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Jodie Gibson named 2020 Prospector of the Year

Annual award handed out by the Yukon Prospector’s Association
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Jodie Gibson has been named the 2020 Prospector of the Year by the Yukon Prospectors Association. (Submitted)

Jodie Gibson has been named the 2020 Prospector of the Year by the Yukon Prospectors Association.

The award comes after many years of exploration work in the territory, the association noted in its announcement, highlighting his work as project manager on the White Gold Project in 2009. The results of that sparked a rush that led to a number of other major discoveries.

The prospectors association also highlighted Gibson’s work up to 2019 as vice president of exploration for White Gold Corp., noting the discoveries and work that led to a number of other discoveries including the GS West and Ryan’s Surprise prospect on the White Gold property.

There was also the Ford prospect on the Betty Property; the Vertigo on the JP Ross property; and the Titan on the Hen property.

Now working as the vice president of exploration for K2 Gold Corp., Gibson oversees a number of projects in the territory as well as other places.

“It is with great pleasure that the YPA provides this award to Jodie Gibson,” the association said in a statement. “The Yukon has benefitted greatly from his diligence and expertise.”

In a Nov. 26 interview, Gibson said he was “totally shocked” when he found out he was nominated for the award.

Working on another project in California, he was driving through the Mojave Desert when he got a call from YPA director Carl Schulze.

Seeing the 867 area code he assumed when he was called about it that the call was from Midnight Sun Drilling, a Whitehorse company he had hired to do some drilling work on the California project.

Instead he learned of the nomination for the award.

“It means a lot,” he said, as he recalled Robert Service’s poems of the Yukon and the Klondike gold rush being one of the main reasons he pursued geology in university.

Gibson described his own dad as a “recreational geologist” who was friends with the president of the Gold Prospectors Association of America. It was from that friendship that Gibson first learned of Robert Service’s work and the Klondike and that spurred his interest in what would become his career in geology.

Gibson said work is continuing on three Yukon projects with efforts in the coming years to do drilling and testing in some parts as well as review regional historical data.

Contact Stephanie Waddell at stephanie.waddell@yukon-news.com



Stephanie Waddell

About the Author: Stephanie Waddell

I joined Black Press in 2019 as a reporter for the Yukon News, becoming editor in February 2023.
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