West Coast Silver kicks off next drill phase at Elizabeth Hill chasing more bonanza silver

• Diamond drilling tests near-surface silver and prospective areas at depth below historical workings
• Phase 2 program follows multiple bonanza grade hits in first round
• Geophysical surveys complete; processing scheduled to wrap up within 1-2 weeks

Special Report: With silver prices ripping higher to record levels, West Coast Silver has initiated a second round of diamond drilling at the Elizabeth Hill silver project in the quest to uncover more high-grade mineralisation.

Following multiple bonanza-grade silver hits from the first round of drilling, West Coast Silver (ASX:WCE) is putting the diamond bit to work to test near-surface mineralisation and areas at depth below historical workings.

WCE plans to complete 14 holes for about 1300 metres with scope to expand the program depending on drilling success.

West Coast Silver executive chair Bruce Garlick said the company was moving quickly to build on outstanding silver grades from its initial campaign.

“Phase 2 is designed to do two things: demonstrate near-surface continuity in the oxide zone and test a high-conviction deeper target that could represent a down-plunge repeat of the Elizabeth Hill system,” he said.

The company has also completed a transient electromagnetic and drone survey over the tenure.

WCE is still processing the data and expects results within a week or two. These will be used to refine an aircore drilling program scheduled for November.

Delving deeper beneath Elizabeth Hill

One of the core goals of WCE’s second round of diamond drilling is to test extensions to the historical mining works at Elizabeth Hill.

The mine produced 1.2Moz of silver at a very high grade of 2,194g/t up until the year 2000, when falling silver prices mothballed the operation after only about 12 months.

WCE believes there is an untapped down plunge extension to the original Elizabeth Hill mine mineralisation at the southern end of the deposit.

Results from three historical drill holes which intersected this southern plunge extension all demonstrated high-grade mineralisation similar to that recorded within the main deposit.

The first underground diamond drill hole (UGD084) hit 2m at 1,995g/t Ag from 61m within an interval of 6m at 705g/t from 57m down hole.

A second underground drill hole (UGD085) intersected massive nickel sulphides grading up to 1m at 23,304ppm nickel, 6,013ppm copper, 1,078ppm lead, 4,104ppm zinc and 50ppm Ag from 52m downhole.

Results from the third historically drilled hole, AG33, returned up to 4m at 223g/t Ag from 190m.

West Coast is actively testing this prospective area with its latest round of diamond drilling, and will further investigate areas of shallow mineralisation with an aircore program later this year.

This article was developed in collaboration with West Coast Silver, 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.