A reduced efficiency of gold recovery with decreasing particle size using a sluice box raises the possibility of a very fine gold resource within the Klondike. The grade of fine gold within gravel recovered from the southern Klondike was assessed using a combination of screening and bulk leaching by cyanidation. This approach eliminates the nugget effect and size ranges selected correspond to particle sizes exploitable by different metallurgical methods: <53 µm (cyanidation), 53-125 µm (‘enhanced g’ concentrators), 125-500 µm (sluice boxes). Colluvium, virgin gravel and tailings from various mining operations were collected from a relatively long drainage where accumulation of fine gold could feasibly occur. In all samples, gold <125 µm was negligible. Despite this negative result, this approach to resource evaluation is straightforward and could be applied advantageously in other areas where source mineralization contains fine gold. A distinction should be made between placer gold grains of fine but equant nature derived from proximal mineralization and gold rendered fine and flaky by fluvial transport.
