Alien Metals Ltd (AIM:UFO, OTC:ASLRF) said it started work to re-open the historic underground mine at the Elizabeth Hill silver project.
Elizabeth Hill, the only pure silver mine in Western Australia, has been closed for more than 20 years. Under the previous owner the mine produced more than 1 million ounces of silver with exceptional grades of 2,195 grammes a tonne.
The original underground mining team has been commissioned and the equipment is en-route to the project.
"We have been very fortunate to both find and secure the services of personnel with previous experience of the Elizabeth Hill silver project,” said chief executive Bill Brodie Good. “This local knowledge will be incredibly valuable during the re-opening work at Elizabeth Hill.”
“Going back underground presents us with a fantastic opportunity to work on the remaining resource and increase our knowledge and geological understanding of the project.”
Re-opening of the existing underground workings will provide access to the unmined orebody in the workings as well as enable detailed mapping and sampling of the orebody to better understand potential extensions, the company said.
It will also give Alien the opportunity to update the silver resource directly from underground and to accelerate drilling of the polymetallic mineralised halo from underground.
Alien said it expects to receive initial assay results from the most recent drilling programme, which intersected visual silver and nickel and copper sulphide mineralisation, this month.