Pacifico Minerals Limited (ASX: PMY) has bolstered its flagship lead-silver-zinc Sorby Hills Joint Venture Project through the acquisition of the “Eight Mile Creek” tenement E80/5317 in WA’s Kimberly Region.
Eight Mile Creek is 100% owned by Pacifico and covers 217 sq. kmto the northeast of Kununurra and south of the Sorby Hills Joint Venture Project, adding 30 km of strike length of prospective exploration ground adjacent to the Sorby Hills deposit.
Pacifico Managing Director, Simon Noon, said the Sorby Hills Joint Venture Project has established infrastructure and existing permitting allowing for fast tracked production. A Pre-Feasibility Study (PFS) estimated a CAPEX of $95.4 million to develop the mine, with a 16-month payback and a pre-tax NPVof A$243 million.
Following on from a significant Resource upgrade in Q4 2019, resulting in a Global Resource estimate of 36 Mt @ 4.9% Pb equivalent1(3.7% Pb, 39g/t Ag) and 0.5% Zn which lies just 20 metres below surface and is open along strike and down dip, the company is completing an Optimised PFS targeting an increased mining rate and greater processing capacity. The Optimised PFS is progressing well and is expected to be completed during Q2 2020.
The known distribution of mineralisation in the area forms an arc shaped corridor with a rough north-south trend. This corridor follows the contours of the Pincombe Inlier, an island at the time of deposition of the Sorby Hills host rocks that is considered important in the localisation of mineralisation.
With the successful acquisition of the Eight Mile Creek tenement, which extends south along the Pincombe Inlier, the company is excited at the prospect of further mineralisation discoveries. Pacifico now holds all unrestricted exploration property surrounding the Pincombe Inlier, adding a significant holding of the Burt Range Formation that hosts the mineralisation at Sorby Hills.
All known base metal mineralisation of the Bonaparte Basin, and particularly in the Burt Range Sub-Basin, is located along the basin margin. This tenement gives Pacifico access to an additional 30 km of strike length of prospective exploration ground adjacent to the most advanced deposit in the district.
