Yukon businessman Jon Rudolph has one month to try and save his Klondike gold mine under a tentative agreement approved by the Yukon Supreme Court this week that could save his cash-strapped mine from receivership.

Under the agreement, approved late Tuesday, Rudolph has 30 days to come up with the nearly $4 million he owes his creditors, who include the people from whom he bought the Ross gold mine in 2005. Otherwise, the mine's assets can be put up for auction.

The deal puts Rudolph's operation into a sort of "semi-receivership." He has until Saturday to put a new work plan in place, and a court-appointed monitor will take over control of all financial transactions.

Still, Rudolph said the agreement will allow him to keep the mine in business.

"It will be a reduced work season this year because we didn't get the stripping done that we wanted to get done," Rudolph told CBC News.

"But, yeah, we keep nine people employed that would otherwise have lost their jobs and probably not gotten another one this summer."

Rudolph's company lost at least $2 million last summer while also building up a $650,000 debt on fuel thanks to soaring gas prices.

While he has blamed the global financial crisis in part for the current situation, he said his creditors will eventually get paid.

"Business isn't a bed of roses all the time," he said. "There's ups and downs and … hills and valleys, as a lot of companies are finding right now in this economic slowdown."

"We are doing what we can, and we've employed a lot of Yukoners over the years — hundreds, if not thousands — and we'll continue to."