Careers | Sitemap | Disclaimer | Contact us
| ||
| | |
| Careers | Sitemap | Disclaimer | Contact us | |
| 
| |
| KENO HILL PROJECT
A RICH PAST / A PROMISING FUTUREAlexco's Keno Hill Silver DistrictThe Keno Hill Silver District has a rich history as one of the world's highest-grade silver districts. Located 330 kilometers north of Whitehorse in Canada's Yukon, the District lies within the traditional territory of the First Nation of Na-Cho Nyak Dun (NND) and comprises 233.5 square kilometers characterized by numerous mineral occurrences and more than 35 mine sites with a history of production. According to the Yukon government's Minfile database, between 1913 and 1989 the Keno Hill Silver District produced more than 217 million ounces of silver from over 5.3 million tons of ore with average grades of 40.52 ounces per ton (oz/ton) of silver, 5.62% lead and 3.14% zinc, making it the second-largest historical silver producer in Canada. In 1989, with falling metal prices and increased environmental standards, United Keno Hill Mines Limited terminated its mining activity in the District. Today, the District continues to boast significant mineral resources at grades far in excess of most of the world's primary silver producers. Developing a Silver Production Pipeline With its Bellekeno Mine now in commercial production, Alexco is intent on achieving its next goal: to fully realize the rich and historic promise of the Keno Hill Silver District with the development of a series of silver-producing properties. Many of those properties, like Bellekeno, will be former mine sites with considerable deposits of unmined mineralization. Alexco also expects to bring significant new mineable deposits into production. Since acquiring the District in 2006, Alexco has collated and reviewed data from decades of exploration and production at Keno Hill. The results have guided the efforts of the Company's geologists, using advanced exploration technologies and an aggressive drilling program, to explore promising new areas of mineralization and to identify previously undiscovered resource deposits for development as part of Alexco's Keno Hill silver production pipeline. Advanced Stage Projects Lucky Queen In August 2011, Alexco announced an estimated resource at its Lucky Queen property of nearly 4.9 million indicated plus 2.8 million inferred ounces of silver. Rehabilitation and redevelopment of the historic underground mine began in April 2011, with the aim of accessing underground drilling targets by the end of 2011. The goal is to initiate silver production from the Lucky Queen mine before the end of 2012. Surface core drilling in 2010 at the Lucky Queen property was designed to confirm the continuity of high-grade mineralized zones down-plunge from the historical mine. Operating from 1927 to 1932, Lucky Queen was the highest-grade silver producer in the Keno Hill District, producing 11 million ounces of silver from 123,500 tons of ore for an average recovered production grade of 88.7 ounces of silver per ton. Metallurgical testing and preliminary mine planning and engineering studies have been initiated at both the Lucky Queen and Onek properties. Onek Alexco also announced an initial resource estimate in August 2011 at its Onek property of more than 3.6 million indicated and 1.5 million inferred ounces of silver, within an indicated resource of 585,000 tonnes containing 13.74% zinc and an inferred resource of 236,000 tonnes containing 11.52% zinc. Permitting is underway for development of underground access to conduct exploration drilling, with rapid advancement to production which is targeted by the end of 2012. Exploration drilling in the Onek historical mine area has revealed a distinctly zoned body of mineralization, with high silver grades in the upper portion and rich zinc-indium mineralization at depth. The successful 2010 and 2011 drilling programs at Onek were designed to test the upper, more silver-rich mineral resource defined in 1997 by the property's former owner, United Keno Hill Mines Limited. The importance of the Onek deposit is enhanced by its proximity to the Bellekeno mill, ease of underground access and the identification of newly defined areas of the deposit with significant silver values. The deposit remains open to the southwest and down-dip. Silver King In 2010 Alexco conducted an extensive drilling program in the vicinity of the former Silver King Mine that confirmed significant high-grade silver mineralization remaining at the mine. The Silver King property includes an historical resource of mineralization totaling 121,579 tonnes grading 1,373 grams per tonne (gpt) silver (approximately 5.4 million ounces), 1.3% lead and 0.1% zinc. This historical resource estimate was made in 1997 by the property's former owner, United Keno Hill Mines Limited. Though believed by Alexco management to be relevant and reliable, this estimate of historical resources has not been verified by Alexco, pre-dates NI 43-101 and is not compliant with NI 43-101 resource categories. A qualified person has not done sufficient work to classify this estimate of historical resources as current, nor is Alexco treating this historical estimate as a current mineral resource (see Summary of Resources, note 7). Alexco sees Silver King as a prime candidate for mine development based on historical resource and production data and Alexco's recent drilling results. Historically, Silver King was the site of the first discovery at Keno Hill and produced 11 million ounces of silver at an average grade of 1,817 gpt silver (53 oz/ton). Elsa Tailings Project Historical milling operations at Elsa started in the 1930s and continued until 1988. Over that period, the Elsa mill processed ore from ten major mines in the area, resulting in an estimated 3.67 million tonnes of tailings deposited at the Elsa tailings site. In 1990 Alexco used sonic drilling to complete 283 drill holes in the Elsa tailings, with the objective of generating an estimate of mineral resources. The average thickness of tailings drilled was 2.3 meters. As a result of the encouraging data gathered from the Elsa tailings, engineering and feasibility related work is underway to determine the viability of recovering the silver in this valuable resource. Based on assays of tailings samples, mineral resources for the Elsa tailings have been estimated at 2.49 million tonnes at 119 gpt silver (9,526,000 total ounces of silver), 0.99% lead and 0.70% zinc. The Elsa tailings resource also includes an estimated 9,600 ounces of gold. Flame & Moth In February 2011 and again in September 2011, Alexco announced very promising drill results from its Flame & Moth property, which is a new "blind" discovery located at depth adjacent to the Bellekeno mill. These successful drilling programs are expected to lead to an initial resource estimate in 2012. Mineralization at Flame & Moth has been confirmed over intercepts ranging up to nearly 12 meters within an extensive structural zone that is up to 33 meters wide. Silver mineralization has been identified 500 meters along strike and 320 meters down dip, remaining open in all directions. The continuing excellent results confirm the continuity of a significant mineralized structure containing high grade silver mineralization. Bermingham Exploration work in 2010 confirmed significant silver mineralization in the area of the historical Bermingham Mine, and the drilling program in 2011 was targeted at defining and expanding this new zone of mineralization. The mineralized structure occurs approximately 150 meters below surface and extends at least 200 meters down-plunge, where it remains open. This mineralization occurs along the southwest extension of the structural zone that hosted the historical Hector Calumet Mine, the largest silver producer in the Keno Hill District. As with the Flame & Moth discovery, Alexco is anticipating release of an initial resource estimate for the Bermingham deposit in 2012. Coming Soon... Technical ReportsBellekeno Property:Most Recent:
Previous Reports:
Lucky Queen Property:Most Recent: Onek Property:Most Recent:
Elsa Tailings Property:Most Recent: MCQUESTEN PROPERTY Alexco and its subsidiaries also own a 100% interest in the McQuesten property, located in the Yukon Territory and comprising the northwest sector of our Keno Hill Mining District holdings. The property benefits from excellent infrastructure, with access via the all-weather Yukon Silver Trail Highway near the town of Mayo. In 2003, NovaGold completed a 3,000-meter diamond drill program on the McQuesten property, drilling 17 core holes targeting widespread gold-bearing skarn-style mineralization developed along a 1.4-kilometer zone. Mineralized intervals were encountered in many of the drill holes and are broadly continuous along strike. Gold grades are related to widespread skarn development and the proximity to a series of thin felsic dikes encountered in the drilling and earlier trenching. Mineralization is characterized by arsenopyrite, chalcopyrite, scheelite and trace visible gold. Highlights from 2003 drilling include MQ03-09, which intercepted 7.7 meters grading 5.81 g/t gold and 7.8 meters grading 3.68 g/t gold, and MQ03-17, which intercepted 9.0 meters grading 1.03 g/t gold and 10.8 meters grading 1.94 g/t gold. Keno Hill's proximity will enhance economics for further exploration of the McQuesten property. Work at McQuesten will be integrated with the Keno Hill program, including geology, airborne geophysics, drilling and geochemistry. | | |
| ||
| © 2012 Alexco Resource Corp. All Rights Reserved. | Disclaimer |  |