VANCOUVER, March 30, 2020 /CNW/ - Alexco Resource Corp.
(NYSE AMERICAN: AXU; TSX: AXU) ("Alexco" or the
"Company") today provided a corporate update on its recent
activities, 2020 Corporate plans and the measures it has taken in
light of the uncertainty and unpredictable impacts of the COVID-19
pandemic with respect to operations at the Keno Hill Silver
District ("Keno Hill").
COVID-19 Response
Alexco has implemented a COVID-19 response and management plan
to protect the health and safety of our employees and contractors
as well as the local communities in which we operate. Alexco
continues to closely monitor the changing conditions of the
COVID-19 crisis and our actions follow the advice and guidelines of
the Yukon, provincial and Federal
health professionals and government officials as well as
industry-wide best practices. The Company's response plan, which is
especially focused on our Keno Hill, Yukon operations, includes the following
protocols:
- Only essential employees and contractors are currently allowed
access to Keno Hill operations, and all incoming personnel must be
pre-screened and cleared for travel to Keno Hill by Company health
and safety medics;
- Keno Hill employees and schedules have been modified to reduce
where possible, any travel from locations outside the Yukon. The Company is following the 14-day
self-isolation requirements issued by the Yukon Government for
workers entering the Yukon from
outside of the territory;
- At Keno Hill enhanced sanitation procedures have been
implemented by the Company's camp and catering contractor and
mandatory hygiene techniques have been established for all
employees and camp residents. On-site work schedules and other
measures have been implemented to reduce employee interaction;
- On a Company-wide basis, travel is restricted to essential
travel only and, where reasonably possible, employees are working
remotely from home; and
- The Company is in consultation with a third-party health care
provider to provide expert advice and guidance on our plans.
There continues to be no reported cases of COVID-19 within the
local area in which we operate at Keno Hill. The Company will
continue to closely monitor the quickly changing conditions of this
pandemic and will modify our operating protocols as appropriate and
based on the advice of the healthcare professionals and government
officials' requirements.
Operations Update
Over the past several months the Company has made steady
progress on mine development activities at Keno Hill including
recruitment of key personnel and senior site management, securing
long lead time orders for mine equipment and advancing capital
infrastructure projects at the mill and across the project site.
Given the ongoing uncertainty with the COVID-19 crisis and with a
priority for the health and safety of our employees, contractors
and the local community, the Company has suspended underground mine
development activities and buttoned-up capital investments made to
date while continuing to maintain all areas of the site. Mill
improvement projects that can be completed with existing
Yukon employees will continue and
non-essential Keno Hill based employees will work remotely on a
number of engineering and project planning requirements. This
approach assures that the Company can quickly reaccelerate mine
development activities once certainty has returned from the
COVID-19 outbreak, government travel restrictions have been lifted,
and within the general context of market conditions.
As previously reported, the Company is awaiting issuance of an
amended and renewed Water Use License ("WUL") from the Yukon Water
Board. The Yukon Water Board completed the public hearing phase of
the licensing process in February
2020, and the Company understands that deliberation and
progress on the terms and conditions of the renewed WUL is ongoing.
Given the disruption in most routine activities, the Company
advises that issuance of the WUL will be deferred into the second
quarter, 2020. The Company reiterates that a final production
decision at Keno Hill requires amongst other considerations, the
issuance of a renewed WUL. Issuance of the WUL in the second
quarter continues to be within the broader schedule of mine
development activities now contemplated at Keno Hill and the
ability to reach concentrate production in 2020.
2020 Exploration Program
The Company's 2020 surface exploration program originally
planned to include approximately 11,500 meters of surface drilling
beginning in May, has been similarly decelerated as a result of the
COVID-19 restrictions. While the original 2020 drill program will
likely not change in terms of targets and objectives, the Company
is developing contingency plans to execute a reduced surface
exploration drilling program that could be deferred until the
COVID-19 conditions change and circumstances allow. At a minimum,
the Company is hopeful that activities can be scaled back up in mid
to late summer, when appropriate, with the reduced drilling program
to be undertaken focusing on the Bermingham "deep target",
where exploration drilling in 2019 successfully confirmed the
presence of wide, high-grade mineralization at depth below the
Bermingham high grade silver deposit. The Bermingham deposit,
comprising 1.1 million tonnes of 930 grams per tonne silver in
estimated Indicated Mineral Resource (including Probable Mineral
Reserves), remains the highest grade, with approximately 33 million
contained silver ounces, and the largest discovery by Alexco at
Keno Hill to date (see independent technical report dated
May 8, 2019 with an effective date of
March 28, 2019, as amended February 13, 2020, prepared by
Mining Plus Canada titled "NI 43-101 Technical Report,
Prefeasibility Study of the Keno Hill Silver District Project,
Yukon Territory, Canada"). The
deposit remains open at depth and the objective of this follow-up
deep drilling program will be to evaluate the opportunity for
expansion of the Mineral Resource at depth.
It should be noted that prior to reduction of the Keno Hill site
activities due to COVID-19, the Company recently completed a
planned extension (from 2018) of the district-wide detailed
airborne geophysical program. The interpretation of results from
these surveys has proved important in targeting mineralized
structures in areas of cover, has resulted in new discoveries on
Galena Hill in 2019, and will be especially important for target
generation and ranking for longer term exploration planning at Keno
Hill.
Outlook
The Company is taking every precaution to protect its employees,
contractors and communities where it operates from health risks
associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. The necessary deceleration
of capital construction and interruption of the mine development
schedule will result in development schedule delays; however, the
Company has implemented an interim plan to ensure that capital
improvements are properly maintained and where possible surface
capital projects will continue. Underground mines are being
maintained in a development ready condition. Underground mining
equipment and mill related capital components remain on order and
in the supply line, both from domestic as well as international
locations. With these changes and modification of schedules, the
Company has preserved the opportunity, market and permitting
conditions considered, to achieve initial concentrate production in
2020.
With respect to exploration, much of the Company's work is
pre-programed and considered routine from year to year. As such,
delays in surface drilling activity will simply push the programs
and schedules later into the summer, or into 2021. Work at
Bermingham and the Company's new discovery at Inca will remain a
priority.
As previously disclosed, on March 27,
2020 the Company closed an over-night marketed public
offering, issuing 4,662,675 common shares, which included the full
subscription of the overallotment option, at a price of
$1.85 per share for gross proceeds of
$8.6 million. This financing has
provided Alexco with financial flexibility to continue with the
activities described above while also enabling us to smoothly
reaccelerate and ramp up operations in line with the 2019
pre-feasibility study schedule when circumstances allow.
Finally, the Company will continue to monitor conditions and be
prepared to respond as appropriate, while also updating
stakeholders if and when the situation changes. In the meantime,
the Company is taking care of its operations, its community and
environment, and its most important asset – its people.
2020 AGM
To protect our employees and shareholders, the Company has
adjusted the format of its 2020 annual general meeting ("AGM") to a
virtual electronic meeting. The AGM will be held on June 4, 2020 at 1:30 pm
PDT and further details on how to join the event will be
communicated via news release in the coming weeks.
About Alexco
Alexco is a Canadian primary silver company that owns the
majority of the historic high-grade Keno Hill Silver District in
Canada's Yukon Territory. Alexco has a long history of
expanding Keno Hill's mineral resources through successful
exploration and is currently advancing a development plan for the
District. In 2019, the Company published a positive pre-feasibility
study that estimates production of 1.12 million tonnes of ore at an
average rate of 430 tonnes per day at an average grade of 805 grams
per tonne silver over an 8-year mine life from the Flame &
Moth, Bermingham, Bellekeno and Lucky Queen deposits.
Further information about the project, including the effective
date of the estimates and summary of assumptions, parameters and
risks relating to mineral resources, mineral reserves and the
pre-feasibility study, can be found in Alexco's technical report
entitled ""NI 43-101 Technical Report on Preliminary Feasibility
Study of the Keno Hill Silver District Project, Yukon Territory, Canada" filed on May 8, 2019 as amended February 14, 2020 that is available on Alexco's
profile on Sedar at www.sedar.com.
Some statements ("forward-looking statements") in this
news release contain forward-looking information concerning plans
related to Alexco's business and other matters that may occur in
the future, made as of the date of this news release.
Forward-looking statements are subject to a variety of known and
unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which could cause
actual events or results to differ from those expressed or implied
by the forward-looking statements. Such factors include, among
others, risks and uncertainties relating to the outbreak of
COVID-19 including but not limited to business closures,
quarantines and a general reduction in consumer activity; actual
results and timing of exploration and development, mining,
environmental services and remediation and reclamation activities;
future prices of silver, gold, lead, zinc and other commodities;
possible variations in mineral resources, grade or recovery rates;
failure of plant, equipment or processes to operate as anticipated;
accidents, labour disputes and other risks of the mining industry;
First Nation rights and title; continued capitalization and
commercial viability; global economic conditions; competition; and
delays in obtaining governmental approvals or financing or in the
completion of development activities. Forward-looking statements
are based on certain assumptions that management believes are
reasonable at the time they are made. In making the forward-looking
statements included in this news release, Alexco has applied
several material assumptions, including, but not limited to, the
assumption that Alexco will be able to raise additional capital as
necessary, that the proposed exploration and development activities
will proceed as planned, and that market fundamentals will result
in sustained silver, gold, lead and zinc demand and prices. There
can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to
be accurate and actual results and future events could differ
materially from those anticipated in such statements. Alexco
expressly disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise
any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new
information, future events or otherwise, except as otherwise
required by applicable securities legislation.
View original
content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/alexco-provides-corporate-update-301032058.html
SOURCE Alexco Resource Corp.