Casino Airport

Economic and logistical shift. The airstrip is a private facility built solely to support mineral exploration at the Casino deposit. Its use is directly tied to the funding and activity levels of the exploration project. It became dormant when active, on-site exploration campaigns were paused in favor of engineering, planning, and seeking regulatory approval for a full-scale mine.

The site consists of an unmaintained, 1,158-meter (3,800-foot) gravel airstrip that is currently inactive. While the runway is still clearly visible on satellite imagery, it is not suitable for regular use without significant upgrades. The entire site is part of the private land package for the proposed Casino Mine and access is restricted.

The Casino Airstrip was a historically critical piece of infrastructure for the exploration of the Casino Project, a massive copper-gold-molybdenum deposit owned by Western Copper and Gold. Located in the extremely remote Dawson Range of the Yukon, the airstrip was the primary logistical hub for decades of exploration work. It handled small charter aircraft (e.g., DHC-2 Beaver, DHC-3 Otter, Cessna Caravan) that transported geologists, drillers, camp staff, equipment, and supplies to and from the site. The data gathered from the exploration campaigns it supported proved the deposit's viability and formed the basis for the current large-scale mine development proposal.

There are no plans to reopen the existing airstrip in its historical form. Instead, the official development plan for the Casino Mine includes the construction of a new, significantly larger, all-weather airport facility. This proposed new airport is a core component of the mine's infrastructure, designed to accommodate large aircraft, including Boeing 737s for transporting workers and Lockheed L-100-30 (Hercules) aircraft for cargo. The construction of this new airport is contingent on the Casino Mine project receiving regulatory approval and final financing.