The Star will begin publishing three times a week on Monday because of tight economic conditions, owner-publisher Jackie Pierce said Thursday.

“After 33 years, we are going back to three times a week because the Tuesday and Thursday papers are not viable anymore,” she said.

“They never made a lot of money, but now they are not making any money, so we have to shut them down.”

Staff won’t be impacted, Pierce said.

But she added she can’t predict what the future will bring.

The new federal carbon tax scheduled to come into effect July 1, for example, will increase costs for everything from trucking goods into the territory to heating costs and power generation, she said.

On the other hand, Pierce added, there are signs the mining industry might return in strength, with Victoria Gold already moving forward with its Eagle Gold Project at Dublin Gulch west of Mayo.

“We just sort of have to wait and take the temperature,” she said. “When it is viable again, we will be a daily again.”

Without having to produce five papers a week, she pointed out, reporters will have more time to follow up on stories and interview more sources.

As well, the Star will continue to provide daily updates to its website.

“So that is the bright side,” said the owner-publisher.

The company employs 17 full-time staff members and several part-timers.

After serving many years as managing editor, Pierce purchased the newspaper in 2002 from the late Bob Erlam, who had owned it since the mid-1960s.

The Star went from a daily to publishing three times a week in the fall of 1982 amid a lacklustre territorial economy.

Several major Yukon mines and the White Pass and Yukon Route railway had just shut down, affecting the paper’s advertising revenue.

The Star returned to publishing five times a week in November 1985, and has been daily ever since.

The Star has been in business for almost 120 years, since July 18, 1900.