The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
AXR: TSX/AXU/NYSE-A
President and CEO: Clynton R. Nauman
Executive Vice President & COO: Brad A. Thrall
Vice President, Exploration: Alan McOnie, FAusIMM
Alexco Resource Corp. is a precious metals exploration company with a silver focus and growing environmental consulting and reclamation and mine closure services. Alexco's primary exploration objective currently is to unlock value in the historic silver-rich Keno Hill district, which covers about 23,350 hectares, or 56,274 acres, in central Yukon Territory.
Alexco achieved an important milestone early in 2011, reporting net income for the three months ended March 31, of C$3.542 million, or C6 cents per share, on total revenues of C$20.471 million, which reflected the company's first full quarter of commercial production at its silver-lead-zinc Bellekeno mine.
The performance compared with a net loss of C$1.529 million during the comparable period in 2010.
Through its first full quarter of commercial operation, the Bellekeno mine produced 3,477 metric tons of concentrate comprising 2,376 metric tons of lead-silver concentrate and 1,101 metric tons of zinc concentrate, recognized revenue of C$18.8 million on sales of 3,083 tons of concentrate and yielded a gross profit of C$9.5 million.
Alexco wrapped up its 2010 field exploration program at its Keno Hill properties by mid-December, completing about 25,000 meters of surface drilling and 4,900 meters of underground diamond drilling at Bellekeno during calendar 2010.
Major areas of focus for the 2010 surface exploration program included the historical mine areas of Silver King, Lucky Queen, Onek and Flame & Moth, as well as "new" target areas including the McQuesten Valley and a mineralized structural zone near the historical Bermingham Mine.
Alexco began a 2011 surface exploration program in March, anticipating spending about C$8 million to complete some 15,000 meters of diamond drilling at a number of targets across the district.
The company said it planned to spend about C$10 million in advanced exploration at the Lucky Queen, Onek and Silver King mine areas in March, including about 1,500 meters of surface definition drilling in the vicinity of the historical Onek mine; some 1,500 meters of underground rehabilitation and development work at the historical Lucky Queen Mine, in advance of about 2,500 meters of underground definition drilling; and a review of underground ore definition and mining options at the historical Silver King Mine.
The program was planned with the objective of enabling Alexco to make production decisions for each property either in late 2011 or early 2012.
In July, Alexco reported initial resource estimates for the Lucky Queen and Onek properties.
At Lucky Queen, the resource estimate included about 4.9 million and 2.7 million troy ounces silver in indicated and inferred resources, respectively.
At Onek, the resource estimate included about 3.65 million and 15.4 million troy ounces silver in indicated and inferred resources, respectively.
The company also said it began preliminary mine planning, engineering studies and/or metallurgical studies at both Lucky Queen and Onek in anticipation of a final decision on how to proceed at each property in the third quarter of 2011.
In addition, Alexco is continuing to work on updating its resource estimate for the Bellekeno property, and finalizing plans to calculate a resource in the area of the historical Silver King Mine.
Cash and short-term deposits:
C$45.20 million (at March 31, 2011)
Working capital: C$51.2 million (at March 31, 2011)
Market capitalization: C$484.4 million (Sept. 2, 2011)
200 Granville St. Suite 1150 Vancouver, BC Canada V6C 1S4
Tel: 604 633-4888 Fax: 604 633-4887
Reader Comments(0)