WCE - silver assays expected in mid-late Jan 2026

Our silver Investment West Coast Silver (ASX: WCE) just completed its first aircore drill program at the regional targets surrounding its Elizabeth Hill mine.

WCE owns 70% of the Elizabeth Hill mine - which was once the highest grade silver producing mine in Australia.

The mine produced ~1.2M ounces of silver at average grades of ~2,194g/t (over a 12 month period 25 years ago).

WCE has been drilling into and immediately surrounding the Elizabeth Hill mine, aiming to find near surface and deeper extensions to the known resource.

It recently saw visible silver, which we covered here, so we expect to see the results of this soon.

Additionally, WCE has also been doing shallower drilling with the aim to generate drill targets for deeper follow-up drilling programs, which is the focus of today’s news.

Here is where the drilling was done:

(Source)

WCE has confirmed today that strong geological indicators similar to the Elizabeth Hill mine have been identified.

Aircore assay results are expected by the end of February 2026, while diamond drill assays are anticipated in mid-late January 2026.

We are particularly interested in the exploration of the surrounding areas in addition to the areas immediately adjacent to the mine and known mineralisation.

When WCE acquired the Elizabeth Hill project, it also acquired the surrounding leases so it will also be aiming to see if it can find another mine similar to Elizabeth Hill.

We are Invested to see WCE find near surface mineralisation at Elizabeth Hill and have a crack at making repeat discoveries on regional targets.

(Source)

The Elizabeth hill mine sits on a geological fault which extends for hundreds of meters north and south on the mine lease alone (WCE also has rights to the surrounding leases), this will be one of the surrounding areas of focus.

There are already several regional targets, so the geophysical surveys and aircore drilling results will be used to help further define and rank and possibly discover new targets for deeper drilling.

What else is WCE up to?

WCE is currently drilling its phase 2 drill program with assays due soon from holes which have intersected visual silver mineralisation (confirmed with a portable XRF unit which we covered here.

It’s worth noting that while pXRF readings offer useful preliminary insights, they are not a replacement for detailed laboratory assay results.

Here are those drilling results from an aerial view:

(Source)

Here is a side on view of where today’s XRF results came from (noting the blue stars are near surface):

(Source)

All of these samples have been sent to the lab for assay with WCE expecting results as early as mid December and continuing into early next year.

What’s next for WCE?

Drilling results from phase two drill program🔄

We are especially looking forward to what comes from the deeper drillholes from the phase two drill program, especially with the visual silver and silver mineralisation being reported.

Results are expected from mid to late January. (source)

(Source)

Near-mine and regional exploration 🔄

We want to see the results of the geophysics and air core drilling that is now complete to further define near-mine and regional targets, assays for this are due by the end of February (source):

(Source - WCE announcement 22 August 2025)

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.

Recently 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.