Klondike miner wants road rebuilding help

A Klondike miner who plans to explore his gold claims in Dawson City's Dome Road area wants government help to re-route the road.

Darrel Carey has 19 mining claims within Dawson City's municipal boundaries, dissected by the Dome Road itself.

"I found a bunch of virgin ground in here, where you find nuggets and that," Carey told CBC News.

"You know how rich this country is? You know how rich this ground is?"

However, town officials want to develop a subdivision on Carey's property, and the virgin land Carey wants to mine is directly below the roadbed that serves the existing Dome Road neighbourhood.

Carey has conditional approvals from the Yukon government to proceed with working on his claims, but he wants help re-routing the road around the ground where he believes the gold is.

"I'd like their cooperation or their help as much as possible in trying to get this developed so we can make lots for the community of Dawson City," he said.

"Why should it cost me money to fix up this road to make it a lot better for the public? Why can't [the Yukon government] help me, it's all I'm asking, or the City of Dawson?"

The sooner he can re-route the road, Carey said, the sooner the city can develop its planned subdivision.

Carey said he will turn over his claims to Dawson City, once he has recovered the gold that he believes is under the existing roadbed.

There is no word from the Dawson City government on whether it might help with Carey's road rebuilding plans.

In the meantime, Carey's work still requires a water licence from the Yukon Water Board. He said he expects that licence to arrive in a couple of weeks.