* Sees Brewery Creek project's first production in 2013
* To spend C$20 mln on Yukon projects in 2011, 2012
* Looking for JV partner for Gold Dome project
By Bhaswati Mukhopadhyay
BANGALORE, June 6 (Reuters) - Yukon-focused explorer Golden Predator Corp expects its flagship Brewery Creek project to begin producing gold in 2013, and is also seeking a partner for its Gold Dome project, which is too big for it to handle alone, its CEO said.
"We would hope for a full production figure (from Brewery Creek) of around 100,000 ounces a year ... that would be our target," the company's founder and CEO, William Sheriff told Reuters in a telephone interview.
The Canadian company, which is still searching for its first commercial production, plans to spend about C$20 million ($20.4 million) in the Yukon both this year and the next.
The budget for Brewery Creek project, which is the closest to production, has been tripled to about C$6 million for this year.
Yukon is in Canada's mainland northwest and its capital Whitehorse was at the centre of the late-19th century Klondike Gold Rush.
Golden Predator picked up a 75 percent interest in the Brewery Creek project from Alexco Resources Corp in mid-2009. It has water and mining permits in place.
Under previous owners, Brewery Creek produced nearly 280,000 ounces of gold, but the mine was shut in 2002 due to low prices.
Golden Predator, which entered the Yukon three years ago, is seeking a joint venture partner for Gold Dome, which is also within the Tintina Gold Belt -- a zone of Yukon gold deposits.
"Gold Dome would probably require C$20 million budget just on its own. It's too big for us to handle ourselves, so we're looking to bring in a major there to carry us to production," Sheriff said, adding he expected to have a deal by September-October.
Gold Dome has the potential to yield 10 million ounces, and is five times as big as Brewery Creek, said Sheriff, a 30-year mineral exploration veteran who owns one of the world's largest privately-held mining databases.
Golden Predator's two other big projects are Clear Creek and Grew Creek, both of which it fully owns. It plans to spend C$3 million on Clear Creek and about C$2.5 million on Grew Creek this year.
Sheriff hopes Clear Creek may start producing "sometime around 2016-17."
At mid-May, Golden Predator had some C$23 million in cash and another C$3-C$4 million in negotiable securities. It expects to receive close to C$20 million on warrant exercises this year.
"We're also taking steps to monetize non-core assets," Sheriff said, adding these are exploration projects in Nevada that "cost us money to keep."
The company bought a 75 percent interest in the Harlan property in January, also from Alexco, but is not looking for any more acquisitions in the Yukon for now.
Shares in Golden Predator have more than doubled since it announced property acquisitions in the Yukon in September. The stock was last quoted at C$1.10 on Monday in Toronto. ($1=0.978 Canadian Dollars) (Reporting by Bhaswati Mukhopadhyay in Bangalore, Editing by Ian Geoghegan)