Peel Mining (ASX: PEX) believes its wholly-owned Wagga Tank and Southern Nights deposits are of similar scale to other world class Cobar Basin mines at time of first production after reporting a robust maiden resource at deposits.
The Indicated and Inferred Mineral Resource Estimate came in at 4.1Mt at 5.1% Zn, 1.9% Pb, 71 g/t Ag, 0.28% Cu and 0.32 g/t Au for 210,000t contained Zn, 80,000t contained Pb, 9.5Moz contained Ag, 12,000t contained Cu, and 42,000 oz contained Au o or 9.2% Zinc Equivalent1 (ZnEq) for 382,000t contained ZnEq.
Importantly, around 28% of the resource tonnage and 45% of the contained metal tonnage was classified at an Indicated level with the respective balances being classified at an Inferred level.
The MRE also included a high-grade estimate of 1.8Mt @ 9.0% Zn, 3.6% Pb, 116 g/t Ag, 0.19% Cu and 0.29g/t Au, or 15% ZnEq, using a 7% ZnEq cut-off while 290,000t @ 21.4% Zn, 9.1% Pb, 215 g/t Ag, 0.28% Cu, 0.57 g/t Au, or 34.5% ZnEq, occurred as massive sulphide mineralisation at Southern Nights, commencing at 150m below surface.
Peel believes the discovery cost of ~US$30 per tonne (US$0.015 per pound) Zinc Equivalent compares favourably against recent global industry averages of more than US$100 per tonne (US$0.05 per pound) zinc.
Peel Mining Managing Director Mr Rob Tyson said Peel’s exploration team were able to deliver the resource in less than two years from discovery and at a fraction of the cost of many of its peers.
“A great deal of knowledge has come from this work and the potential for the project to grow is excellent,” he said.
“It is worth noting that the scale of resource at Wagga Tank-Southern Nights is similar to that of other Cobar Basin mines at the time they were brought into production – mines that have gone on to become world-class operations.
“We now look forward to advancing Wagga Tank-Southern Nights’ development scenario studies to ultimately complement our pending development of Mallee Bull.”
Peel will now begin Scoping Studies to advance the potential development scenarios at Wagga Tank-Southern Nights.
Activities currently underway include detailed metallurgical testwork, ongoing geotechnical studies, pre-development environmental baseline work, new geophysical surveys and drill planning targeting potential extensions to mineralisation.
The Wagga Tank-Southern Nights mineral system remains open along strike and down dip.
The MRE was the culmination of more than 70,000m of RC and diamond drilling completed by Peel since acquiring the Wagga Tank project in 2016. The bulk of that drilling has been focused on the high-grade Southern Nights deposit following its discovery in late 2017.
Shares in Peel were last trading at 34.5c, up 0.5c or 1.5% on Tuesday valuing the company at around $83.7 million.
