Alexco’s stock spikes on high-grade silver at Onek

Vancouver – Several high-grade silver hits from Alexco Resource‘s (AXR-T, AXU-N) historic Onek mine have helped propel the company’s stock price to new heights.

Alexco has been busy exploring its various projects in the Yukon’s Keno Hill silver district, including both infill and exploration drilling around the old Onek underground and open pit mine. The company has identified an upper silver-rich zone of mineralization with associated high-grade zinc and locally lead over significant widths.

Almost all assay results are in from the 20-hole program at Onek. The results, combined with earlier Alexco exploration, have confirmed that high-grade zinc-silver mineralization extends over at least 400 metres along strike, 220 metres down dip, and is still open to the southwest and down plunge.

Hole 10-265 hit 10.4 metres grading 1,518.6 grams silver per tonne, 1 gram gold per tonne, 17.93% lead and 3.15% zinc from 54 metres depth. Hole 10-254 returned 7.3 metres carrying 834.4 grams silver, 1.19 grams gold, 6.68% lead and 21.84% zinc from 122.1 metres downhole. Hole 253 cut 5.49 metres averaging 411.5 grams silver, 1.55 grams gold, 3.11% lead and 21.09% zinc from 98 metres.

These and other high-grade hits sent the company’s stock up $1.27 or 26% to close at $6.16, its highest level since late 2007.

The historic Onek mine is only about a kilometre away from Alexco’s recently completed Bellekeno mill, which the company is currently commissioning. The mill, with a planned 250-tonne-per-day production rate, was built to process material from Alexco’s Bellekeno silver-lead-zinc deposit that is roughly 1.5 km away from Onek.

The Bellekeno deposit hosts a resource estimate of 401,000 indicated tonnes grading 921 grams silver, 9.4% lead and 6.5% zinc, as well as an inferred resource of 111,100 tonnes grading 320 grams silver, 3.1% lead and 17.9% zinc.

With a type A water use license in place since August, the company is fully permitted and licensed to start commercial production at Bellekeno. Alexco expects to produce up to 12,000 tonnes of lead-silver concentrate and 8,400 tonnes of zinc concentrate annually and generate up to 2.8 million ounces of silver per year.

The company now has seven drill rigs in place to explore various targets on its 24,300-hectare property, which is home to 35 past-producing mines. This year, Alexco has completed follow-up drilling on its historic Lucky Queen and Silver King mines and continues to drill on its historic Galkeno and Bermingham mines and its Flame and Moth prospect.