Broken Hill Mines (BHM) has begun mining and processing from the Blackwoods ore body of its Rasp mine in the city of Broken Hill.
The move to ore extraction comes ahead of schedule, and represents the first underground mining at Blackwoods since the mid-1970s.
The Rasp mine is located in the centre of the city, at the heart of the famous Line of Lode memorial. It contains two ore bodies that were already being mined, with both the Western Mineralisation and Main Lode deposits offering high grades of silver, lead, and zinc.
The Blackwoods operations provide immediate exposure to high grade silver, as highlighted by recent intercepts, collected from outside the existing mineral resource estimate.
The reported assays include one sample, taken from 4.3m, showing 1,919 grams per tonne (g/t) of silver equivalent (made up of 473 g/t silver, 19.6 per cent lead, 19.5 per cent zinc, and 0.1 per cent copper). Another assay, taken from 2.1m, shows 2,103 g/t silver equivalent (made up of 422 g/t silver, 26.8 per cent lead, 21.4 per cent zinc, and 0.1 per cent copper).
While ore from Blackwoods will be processed for all minerals, it is the silver that BHM is most interested in at this time. The company has noted it is focused on increasing its exposure to the precious metal as the world silver price approaches an all-time high of $US50 per ounce.
Mining of Main Lode and Blackwoods also delivers a secondary high grade feed source for processing, complementing existing feed from the Western Mineralisation. This forms a key initiative of BHM’s strategy to fully utilise its annual 750,000 tonnes capacity at its processing plant on site.
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