Alexco up again on Keno Hill drilling

Vancouver – Shares of Alexco Resources (AXR-T) rose another 13 per cent Thursday, powered by the latest results from a Yukon silver project managed by its biggest shareholder NovaGold Resources (NG-T, NG-X).

Investors drove the stock to a new 52-week high of $5.10 in Toronto, on volume of over 210,000 after Alexco released results from three of nine holes, which are probing the Yukon’s historic Keno Hill silver district.

After closing at $5.05, up 70 cents on the day, the shares have doubled in value from around $2.60 in late October.

Highlights from drilling in the vicinity of the Bellekeno, one of several past-producing mines in the Keno Hill district, include:

Hole, DDH K06-011, which returned a 2-metre intersection, averaging 4.6 kilograms per tonne of silver, 63.4% lead, and 7.5% zinc from 399.3 to 401.3 metres.

DDH K06-016 also cut a 1.6 metre intersection, averaging 2.5 kilograms silver, 0.97 grams gold, 10% lead, and 24% zinc, from 364.4 to 366 metres.

Hole DDH K06-020 coughed up a 2.2-metre interval, averaging 1.4 kilograms silver, 1.28 grams gold and 30.8% zinc, from 409.6 to 411.8 metres.

An Alexco statement described the results as “impressive, with high-grade silver, and base metal intervals encountered in all three of the drill holes.”

NovaGold is drilling in an old mining camp that has historically ranked one of the highest grade silver producers in North America.

Between 1921 and 1988, it produced more than 217 million oz. silver with average grades of 40.5 oz. silver, 5.6% lead and 3.14% zinc. That puts Keno Hill among the top 3 per cent [by grade] of silver mines which are operating today.

The exploration lands controlled by Alexco contain numerous documented mineral deposits and prospects, including 35 mines with a history of production.

The company said two drill rigs are dedicated to probing southwestern extensions of the former Bellekeno mine.

By the end of this month, it expects to have added another 11,500 metres to the 10,500 metres completed so far.

Next year, it anticipates having four rigs working on the Keno Hill project, where it hopes to complete 30,000 metres in the first six months of the year.

The plan is to establish an inferred resource of at least 20 million oz. at Bellekeno, said Alexco, a 19%-owned affiliate of NovaGold.

The Keno Hill mining district is located in the Yukon Territory, 330 kilometres north of Whitehorse in the vicinity of the villages of Mayo and Keno City and lies within the traditional territory of the Nacho Nyak Dun First Nation.

Operations closed down in 1989 when Keno Hill Mines went bankrupt due to low metal prices and difficult labor conditions. But Alexco was able to acquire the properties from a receiver.