It's not pocket change it's a pure Yukon gold coin

An exploration company is hoping to keep more Yukon gold in the territory so it's started minting some new coins, to sell.

"The [Royal Canadian] Mint started this way. After the [Klondike] gold rush, a lot of the gold was leaving Canada and the miners and everybody else were complaining that their money was leaving," saidJanet Lee-Sheriff, CEO of B.C.-based exploration company Golden Predator, which owns the 3 Aces Project near Watson Lake.

"So, we're just taking the same concept and bringing it into the Yukon and trying to keep the money locally."

The company has produced two coins, and they're not likely to turn up in your pocket change. A one-ounce gold coin about the size of a toonie will sell for about $1,800, whilea half-ounce coin will go for about $970.

Those prices may fluctuate along with the price of gold.

Coinsdepict Kaskaartwork

One side of the coins depicts a famous Klondike scene a line of stampeders ascending the "golden staircase" of the Chilkoot Pass while the other side has original Kaskaartwork from Miranda Lane.

Lane, a member of the KaskaNation, won Golden Predator's My KaskaNationart contest last year, to design the coins.She called her piece True North Moose.

Lee-Sheriff says Golden Predator hopes to have similar contests annually, "to highlight Kaskaart."

The coins also say "Yukon Mint," although Lee-Sheriffsays the coins are actually produced outside the territory.

The first batch of Yukon gold coins will be for sale in Yukon starting on June 21 National Indigenous Peoples Day. Some of the profits from coin sales will be shared with the KaskaNation, Lee-Sheriffsaid.