A partnership between a Broken Hill family and an Australian mining company is attempting to re-inject life into an old mine.
Recent sampling has shown mineral deposits 15 kilometres outside Broken Hill that could potentially support a new open cut or underground development.
Drilling results released last month from the 140-year-old Pinnacles Mine showed high grade deposits of silver, lead and zinc close to the surface.
Coolabah Metals — soon to be renamed Broken Hill Mines Limited after becoming publicly listed — took 27 samples to be lab tested to determine the levels of metal in the soil.
Drilling samples were showcased to analysts and potential investors last month. (ABC Broken Hill: Bill Ormonde)
Independent testing
Pinnacles Mine has been privately owned by Craig Williams and his family since 1952.
Last year, Broken Hill Mines and the Williams family entered into a 70/30 profit share agreement.
Broken Hill Mines head of corporate sustainability Shane Goodwin said before the agreement, not all of the material from the mine was tested independently.
“The minute we get results back from the lab now, because we are going to be publicly listed, that material must be released to the public,” he said.
“So that work involves doing quality assurance and quality control on the drilling that the Williams family has done at Pinnacles to date, sending [material] off to a lab, patiently awaiting results from the lab, and then being able to publish these exciting results.
“What this data indicates to us is that there is an opportunity for us to do further drilling and so get a better understanding of the possibilities out at Pinnacles and to expand that resource going forward.”
Patrick Walta is the chairperson of Broken Hill Mines. (ABC Broken Hill: Bill Ormonde )
Strong mining potential
Resources analyst Gavin Wendt said the results showed the mineralisation was close enough to the surface to be extracted at a “very cheap, low cost”.
“That’s the fundamental positive in it all,” he said.
“The grades are very, very good, so when you put mineralisation that’s near the surface, is fairly consistent, and is also of good grade, that ticks all of the boxes that you want in terms of commerciality.“
Mr Wendt believes there will be a lot of re-investment in exploration, which has been the key thing missing at Pinnacles until now.
“We don’t really know how big this thing [the ore deposit] is going to get and how long it might continue as a fully functioning mine,” he said.
“I think we’re only scraping the surface, literally, so it will be very exciting for the company to get their teeth into some serious exploration work.”
