North

Yukon's Keno Hill district 'far from' mined out, says Alexco Resource Corp.

Four years after Alexco Resource Corp. closed the Bellekeno mine, the company is ready to develop a new silver deposit and keep looking for more. 'There’s no question in my mind at all that there’ll be additional discoveries at Keno Hill.'

Company hopes to hire dozens of people this summer to develop Bermingham deposit

The small community of Keno City, Yukon. The region has yielded millions of ounces of silver over the last century, but there's been no working mine there since 2013.

Alexco Resource Corp. is promising new life for one of Yukon's historic mining districts — Keno Hill.

The company, which owns the property, hopes to hire anywhere from 40 to 50 people this summer to begin an underground drilling program at its Bermingham silver deposit there.

"Even some of the naysayers locally indicat[ed] that all of the ore at Keno Hill was mined out," said Alexco CEO Clynt Nauman. "You know, far from it."

"There's plenty of ounces at Bermingham to support a mining operation."

Nauman says the Bermingham deposit is comparable to the types and grades of deposit originally discovered at Keno Hill almost a century ago.

He says besides mining the Bermingham deposit, the company will continue a "fairly large" exploration program at the property.

"There's no question in my mind at all that there'll be additional discoveries at Keno Hill. It'll make its way up the scale as a world class silver producing district," he said.

Alexco previously operated the Bellekeno silver mine at Keno Hill, but closed it in 2013, citing declining silver prices.