North of 60 Mining News - The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North

Alexco Resource Corp. May 7 said it is putting all the pieces in place to restart the Keno Hill silver mine in the Yukon.

In March, the company published a preliminary economic assessment that outlines an operation at the re-opened Keno Hill Mine that would produce 25.1 million ounces of silver, 77.3 million pounds of zinc, 67 million lb of lead and 4,870 oz of gold over eight years.

This PEA is centered on the Flame & Moth deposit at Keno Hill but includes ore from the Bermingham, Bellekeno, Lucky Queen and Onek deposit. These deposits would provide the mill with 1.02 million metric tons of material averaging 843 g/t over the mine-life considered in the assessment.

This year, Alexco is focusing its exploration on Bellekeno, a high-grade discovery with 868,000 metric tons of indicated resource averaging 628 g/t (17.3 million oz) silver.

Alexco plans to invest roughly C$3.2 million on roughly 12,000 meters of surface drilling to further explore targets in the immediate vicinity of the Bermingham deposit.

Alexco also plans to invest another C$8.7 million on underground exploration at Bermingham.

Subject to permitting, this program is to include a 600-meter exploration decline and roughly 5,000 meters of infill and confirmation drilling.

"Alexco is launching into the balance of 2017 squarely focused on moving forward with underground access to the high-grade Bermingham deposit in anticipation of extensive underground exploration drilling, as well as getting started on a plus-12,000-meter surface exploration program in areas proximal to the Bermingham discovery. Equipment rebuilds, mill, camp and infrastructure upgrades will also be completed alongside a prefeasibility level study, as we move Keno Hill back toward a final production decision," said Alexco Executive Chairman and CEO Clynt Nauman.

Alexco ended the first quarter (March 31) with C$20.8 million in cash and cash-equivalents. The company believes this is sufficient to carry out all of its planned activities into 2018.

-SHANE LASLEY