News Release
Alexco Outlines 2009 Surface Exploration Plans at Keno Hill
May 14, 2009 Vancouver, British Columbia -- Alexco Resource Corp. (TSX:AXR,
NYSE-AMEX:AXU) (“Alexco” or the “Company”)
is pleased to announce plans for its 2009
surface exploration program in the Keno Hill silver district, Yukon Territory. The surface
program is in addition to the approximately 10,000 meter underground definition and exploration
drilling program which is presently under way at the Bellekeno Mine. The aim of the 2009
surface exploration program is to expand on the success of the 2006 through 2008 district
exploration work, enhance and expand the historical resource base for the district, and to define
new zones of mineralization within the Company’s approximately 23,350 hectare Keno Hill land
position.
2009 Keno Hill Exploration Program Highlights
The 750#1 crosscut is centrally located in the Southwest Zone and exposes the 48 vein which is
locally observed to be a steeply dipping massive and disseminated, locally brecciated silver-leadzinc
zone of mineralization. Chip-channel sampling of the right and left ribs of the cross cut
returned results as follows:
•
An approximate 10,000 to 12,000 meter surface drill program, scheduled to begin June 1,
is planned for the Keno Hill Silver district project. This work will complement the
approximately 10,000 meter Bellekeno underground drilling program currently in
progress.
•
Surface exploration work will focus at the Lucky Queen, Keno 700, Coral-Wigwam,
Silver King and other historic mine areas. Exploration is also planned to test several
targets in the hangingwall and along strike of the Bellekeno “48” vein where several
parallel mineralized structures are known to exist.
•
In addition to the systematic district-wide exploration work outlined above, the Company
is initiating a new phase of district exploration to define “blind” targets, utilizing the
recently digitized historical records from more than 35 mines in the Keno Hill silver
district as well as ongoing district-wide structural geology studies.
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•
Underground definition and exploration drilling continues at the Bellekeno mine focusing
on the three main resource zones: East, “99” and Southwest. Combined, the three areas
contain an inferred resource totaling 537,000 tonnes grading 1,016 g/tonne silver,
0.4 g/tonne gold, 13.5% lead and 10.7% zinc (see news release dated January 30, 2008
entitled “Alexco Outlines New Zinc-Silver Zone at Bellekeno and Updates Resource
Estimate”).
2009 District Surface Exploration Program
The 2009 Keno Hill surface exploration program will test a variety of priority targets including
targets located east-northeast of the Bellekeno “48” vein in an area known to contain several
hangingwall veins, some with historical development. Exploration drilling in 2007 tested one of
these structures, the Eureka vein, and intersected 3.57 meters averaging 1,050 grams per tonne
silver (hole K-07-0109, see news release dated January 30, 2008 entitled “Alexco Outlines New
Zinc-Silver Zone at Bellekeno and Updates Resource Estimate”). Continued follow-up drilling
is planned at Lucky Queen, where previous drilling identified high grade native silver
mineralization occurring over a strike length of approximately 200 meters with grades up to
35,618 grams per tonne silver over 0.52 meters (see news release dated October 23, 2007 entitled
“Alexco Announces High Grade Native Silver Intercept from Lucky Queen at Keno Hill”).
Follow-up drilling is also planned for the historical Keno 700 silver-gold mine area, located
approximately 2 kilometers east of Lucky Queen. Holes drilled during the 2008 program in this
area, which historically produced 12.6 million ounces of silver, intersected gold mineralization
grading up to 57.50 grams per tonne gold over 1.10 meters (see news release dated January 21,
2009 entitled “Alexco Announces Final 2008 Drill Results from Keno Hill Silver District: Goldrich
Intercepts Encountered at Historical Keno 700 Mine Area”). The Company also plans to
test the historical Coral-Wigwam mine area, which is located along the projection of the Hector-
Calumet mineralized structure. The historical Hector-Calumet mine, the largest mine in the
district, produced more than 96 million ounces of silver at an average production grade of
35 ounces per ton silver. And as indicated above, the 2009 program will also focus on defining
“blind” targets based on recently completed computer modeling of district-wide historical data as
well as ongoing structural studies.
From June 2006 through 2008, Alexco has drilled 181 holes or approximately 45,000 meters on
the Keno Hill Project (including 46 holes and 14,730 meters at the Bellekeno mine area) and
flown 2,016 line kilometers of airborne geophysics, and has also compiled approximately 35,000
historical documents into a 300 gigabyte digital library/database. To date, 14 of approximately
35 known historical mine areas in the district have been drill tested, with approximately 40% of
those recommended for follow-up drilling. In addition to the numerous lode silver and base
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metal targets located throughout its 23,350 hectare property position, the Company is also
evaluating select historical mine dumps and tailings deposits for mineral potential.
The technical information in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Stan Dodd,
Vice President, Exploration for Alexco and a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument
43-101.
Keno Hill Silver District History
Between 1921 and 1988, the Keno Hill Silver District produced more than 217 million ounces of
silver with average grades of 40.5 ounces per ton silver, 5.6% lead and 3.1% zinc (Yukon
Government's Minfile database). The historical production grades would rank Keno Hill in the
top 3% by grade of today's global silver producers. The Keno Hill district is the second-largest
historical silver producer in Canada.
About Alexco
Alexco's business is to unlock value and manage risk at mature, closed or abandoned mine sites
through integration and implementation of the Company's core competencies which include
management of environmental services, execution of mine reclamation and closure operations
and if appropriate, rejuvenation of exploration and development activity.
For more information contact Clynton R. Nauman, President and Chief Executive Officer of
Alexco, by telephone at 604-633-4888 or by email to info@alexcoresource.com or visit the
Company's website at www.alexcoresource.com.
