I'm in the Yukon for a tour of mining projects, and it didn't take long to notice the difference from a year ago. For one, my Whitehorse hotel room was shaking.

It’s not what you think­ -- across the street was a lot being prepped for construction with bulldozers, a compactor and a Bobcat at work. That was on a Saturday. Across the skyline, a large crane hovered above another construction project.

A helicopter lands at Golden Predator's Sleeping Giant bulk sample site.

The Land of the Midnight Sun is booming again, and it’s thanks to a resurgent gold price and Goldcorp stopping by for a cup of Coffee. The gold mining giant's $520-million bid for Kaminak and the Coffee project -- which should be finalized this week -- has sparked renewed interest in projects in the territory.

The mineral endowment's always been there -- the Fraser Institute has rated the Yukon among the best jurisdictions, globally, for mineral potential. Goldcorp followed up the KAM deal by purchasing 19.99% of Independence Gold, a Resource Opportunities portfolio company whose shares have surged more than 500% this year.

The change in sentiment is striking and so are some of the stock performances since last summer's site visits. Two of the biggest gainers from a year ago are Victoria Gold (VIT-V), up 337%, and silver play Alexco Resource Corp. (AXR-T), up 446%.

GPY chairman Bill Sheriff looks for visible gold at the Sleeping Giant vein (he found some).

The first two sites we visited were Golden Predator's 3 Aces project and Rockhaven Resources' Klaza. Golden Predator is a new addition to the tour; fog prevented the helicopter flight to Klaza last summer.

At 3 Aces, formerly held by Northern Tiger, Golden Predator is processing a 750-ton bulk sample at the Sleeping Giant vein. The sample exercise follows RAB drilling last year that intersected high-grade gold mineralization in every hole, including 7.5 feet of 158 g/t Au from surface.

The market has taken note -- GPY shares have rocketed 560% year-to-date.

I joined Golden Predator chairman Bill Sheriff and a few others in our very own gold hunt at the bulk sample site. And there were visible gold discoveries -- GPY director Greg Hayes (formerly the Northern Tiger CEO) found the best sample, a rock chip with gold clearly visible to the naked eye.

At Rockhaven's Klaza, drills are turning to enlarge a resource that already exceeds 1.3 million ounces of high-grade gold (4.48 g/t) and 26 million oz of silver, as well as zinc and lead. An 8,000-metre drill campaign is planned.

The goal is to enhance the economics of the Klaza PEA, which was released March 1 and modelled a plan to mine two open pits as well as underground. CEO Matt Turner led the property tour, which included travelling to a drill rig via off-road vehicles.

Rockhaven's Klaza camp

Klaza, discovered in 2010, is already the highest-grade deposit of more than 1 million ounces in the Yukon. Infrastructure is excellent and includes a road to the project.

The site visits are part of an annual tour sponsored by the Yukon government’s economic development ministry.

I'll be updating Resource Opportunities subscribers on the Yukon companies covered in the newsletter. I will also be looking to uncover new investment ideas in a gold market that has heated up rather quickly.

Join Resource Opportunities today for access to first-class research and money-making junior mining ideas. Subscriptions are $299 a year or $449 for two years -- a cost that can be quickly recouped by getting in early on top resource plays such as NexGen Energy and Independence Gold.