The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
Cut 8.8 meters of 3,583 g/t (115.2 oz/t) silver at Bermingham North of 60 Mining News – January 22, 2021
Core from intersecting high-grade silver mineralization during the 2018 drill program at Keno Hill.
Underground development at Bermingham is proceeding well and Alexco expects initial ore from the mine by mid-year.
Alexco Resource Corp. Jan. 19 reported that its 2020 surface exploration drilling program has confirmed the extremely high-grade nature of silver mineralization with the Bermingham Northeast Deep zone on its Keno Hill project in the Yukon.
The company's 2020 surface exploration program included 7,653 meters of core drilling in 14 holes targeting Bermingham Northeast Deep, a high-grade silver zone about 150 meters below the resource at Bermingham, a high-grade deposit that hosts 1.1 million metric tons of indicated resource averaging 930 grams per metric ton (32.9 million ounces) silver.
Bermingham Deep was first discovered in 2018 and one hole drilled there in 2019 cut 8.15 meters averaging 1,414 g/t (45.5 oz/t) silver at this exploration target.
The 2020 drilling was designed to test this deeper zone on 100-meter sections, tracing it to the southwest and northeast along a favorable mineralization corridor.
The best intercept of this program came in K-20-0769, which cut the deeper Bermingham footwall vein over a true width of 8.76 meters averaging 3,583 g/t (115.2 oz/t) silver from a depth of 507.2 meters.
The same hole intersected the main Bermingham vein over a true width of 3.5 meters averaging 707 g/t (22.72 oz/t) silver from a depth of 473.9 meters.
Other highlights from the 2020 drilling include:
• 6.12 meters averaging 1,560 g/t (50.16 oz/t) silver from a depth of 536.8 meters in hole K-20-0761 (Footwall vein).
• 1.3 meters averaging 4,889 g/t (157.19 oz/t) silver from a depth of 486.7 meters in K-20-0761 (Main vein).
• 1.87 meters averaging 893 g/t (28.71 oz/t) silver from a depth of 643.8 meters in hole K-20-0762 (Footwall vein).
• 7.46 meters averaging 1,381 g/t (44.40 oz/t) silver from a depth of 563.7 meters in hole K-20-0770 (Footwall vein).
• 2.28 meters averaging 693 g/t (22.27 oz/t) silver from a depth of 552.5 meters in hole K-20-0770 (splay of Footwall vein).
• 5.3 meters averaging 2,070 g/t (66.55 oz/t) silver from a depth of 499.3 meters in hole K-20-0773 (Footwall vein).
"The discovery of a significant zone of high-grade silver mineralization beneath the Bermingham deposit confirms that this is one of the more significant silver deposits in the entire Keno Hill Silver District, rivalling the extent of the historic Hector-Calumet deposit, which produced 96 million ounces of silver prior to shutting down in 1972," said Alexco Resource Chairman and CEO Clynt Nauman.
From a geological perspective, Alexco says the 2020 target zone was interpreted to lie in the vicinity of the intersection of the Bermingham main and footwall veins, and specifically where the intersection occurs within the thick bedded quartzites that host the nearby historic Hector-Calumet mine. The company says the drilling confirmed that the Northeast Deep zone mineralization occurs within a broad, structurally complex corridor that has a horizontal to gentle northeast plunge with an interpreted strike length of roughly 550 meters and a dip extent of up to 100 meters. Importantly, to the southwest of the 2020 Northeast Deep zone, this same vein intersection and mineralized corridor can be traced over an additional 400 meters strike length through the Bear, Arctic and Etta zones of the Bermingham deposit, where it has a more moderate northeasterly plunge.
On a broader scale, Alexco says it is now clear that the Bermingham vein system represents a component of a coherent shear zone that demonstrates a roughly 5,000-meter strike length from Hector-Calumet in the northeast to the fault offset continuation about 2,000 meters southwest of Bermingham. This major structure includes at least the Hector-Calumet, Ruby, Bermingham, Aho and Coral-Wigwam vein systems, which have historically produced a combined total of 101 million oz of silver.
Alexco is planning to launch at least 25,000 meters of drilling focused on infilling and extending the Northeast Deep zone mineralization. Directional drill technology will be used with the objective of updating the Bermingham resource estimate by the end of the year.
"If the Northeast Deep zone discovery is further substantiated by the extensive drilling program we have planned for 2021, it is my view that the result will have important strategic implications for the future development of Keno Hill," said Nauman. "Most interestingly, even as it currently stands, the western-most drill hole in the Northeast Deep zone – which returned a true thickness of 8.76 meters of mineralization grading 3,530 g/t (115.2 oz/t) Ag with 14% lead and 3% zinc – is located just 250 meters east and 75 meters below the projected bottom of the Bermingham primary decline. This means that this zone could be easily accessed from currently-planned mine infrastructure."
In addition to the encouraging drill results, Alexco says the ramp up of mining and milling operations at Keno Hill continues, with activities adjusted and moderated to comply with modified COVID-19 protocols in the Yukon.
The company is proud to report that safety performance at Keno Hill remains excellent, with the site achieving 10 years without a lost time accident in December. Underground activity is focused at the Bellekeno mine where longhole drilling and blasting of residual ore is providing feed to the mill, with concentrate shipments to the port of Skagway having already commenced.
With the commissioning ongoing, the mill is operating with a modified schedule to best match the ore delivery from Bellekeno as well as optimizing the metallurgical performance of the changes to the mill circuit.
At the Bermingham mine, underground development is proceeding well – with initial ore production anticipated by mid-year.
A full update and more detailed ramp up schedule for underground and mill production is expected to be provided in February.
Over his more than 16 years of covering mining and mineral exploration, Shane has become renowned for his ability to report on the sector in a way that is technically sound enough to inform industry insiders while being easy to understand by a wider audience.
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