Alicanto has picked up one of the largest and highest grade historical silver mines in Europe that may still have significant exploration upside.

Standout numbers at the Sala mine in Bergslagen, Sweden, include the production of more than 200 million oz of silver at grades of up to 7,000 grams per tonne (g/t) silver – and averaging at 1,244g/t silver – as well as 35,000t of lead up to when it was shut in 1962 on the belief that it was mined out.

Alicanto Minerals (ASX:AQI) is keen to prove that this belief is wrong, noting that historical step-out drilling carried out in 2012 intersected 0.67m at 844g/t silver and 16.3 per cent lead from a depth of 250m.

This suggests that Sala mineralisation remains open at depth and along strike.

The company has also identified several new untested targets to the southwest of Sala as a result of structural folding of the same stratigraphic sequence as the Sala orebody and the Prince mineralisation.

Managing director Peter George says the Sala project and its Greater Falun project about 100km to the northwest would have been explored many years ago if their geology was understood and they were not held in part by companies focused on other projects.

“The presence of extensive high-grade copper-gold mineralisation with by-products of silver, zinc and lead at Falun has been well-established through both mining and exploration,” he said.

“However, the full potential in the Greater Falun area has yet to be unlocked.

“To now have Sala in our suite of projects is a significant addition to our portfolio within the Bergslagen area.”

Sala silver mine

Sulphide mineralisation at Sala is hosted in dolomitic marble and occurs dominantly as silver-bearing galena.

While it was originally believed that mineralisation ceased at the 320m level, historical drilling in 2012 demonstrated that it continues to plunge to the north from the historic mine area and remains open and untested to the north and down-dip.

Additionally, previous drilling also highlighted a promising intersection of 37.2m at 50g/t silver and 6.1 per cent zinc at the Prince lode.

The company plans to start drilling at Sala once permits have been approved, which is expected in the current quarter.

 

This article was developed in collaboration with Alicanto Minerals, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing.

 

This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.

 

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