Alexco Keno Hill Mining Corp. hopes to have two more ore bodies in production this year, says the company president.

Clynt Nauman said in an interview Monday if Alexco is successful with its application to amend its type A water licence next month, the intent is to go into production at both the Onek and Lucky Queen silver deposits.

Adding the two underground mines to the Keno Hill operation would require about 30 employees per mine. That would raise the total number from the 120 currently employed for the Bellekeno mine and mill operations to about 180, Nauman explained.

He said employment requirements at both Onek and Lucky Queen would be somewhere between 10 and 15 positions, with an equal number out on days off.

Currently, Nauman said, there are about 60 to 70 people required for the Bellekeno mine and mill, with somewhere around the same number out on rotation.

He said putting the Onek and Lucky Queen into production would eventually maximize output at the mill at 400 tonnes per day, up from the current average of 250 tonnes.

"The first substantial production is likely to come from Onek,” Nauman said. "That being said, production, that would not be substantial, but would be material, could come from Lucky Queen.”

The company president noted the company has not decided if Onek and Lucky Queen would be operational year-round, or whether one would be mined eight or nine months of the year, though producing enough stockpile to feed the mill year round.

Lucky Queen was last mined back in the 1920s and '30s, Nauman pointed out.

"We are not actually entering the old working but we are mining a new part of that deposit.”

The Onek deposit, he added, was mined into the 1980s.

The territorial Department of Energy, Mines and Resources announced Monday it had completed the required amendment to Alexco's mining licence to authorize production at Onek and Lucky Queen.

The Mayo office of the Yukon Environmental and Socio-economic Assessment Board recommended approval last August. The department issued a decision document last October, accepting the recommendation.

A public hearing into Alexco's application for an amendment to the water licence is scheduled for three days in Mayo, beginning Feb. 16.

Nauman said the mine life of the Lucky Queen deposit is estimated currently at five years, about the same for Onek, though the Onek would depend upon the price of zinc.

Exploration drilling is also occurring at the Bellekeno deposit with an aim of expanding its mine life, he said.

In addition to silver, the Bellekeno mine is also producing zinc and lead byproducts.

The company's 2012 summary indicates 2.15 million ounces of silver were produced last year, along with 5.1 million pounds of lead concentrate and 1.6 million pounds of zinc concentrate.

The Keno Hill silver district shut down in January1989 amid slumping silver prices.

Following the bankruptcy of United Keno Hill Mines Ltd. in 2001, the federal government took over care and maintenance.

Alexco obtained ownership of the assets through bankruptcy proceedings. Those included an agreement the company would maintain care and maintenance on behalf of the federal government, and would help in reclaiming 100 years of mining activity.

Nauman said development of the reclamation plan is progressing, though not as quickly as originally anticipated.

There are, he emphasized, a lot of stakeholders and different parties who have to be consulted.

"The heavy lifting is still out there a little ways, but certainly, the plan has come a long way in the last two or three years.”