- 01Pinnacles Phase 2 near open pit; high-grade hits.
- 02Best: 3.8m @31.5% ZnEq, 873 g/t AgEq.
- 03Phase 2: 25,000m; results feed year-end resource upgrade.
Broken Hill Mines (ASX: BHM) has reported an extensive list of high-grade intercepts from Phase 2 drilling proximal to the historical open pit area of the restarted Pinnacles lead-zinc-silver mine in New South Wales.
Assays from 29 drill holes targeting ore immediately under and adjacent to the open pit identified broad and shallow mineralisation.
Best assays of 3.8 metres at 31.5% zinc equivalent (ZnEq) and 873 grams per tonne silver equivalent (AgEq) from 77m, and 14.4m at 20.3% ZnEq and 561g/t AgEq from 69.3m, along with gold-copper assays of 5.6m at 3.2g/t gold and 0.2% copper from 87m, and 10m at 1.6g/t gold and 0.3% copper from 111m.
Broken Hill Mines believes the results represent “premium strategic value”, and support open pit mining operations during current buoyant market conditions, where the price of zinc has increased to US$3,800 per tonne and silver has rebounded to US$64 per ounce.
Ongoing Phase 2 Campaign
According to the company, the 25,000m Phase 2 extensional and infill campaign is “progressing strongly”, and will inform its analysis of open-pit mining and underground options.
Drilling at the Junction and Rope Shaft prospects builds on historical results connecting south to the Fishers and Consols targets, which form part of the initial restart of the Pinnacles mine and continue to deliver strong shallow mineralisation.
Notable widespread gold and copper overprinting continues to be observed, strengthening the polymetallic nature of the Pinnacles ore body.
Over 6,000m of drilled core is currently being logged, sampled, and assayed and approximately 31,000m of processed results will be incorporated into a planned mineral resource estimate upgrade before year end.
Pinnacles Development
The Pinnacles mine is a stratiform silver-rich sulphide deposit discovered in 1886 and mined intermittently from underground and open cut operations.
Broken Hill Mines holds a binding heads of agreement over the Pinnacles development with Pinnacles Mines and Broken Hill Pinnacles that gives it exclusive operator status at the mine.
Ore from Pinnacles is transported and processed at the company’s Rasp processing plant, approximately 15km away.
Pinnacles profits are shared on a 70:30 basis (whereby Broken Hill Mines takes the majority share) via an agreed net smelter return calculation with applicable deductions.
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