The re-emergence of Keno Hill Silver District

The iconic Keno Hill Silver District in

Canada’s Yukon Territory, one of the highest-grade regions on Earth, has a storied mining history dating back to 1898 when the first placer gold was discovered. A small amount of hand mining between 1913 and 1917 and larger scale production was almost continuous from 1919 to 1989 with over 200 million ounces of silver produced at an average grade of 1373 grams per tonne. In fact, Keno Hill produced more wealth than the legendary Klondike, one of the richest placer gold districts in the world, and became one of the mainstays of the Yukon economy from the 1920s to 1960s, following the end of the gold rush. Since then, the Keno district has been largely consolidated among publicly traded companies, including Alexco Resource (recently acquired by Hecla Mining) which operates one of the highest-grade primary silver mines in the world.

While there have been ebbs and flows industry-wide, mining has remained consistent in the area and yet, remarkably, despite its clearly demonstrated mineral endowment, much of Keno has remained underexplored. Located directly adjacent to Hecla is Metallic Minerals, an exploration company that recognized this incredible potential back in 2016 and has since established a 166-square-kilometre land package, the second largest in the district. The company’s holdings hosted eight historical mines, including five with average recovered grades above 5,000 g/t silver, and extensive data mining, surface exploration and drilling has yielded several priority targets for near-term resource definition. Drilling has not only confirmed the presence of high-grade silver veins, but also bulk tonnage silver mineralization never before defined at Keno Hill. This discovery was a watershed moment in the exploration of Keno Hill and has potential to result in the rewriting of over a century of geological history.

Metallic Minerals just wrapped up their 2022 exploration program, consisting of 3,265 metres of diamond core drilling with a focus on defining silver, lead, and zinc resources at multiple advanced-stage targets, as well as conducting step-out drilling at several new discoveries. Additionally, for the first time, the district

Metallic Minerals just wrapped up their 2022 exploration program at Keno Hill Silver District in Canada’s Yukon Territory.

will be flown for a LiDAR survey, which will provide greater precision in survey and topographic control while aiding in lineament detection in the search for new Keno-style high-grade silver discoveries. Results from these exploration activities, including drill assays, are expected over the coming quarters.

Keno Hill has road access, grid power, plus an active mill and mining operations soon to be run by Hecla, the largest silver producer in the United States and third largest in the world. Not only does their presence validate the potential many have seen for years and direct attention once again to this legendary district, it creates another compelling scenario for Metallic Minerals and the other explorers in the

area.

“We see this acquisition as a further highlight of the quality of existing reserves and resources in the area and having a major player like Hecla join the jurisdiction reflects the development and exploration potential that still exists in one of the world’s highest grade silverproducing regions,” said Scott Petsel, president of Metallic Minerals. 7