is into mining up here," he said.

The demand for helicopter support services in Yukon Territory is so great this year that the local operators are already "pretty much" booked up, and companies from other places in Canada are moving into the market, Meili said.

"A bunch of the others from down south are coming up here on speculation," he said. "It's kind of annoying. We're staying here all winter, and paying the expenses of staying open during the slow season. But I'm not complaining. There's plenty of work for everybody."

Randy Marks, base operations manager for TRK Helicopters in Whitehorse, said he was so busy taking delivery of a helicopter that he couldn't talk with Mining News about the upcoming season.

April 2011 marked the acceptance date of TRK's new Eurocopter AS355NP, the latest version of the successful Ecureuil family, powered with two Turbomeca Arrius 1A1 engines, according to TRK's website. The twin-engine aircraft has the ability to fly on one engine in the event of an emergency, the website said.

Heli Dynamics Ltd., a provider of helicopter support services in Yukon since 1983, said it is also bumping up the size of its fleet to meet higher demand this year.

"We've added four more machines to the nine or 10 helicopters we operated last year and we have had the hire more pilots and engineers," said owner Karl Ziehe.

The increase in highly skilled personnel will mean more dollars spent in the local economy because "those pilots and engineers will live here," Ziehe said

Outside vendors respond

He also said local helicopters companies tried to keep it quiet that their business really ramped up, but the word is out.

Trinity Helicopters, based in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, began offering its services in Yukon Territory in April 2010, said Trinity President and co-founder Rob Carroll.

"We operate 13 helicopters, and we've had a full-time base in the Yukon since February," Carroll told Mining News April 15.

Earlier this year, Trinity also reported entering into a new partnership with the

Mackay Range Development Corp., a subsidiary of the Tulita Land Corp. promoting business in the Sahtu region of Northwest Territories.

"We're doing business across the North, for the North, and this partnership enhances our capacity and ability to expand and serve the North," Carroll said in a Feb. 28 statement.

"As a northern, Aboriginal-owned company, Trinity finds it natural to team up with partners in the Northwest Territories, Nunavut and the Yukon," he added.

Canadian Helicopters, the largest helicopter services company in Canada, also moved into the Yukon market recently and intends to build a new hangar in the territory.

"We're operating out of a small hangar right now. We're just getting started," the company's marketing manager, Charlie Morgan, told Mining News April 20.

Morgan said the company is not sure yet where it will build the hangar. "(The plan) is still in its infancy. We're working through the logistics of it,' he added.

Not only are helicopter companies from outside the Yukon coming to town, but at least one company that specializes in helping mining companies find the transportation and logistics services that they need has landed.

"We're going to be involved with several large programs this year," said Dan Tuepah, co-owner of Matrix Helicopter Solutions Inc.

The Vancouver-based company is currently waiting for its clients to gain approval for funding their 2011 field programs, Tuepah told Mining News April 20.

He said Matrix, which specializes in custom helicopter services and exploration logistics, has offered its services in the Yukon before, but did not work in the market in 2010.

"We've seen increased activity in the past few months," said Matrix Operations Manager Mike Kenney. "We're doing camps and providing fixed-wing services in the Yukon, too,"

Experience versus expense

While there may be plenty of work to go around, Meili said differences exist among the helicopter companies working in the Yukon. For example, Fireweed Helicopters is choosing to operate of all of its machines out of Dawson, Mayo and MacMillan Pass this year.

"Some people are looking for the cheapest prices, but we have the expertise and our own hangar and maintenance crews as well as the experience flying up here," Meili said.

"The mining companies that have been here understand what's needed, and they know the value of that," he added.