Ecuador court gives green light for Silvercorp, Salazar’s El Domo project
The ruling removes the last major obstacle for the $250 million project, located 150 km northeast of Guayaquil.
Vancouver-based Alexco Resource Corp. is advancing the site infrastructure projects ahead of the restart of underground mining at the Bermingham deposit, part of the historic Keno Hill silver property.
Several projects will be completed this year. A multi-plate portal cover at the entrance to the decline is in progress. When that is complete, crews will move on to construction of the coarse ore storage pad. A lined water treatment pond is planned in anticipation of a future water treatment plant at the site. The maintenance shop base and a haul road from the mine to the mill are to be done. And the camp needs expansion.
Alexco says these projects will further de-risk the Bermingham development. The pre-feasibility study assigned the project a $101.3-million after tax net present value at a 5% discount rate, and a 74% after tax internal rate of return. Capex will be low – $17.9 million for surface infrastructure, underground development, and mill commissioning.
The company has also submitted a water licence renewal application that covers The Bermingham mine for ore production and discharge of treated water. When approval is given, hopefully by the end of this year, the licence will be valid through 2037.
Alexco also has a surface diamond drilling program at Bermingham, both to test mineralization near the deposit and at depth. The mine has reserves of 362,343 tonnes grading 972 g/t silver for 11.3 million contained oz. The indicated resource (including reserves) is 1.1 million tonnes at 930 g/t for 33.0 million contained oz., and the inferred resource is 509,360 tonnes at 717 g/t for 11.8 million contained oz. of silver.
This story first appeared in the Canadian Mining Journal
