The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
North of 60 Mining News – February 1, 2019
An aerial view of the mill facilities at Keno Hill, which Alexco Resources operated from 2011 until 2013, when the company chose to suspend operations due to weak silver prices. Alexco is now gearing up to resume operations at this high-grade silver project in the Yukon.
Stacks of core boxes, representing about 30 percent of the boxes filled at Keno Hill during 2018, are queued up for use prior to the 19,544-meter resource confirmation, expansion and exploration drill program carried out at the silver mine project last year.
Alexco Resource Corp. Jan. 21 reported that a 26-hole reconnaissance drill has discovered deeper and fault offset extensions of the high-grade silver mineralization at Bermingham, as well as strong gold mineralization across the company's wider Keno Hill Silver District in Canada's Yukon.
"Our late season reconnaissance drilling program answered a number of long standing questions, most importantly confirming the presence of the Bermingham deposit structural framework down plunge of the existing deposit (Bermingham deep) and the inferred presence of the Bermingham structure more than two kilometers (1.25 miles) to the west on the heavily covered slopes southwest of the post-mineral Brefalt Fault," said Alexco Resource Chairman and CEO Clynt Nauman.
Bermingham hosts 1.65 million metric tons of indicated resource averaging 628 grams per metric ton (33.35 million ounces) silver, 1.3 percent (48.69 million pounds) zinc, 1.6 percent (57.89 million lb) lead and 0.12 g/t (6,120 oz) gold.
In addition, this deposit hosts 616,550 metric tons of inferred resource averaging 526 g/t (10.44 million oz) silver, 0.9 percent (11.62 million lb) zinc, 1.1 percent (14.41 million lb) lead and 0.12 g/t (2,300 oz) gold.
Alexco's 2018 reconnaissance drilling at the Bermingham Northeast zone has resulted in expansion of the Bermingham deposit into a broad area that remains untested along strike and at depth.
Highlights from this drilling include:
• K-18-0711 cut two meters grading 1,453 grams per metric ton (46.7 ounces per metric ton) silver in the Bear Vein, and 2.82 meters of 418 g/t (13.43 oz/t) silver in the Bermingham Main Vein; and
• K-18-0706, drilled roughly 200 meters down-plunge from K-18-0711, cut a 60-meter-wide altered and mineralized structural zone that included 0.33 meters of 1,675 g/t (53.85 oz/t) silver, and 1.01 meters of 309 g/t (9.93 oz/t) silver.
Alexco said resource extension drilling will continue in this area in 2019 with the aim of further expanding the current Bermingham resource.
Drilling carried out roughly 2,000 meters west of the Bermingham deposit targeted an inferred fault offset of the mineralized Hector-Calumet and Bermingham structures across the northwest trending post-mineral Brefalt Fault. This fault is interpreted to offset numerous mineralized systems on the Keno Hill property by up to approximately 1,000 meters, including two that have historically produced 148 million oz of silver.
Alexco said one of its 2018 holes, K-18-0730, has intersected what is interpreted as a mineralized offset portion of the Hector-Calumet and Bermingham vein system, indicating an unexplored southwest extension of the high-grade silver mineralization this system is known for.
• K-18-0730, drilled about 2,000 meters west of the Bermingham deposit, cut 1.87 meters averaging 234 g/t (7.52 oz/t) silver, and 3.8 meters of 94 g/t (3.03 oz/t) silver.
The 2018 drill program also made a high-grade gold discovery at No Cash, a target about 1,000 meters north of Bermingham.
Highlights from the No Cash discovery drilling include:
• K-18-0718 cut 1.51 meters averaging 76.3 g/t gold and 105 g/t (3.37 oz/t) silver; and
• K-18-0714 cut 0.7 meters averaging 5.36 g/t gold and 24 g/t silver.
Alexco said further work is required to understand the significance of this discovery.
In total, Alexco completed 19,544 meters of drilling during it 2018 exploration program at Keno Hill.
A 15,314-meter surface drilling involved 55 holes that included the reconnaissance program; 11 in-fill holes at Bermingham; 1,179 meters of metallurgical and geotechnical drilling at Flame & Moth; and 2,692 meters of drilling on third party properties within the district complex.
The balance of the program involved 4,230 meters of underground drilling at Bermingham.
"In 2019, we will launch a further surface drilling program to follow up on our 2018 results, most importantly focusing on the Bermingham deep area where our first drill hole K-18-0706 identified a 60-meter-wide structural zone containing multiple mineralized intervals including 1,675 g/t silver over a true-width of 0.33 meters," said Nauman.
In the meantime, Alexco is finalizing a pre-feasibility study for the resumption of operations at Keno Hill.
The company said mine planning, mine scheduling and metallurgical work related to the updated production plan is proceeding on schedule with results anticipated to be available by early March.
–SHANE LASLEY
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