WCE now drilling with two rigs at the Elizabeth Hill Silver mine
Our silver exploration Investment West Coast Silver (ASX: WCE), just started diamond drilling at the historic Elizabeth Hill silver mine in WA.
The diamond drilling is in addition to the 4,000m RC drill program that got underway 2 weeks ago.
So now, WCE is drilling for extensions all across the northern section of the old mine workings:
(source)
Elizabeth Hill is one of Australia's highest-grade silver projects where the historical underground mine produced 1.2 million ounces of silver from just 16,830 tonnes of ore at a head grade of 2,194g/t silver. (source)
Mining stopped in 2000 when silver was sitting at US$5 per ounce, today it's a very different silver market with prices currently over US$75/ounce.
We Invested in WCE because we think there's a lot more silver to be found at Elizabeth Hill so this drilling program is designed to find out exactly how much more sits beneath the old mine.
With the current drilling WCE is doing we should start to see whether or not that is the case.
WCE is drilling 6 diamond holes here:
(source)
And a big RC program to the north, here:
(source)
And here is an image of what WCE believes it could find, with potential for a new mineralised areas closer to surface and at further depth:
(source)
Next we want to see WCE work toward a maiden JORC resource for the project.
This is expected around Q4, with an open pit mining Scoping of Works expected to follow that also in Q4 (source).
Last week WCE released an updated presentation, you can check that out here to see what WCE is up to and the plan going forward:
(source)
What's next for WCE?
🔄 Assay results from the current drilling.
We want to see results from both the RC and Diamond drill programs.
Diamond drilling is expected to take ~six weeks with assays due this quarter.
WCE also has RC drilling underway to the north of the historical mine.
Results from that program should flow through in a similar timeframe.
Update on processing negotiations 🔄
In a prior exploration update, WCE said it was in discussions with Artemis Resources who own the Radio Hill processing plant, ~20km away.
Late last year WCE confirmed that these negotiations have progressed to a MOU to look further into processing ore at this plant.
The plant has been idle for some years now and was previously being refurbished by Artemis but due primarily to a fall in nickel prices, has not been utilised for several years so there exists a conveniently located opportunity.
