Little Chief

Index:

Chronology
Access
Points of interest
Downloads
Photos and more info

The map below shows the historical boundaries of the Little Chief (in the south) and Big Chief (in the north) claims. Those original claims were of little consequence in the early 1900s but gave their names to later operations. "Middle Chief" referred to deposits midway between Little Chief and Big Chief.

The area became a producer only in the 1960s and operations at Whitehorse Copper employed many Yukoners. By the time operations ceased in 1982, Little Chief and Middle Chief had produced 85% of all the copper from the Whitehorse Copper Belt as well as 150,000 ounces of gold.

Chronology

1898: 15 Sep, Big Chief staked by William McTaggart on the same day that Little Chief was staked by Andrew Oleson
1899: Big Chief and Little Chief sold to Josia Collins
1899: Big Chief early development resulted in short adit 20 ft (6 m) long with some shallow pits and trenches
–1920: Little Chief limited to open cut workings
1947: Noranda staked Big Chief and Little Chief areas, conducted some drilling, but lost interest
1962: drilling and exploration conducted by New Imperial Mines who acquired most of the Copper Belt properties
1966: Mount Sima Road and 2000 ton/day (1.8M kg/day) mill constructed by New Imperial Mines
1966: open pit operations started in Little Chief
1967: 1 May, mill started operation processing material from Little Chief open pit, Black Cub, Arctic Chief, and War Eagle that came in on the new Copper Haul Road
1967–1982: processed ore loaded in containers, sealed in plastic, trucked to Utah siding (just east of Alaska Highway at junction of Mount Sima Road) and loaded on flatcars for shipment to Skagway
1969: Little Chief open pit mined out
1969: Little Chief underground mining started from bottom of pit, renewed interest in Middle Chief
1971: New Imperial Mines closed due to financial issues due in part to low copper prices
1972: New Imperial Mines reorganized as Whitehorse Copper
1972: Little Chief mine expanded with sinking of 1250 ft (381 m) vertical shaft and completion of decline (slanted drift) of more than a mile (1.6 km) that led to area below the Little Chief pit
1972: Dec, mill and mining operations restarted
1981: gold and silver production accounted for 35% of revenues
1981: copper concentrate output from mill was 47% copper
1982: ore in Little Chief and Middle Chief depleted about same time economic recession hit that reduced demand for copper and drove prices down
1982: 22 Dec, mining operations ceased
1982: 31 Dec, milling operations ceased
1994–1996: revegetation tests took place; details at POI 9
2013: plan to mine the tailings for magnetite and re-profile the area eventually fell through due in part to the falling price of magnetite
2018: new plan to use the mill site and tailings to produce fill and material for use in environmental cleanup
2020: new plan to use the tailings as fuel
2023: work by Gladiator Metals examining drill cores from historical drilling in the area. See photo map below of the historical drill hole locations.
2024: Gladiator Metals development permit to drill 16 new exploration holes in the area

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Access

This area is large and diverse so there is not just a single access point. However, the Copper Haul and Mount Sima roads are the main access routes.

Road access to the area just west of POI 6 is blocked by a berm. But you can park on the Copper Haul Road at the berm and walk in. This gives easy access to the mine portal (POI 6) and to a large open area on a bench overlooking the mill area and tailings pond (POIs 1 and 2). Trails in this area lead south to the vicinity of the Little Chief pit (POI 3) and give access to the rough area around the sinkhole at POI 8. A bit of bushwhacking will get you to POI 7.

Easiest access to the waste rock area (POI 5) is from the southwest off the Mount Sima Road. You will probably have to park and walk in. You can access the Little Chief pit (POI 3) from there.

WARNING: Some parts of this area are dangerous. See the specific notes for each POI. Other areas may be dangerous even though they are not marked as such below.

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Points of interest

The map below shows some points of interest (POIs) in the Little Chief area. The table that follows gives more info for each POI.

View larger map

POI	Description	Location	Notes
1	mill area	60.64100 -135.05990 496724 6722803	This the area of the Whitehorse Copper mill that processed ore from the adjacent Little Chief mine as well as War Eagle, Arctic Chief, and Keewenaw-area mines; the ore was trucked in on the Copper Haul Road. The mill was located here to be at about the midpoint of the ore-producing mines. The steel building frame (constructed 2017) is on the foundation of the old warehouse building. You can see the concrete foundations of other buildings and a round ore-storage storage silo.
2	tailings pond	60.64444 -135.05656 496907 6723186	When extracted from the mine, ore was separated from waste rock, which was left behind; see POI 5. When the ore passed through the mill process, the ore was kept while the remaining tailings were mixed with water and piped out into the tailings pond as a slurry. The water for this process came by pipeline from the Yukon River to the east. Today, the tailings pond area is quite flat but 100 years ago, this area was quite the opposite. The Copper Mines Branch railway spur crossed this area and required several significant bridges to traverse gullies and ravines that are today hidden under the tailings. A proposal to turn the area into a golf course remained simply a proposal. Some experiments have taken place to revegetate the area; see POI 9 below.
3	Little Chief pit	60.63579 -135.05855 496797 6722223	The Little Chief open pit mine here was eventually extended underground to follow the ore. The Little Chief Mine covered a large area underground. See diagram of the underground development below.
4	cave-in area	60.63720 -135.05788 496834 6722379	The ground in this area has subsided due to cave-ins in the mine workings underneath. WARNING: Avoid walking in this area.
5	waste rock area	60.63609 -135.05237 497135 6722256	This is where a lot of the waste rock from the Little Chief Mine ended up. It's an interesting place for amateur geologists to find interesting specimens. NOTE: Since summer 2025, this area is occupied by equipment belonging to the gravel business to the south. Picking up interesting rocks is largely no longer possible here.
6	Little Chief portal	60.64126 -135.06784 496290 6722832	The Little Chief Mine extended a long way underground. While the main shaft was in the mill area near POI 1, there was also a portal here at POI 6 where wheeled vehicles could descend the long sloped passage (the decline) to the area below the pit. This route provided access to some of the Middle Chief deposit en route. The portal is now blocked.
7	Big Chief discovery	60.63828 -135.06453 496470 6722500	The distinction among the Big, Middle, and Little Chief deposits and mines blurred a bit over the years. The original discovery in the Big Chief claim area was in this area on the east side of the valley above the small lake but this is usually referred to as the Middle Chief area. There was no Middle Chief claim. There is a lot of disturbed rock in this area.
8	sinkhole	60.63704 -135.06217 496599 6722362	This is the area of the original Little Chief discovery. Some time between the mid-70s and the early 90s, a sinkhole appeared here, perhaps as a cave-in due to collapse of mine workings underneath. It is a small but deep pit with mostly vertical sides. Access is possible with some difficulty from the northwest although the area is heavily overgrown. WARNING: Be extremely careful around the high edges of this pit. There are several dangerous rock overhangs that are not obvious from the top. Even more subtly dangerous is the rock in the area, which is fractured vertically and collapsing gradually toward the pit. This produces crevasses in the forest floor which may not be visible under moss and other ground cover. This is NOT a good place to explore with children or dogs. See also POI 12.
9	revegetation test area	60.64654 -135.05178 497168 6723420	Revegetation tests took place here with compost and irrigation 1994–1996 in six plots. Despite what you see in the area today, the tests were quite promising (e.g., 80 cm grass, animals and insects moving in) but unfortunately did not continue long enough to become self-staining. See these two reports for more details: Craig, D.B., Vegetative Rehabilitation of Whitehorse Copper Mine Tailings, Report Number 3, 1996 Craig, D.B, Craig, J.E., Assisted Revegetation of Fine-grained Tailings at Whitehorse Copper Mine, 1994–1996, 1997 Today you will observe that some plants have taken hold but not with any great enthusiasm. You will find remains of the irrigation system in this area.
10	old trenching	60.64015 -135.06728 496320 6722709	There is some old trenching hidden in the woods between this location and POI 11. You can access this area from the north along a faint trail that used to lead to the bottom of the chain of small lakes. When the Little Chief Mine was in operation as Whitehorse Copper in the 1970s and early 1980s, the chain of lakes was dry.
11	old trenching	60.63946 -135.06767 496299 6722632	There is some old trenching hidden in the woods between this location and POI 10.
12	sinkhole	60.63802 -135.06307 496534 6722471	This is another dangerous sinkhole. WARNING: Be extremely careful around this area. Approach this from the chain of lakes, i.e., from the west and NOT from the east. See also POI 8.
13	main shaft	60.63901 -135.06038 496697 6722581	The headframe stood over the 400 m main shaft in this location. Rock came up the shaft on a lift and then went to the crusher by conveyor. Several buildings including the hoist house (machinery for the lift) were in this area. Today, only a few boulders and scraps of steel are left. The shaft is plugged.
...	see also		The Copper Mines Branch passed through this area. See especially POI 8, POI 9, and POI 10 on the Copper Mines Branch page.

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Downloads

POIs for GPS	map for GPS
file of POIs in GPS format for this project and all others in the Whitehorse Copper Belt that you can download	GPS map for this project that you can download

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Photos and more info

	Tailings pond (POI 2) and foundations from mill (POI 1) in the foreground
	Tailings pond (POI 2) and foundations from mill (POI 1) in the foreground
	Little Chief (POI 3) looking south
	Looking south from sinkhole (POI 8) to Little Chief pit (POI 3)
	Little Chief pit (POI 3) looking north from the wast rock area (POI 5)
	Little Chief pit showing the cave-in area (POI 4) on the left
	Looking south over the Little Chief pit. Waste rock area (POI 5) upper left, deep sinkhole (POI 8) bottom centre.
	Little Chief portal (POI 6) was straight ahead into the bank but has now been covered over.
	Looking north from the area of POI 7 up the chain of small lakes
	Deep sinkhole (POI 8)
	Deep sinkhole with dangerous, steep walls (POI 8)
	Deep sinkhole with dangerous, steep walls (POI 8)
	In the very rough, rugged bottom of sinkhole at POI 8
	Bare-ground LIDAR image of the sinkhole (POI 8), the cave-in area (POI 4), and part of the Little Chief pit (POI 3) in 2019. This image is from the Government of Yukon's GeoYukon elevation image service.
	Drone video of revegetation test area at POI 9 moving northwest. This video © 2020 Elizabeth MacDonald.
	Area of the main shaft (POI 13)
	Area of the main shaft (POI 13)
	Area of the main shaft (POI 13). Shaft was originally 400 m but is now plugged.
	In 2023, Gladiator Metals started examining drill cores from historical drilling in the area, over 600 holes. Some of these were drilled starting well below the surface on the decline, the sloping tunnel from the Little Chief portal at POI 6 down into the depths of the underground mine. This means there could be untapped copper reserves above some of these drill hole locations. This map shows the historcial drill hole locations based on data from the Gladiator Metals website.
	This is a historical progression of the Little Chief area seen from above between 1952 and 2018. Once you reach the first image, try resizing your browser window to see the complete image top to bottom (this might mean making it narrower because the image re-sizes dynamically) and then use the [←Prev] and [Next→] buttons to move between years. Expand to full screen to search for details. See the notes at the bottom of each photo.
	The underground development of the Little Chief Mine was quite extensive as this diagram from the mid-1970s shows. When viewing this, remember that it shows the three-dimensional mine on a two-dimensional image. North is generally to the left. Notes: 1. elevations shown on RH side of diagram in feet above sea level, not depths below surface 2. decline entering diagram on LH side coming down from portal at POI 6 3. shaft in left third of diagram. Headframe was at the top of this. 4. Little Chief pit POI 3 at top in right half of diagram 5. two underground crushers to break up the rock before it was hoisted up the shaft 6. Blocks 1–4 mined out by late 1970s after which work started on Block 5 (Yukon Archives, Whitehorse Copper Mines fonds, Middle Chief and Little Chief Ore Zones, n.d., H-6202)

TimmiT History Exploration Notebook