Mining News: Northern Neighbors: Added sterling results from Keno’s Bear Vein

Alexco Resource Corp. Dec. 8 reported numerous silver-rich intercepts among the results from the final 32 holes of its 2016 drill program in the Bermingham deposit area of the Keno Hill Silver District in the Yukon. Highlighted intercepts include 7.16 meters grading 4,375 grams per metric ton (140.7 ounces per ton) silver, and 3.98 meters grading 6,477 g/t (208.2 oz/t) silver in the extensively mineralized Bear Vein; and an initial intercept of the newly discovered West Dipping Vein averaging 1,676 g/t (53.9 oz/t) silver over 0.51 meters. Additionally, metallurgical testing on mineralized material from the Bermingham deposit indicates expected silver and lead recoveries of roughly 95 percent in a lead concentrate expected to average above 60 percent lead and 30,000 g/t (964.5 oz/t) silver. The metallurgical parameters used to achieve these results are consistent with the current flowsheet of the mill at Keno Hill. "In addition to excellent metallurgical results, we now recognize four silver-rich mineralized vein sets in the Bermingham discovery area, the most important being the Bear vein that ranges in true width up to 7.49 meters at 87.3 oz/t silver (K-16-0608) and in grade up to 239.9 oz/t silver over 4.98 meters true width (K-15-0580),” explained Alexco President and CEO Clynt Nauman. “The picture emerging from the Bermingham discovery is one reflecting the tenor and geometry of historically mined ores at Keno Hill with these most recent results returning numerous very high grade intercepts ranging from 12 kilograms per (metric ton) (387 oz/t) silver over 2.1 meters true width to 33 kilograms per (metric ton) (1,069 oz/t) over a narrower interval of 0.18 m true width." The 2016 Bermingham surface drill program was completed in early November with 50 drill holes totaling 17,371 meters of diamond drilling. The results from this drilling have confirmed the extremely high grades of the Bear Vein developed in a favorable structural orientation approximately 50 meters northeast of the Bermingham and Bermingham Footwall vein structures that have a current indicated resource estimate in the Etta and the Artic zones of 377,000 metric tons averaging 430 g/t (5.2 million oz) silver. A new resource estimation that will link the mineralization in the vicinity of the Bear Vein to the existing Etta and Arctic resource zones is slated for release before the end of the year.

-Shane Lasley