Yukon government regulators have granted a water license to Alexco Resource Corp for its Bellekeno underground mine.
This was the final permit that the company needed prior to commencing operations. The mine which is located about 330 km north of Whitehorse near Keno City now has all the government approvals in hand to begin its silver ore concentrate shipping.
Rob McIntyre the Vancouver based company’s vice president of corporate affairs said that they had to commission the mill and fire it up which would be ready to start within a number of weeks. He said 150 people were currently working on the construction of the mill and the mine as of now. Full production would lead to 120 full time jobs.
The Alexco Resource Corp is set to spend $25 million on labour and supplies each year at the Bellekeno underground mine. The jobs would go to a consortium of two organizations called the Nacho Nyak Dun First Nation and Procon mining and Tunnelling Ltd. They were awarded the mining and catering contracts.
The Bellekeno mine is expected to operate at 250 tonnes per day supplying feed to a conventional floatation mill. This would produce 12,000 tonnes of lead silver concentrate and 8,400 tonnes of zinc concentrate per year. At which rate it would produce about 2.8 million ounces of silver annually.
Bellekeno underground mine. Image Credit: Alexco Resource Corp