ALEXCO RESOURCE CORP

Hecla completed the acquisition. Alexco shareholders received 0.116 of a Hecla share each - about US$0.47 on the prices at announcement - ending sixteen years of Alexco ownership at Keno Hill four months after the last money was raised at C$1.75 and less than two years after the mine restarted. The Wheaton silver stream Alexco had renegotiated in 2017 was bought out by Hecla rather than by Alexco.

business combination

Hecla Mining agreed to buy Alexco at 0.116 of a Hecla share for each Alexco share - about US$0.47, a 23% premium on five-day average prices - two weeks after Alexco suspended milling and disclosed negative working capital. Hecla also agreed to fund Alexco in the interim, take a 9.9% stake, and pay Wheaton Precious Metals US$135m in stock to terminate the Keno Hill silver stream that had constrained the mine's economics since 2008.

business combination

Suspended milling for five to six months to concentrate everything on underground development, conceding the ramp-up was running well behind schedule and that a sustainable 400 tonnes a day and cash self-sufficiency would not be reached in 2022. Cash was about C$14m against negative working capital of about C$4.5m, more financing would be needed, and restart was pushed to January 2023 - the rock was rich (ore faces at Bermingham matched or beat modelled grades of 1,900-2,000 g/t silver) but the mine could not be developed fast enough to feed the mill.

production update

Closed a non-brokered private placement of 7,473,495 shares at C$1.75 for gross proceeds of about C$13.1 million, to fund the continued ramp-up of mining at Keno Hill. The price was half the C$3.50 paid in the June 2021 raise.

capital raising announcement

Bermingham's indicated resource rose 43% to 47.2 million ounces of silver at 939 g/t and inferred 70% to 19.9 million ounces at 735 g/t - grade holding as tonnes grew, unusually. Combined with Flame & Moth the indicated resource reached 74.1 million ounces, and Alexco said it was re-evaluating the mine plan as a result.

resource reserve update

Closed at C$28.75m with the over-allotment in full: 8,214,450 shares at C$3.50, the highest price Alexco raised at in the cached record.

capital raising announcement

C$25m bought deal, the second big raise since the restart decision.

capital raising announcement

Filed an updated technical report lifting the Keno Hill reserve 22% to 1.44 million tonnes at 804 g/t silver, 3.84% zinc, 2.64% lead and 0.31 g/t gold, for 35.5 million silver ounces over eight years at an all-in sustaining cost of US$11.59 an ounce, with a mill expansion from about 400 to 550 tonnes a day in year three. The reserve rests only on drilling completed before 2019, with the 2019-2021 results still to be folded in.

resource reserve update

Received the final amended and renewed water use licence for Keno Hill, removing the last permitting condition on the restart, with site activity already ramping up.

production update

Closed at C$30.0m with the over-allotment in full: 10,994,000 shares at C$2.73, the largest raise in the cached record and the money that funded the mine restart.

capital raising announcement

Took the production decision: with a draft renewed water use licence in hand from the Yukon Water Board, Alexco moved to final development of the Keno Hill mines, targeting first concentrate and silver sales in Q4 2020, and signed a non-binding term sheet to amend the Wheaton Precious Metals stream again. This is the restart the whole 2015-2020 exploration and permitting effort was for.

production update

C$20m equity financing announced alongside the production decision.

capital raising announcement

Upsized the same day's financing to C$26m on demand.

capital raising announcement

Sold Alexco Environmental Group to its management, led by AEG president Jim Harrington, for C$13.35m: C$12.1m in cash at closing and a C$1.25m note maturing February 14, 2021. Alexco kept ERDC and its Keno Hill clean-up work, and said the sale let it focus wholly on mining and exploration.

asset acquisition disposition

First results from the Bermingham deep target: 8.1 m true width at 1,414 g/t silver, showing the mineralisation carries into the deeper stratigraphic level that hosts the neighbouring Hector-Calumet deposit.

drilling result

Pre-feasibility study for Keno Hill showed an after-tax NPV of C$101.3m and 74% IRR at US$17.90 silver, with 154,000 tonnes a year at 804 g/t silver over about eight years for 27.2 million payable ounces. Initial capital was C$23.2m, sustaining capital C$76.5m, and AISC US$11.98 an ounce.

resource reserve update

Bermingham's indicated resource nearly doubled to 33.3 million ounces of silver (1.65 Mt at 628 g/t), with inferred up to 10.4 million ounces though at a grade 32% lower than before. District indicated resources rose 24% to 84.0 million ounces.

resource reserve update

Established a US$15m credit facility with Sprott Private Resource Lending, three-year term maturing 23 February 2021, about 8.5% all-in on drawn funds, no minimum drawdown and no standby charge. Management described it as a back-stop to manage project risk while underground development and mill refurbishment continued, rather than money it intended to spend.

debt financing

Alexco received the final permit, an amendment to its Water Use Licence from the Yukon Water Board, needed to develop and operate the Flame & Moth mine at Keno Hill; the company says no further permit or regulatory authorization is required for production from it. Flame & Moth (683,000 tonnes at 666 g/t silver) is described as the expected main production source, while Bermingham, the 2015-16 discovery, still needs an environmental assessment (proposal filed November 2017), with underground drilling due in Q1 2018 and a pre-feasibility study expected in Q3 2018. Separately, Alexco agreed to sell its US environmental subsidiary group (AEG US and Alexco Financial Guaranty) for nominal consideration to Arete, owned by James Harrington, a senior officer of its environmental arm; it counts as a related party deal but was approved by a special committee and the board and is exempt from minority shareholder approval because it is under 25% of market capitalization.

regulatory community update

Renegotiated the 2008 silver stream with Silver Wheaton: the fixed US$3.90 an ounce production payment became a percentage of spot that rises when grades or prices fall, so lower-grade ore stops being uneconomic to mine, and Silver Wheaton took 3 million Alexco shares. The same release carried a new economic assessment - after-tax net present value C$79.4m, 75% return, 143,000 tonnes a year at 843 g/t silver for eight years, 25.1 million payable silver ounces, C$27m to build.

resource reserve update

SRK more than tripled Bermingham's indicated resource, from 5.2 to 17.3 million ounces of silver, with inferred up from 0.7 to 5.5 million ounces, lifting the district-wide indicated resource 22% to 67.5 million ounces. Bermingham, discovered in the 2015-16 drilling, became the reason to restart Keno Hill.

resource reserve update

Final 32 of the 50 holes at Bermingham returned 7.16 m at 4,375 g/t and 3.98 m at 6,477 g/t silver in the Bear Vein, and first metallurgical work indicated 94-96% silver and lead recoveries producing a lead concentrate over 60% lead and 30,000 g/t silver, using the existing Keno Hill district mill flowsheet.

drilling result

Interim results from 18 of 36 holes at Bermingham, including 7.5 m true width at 2,715 g/t silver (with 2.4 m at 6,391 g/t) about 100 m down plunge of the deepest 2015 intercept. The Bear Zone now traced over at least 250 m of plunge length, open at depth and along strike.

drilling result