Broken Hill Mines (ASX: BHM) has restarted mining activity at the Pinnacles silver-lead-zinc mine in New South Wales for the first time since operations were placed on care and maintenance during the Covid pandemic in 2021.
The restart forms part of the company’s strategy to progressively ramp up its 750,000 tonne per annum Rasp processing plant through multiple ore sources.
Pinnacles will provide an additional high-grade feed source alongside Main Lode and the company’s existing long-term Western Min ore supply at Rasp.
First ore from Pinnacles is expected to be trucked 15 kilometres to the Rasp mill for processing during the June quarter.
Mining Restart Underway
Mining contractor mobilisation has been completed and preparatory earthworks are continuing at Pinnacles, with open-pit activity, drill-and-blast, and truck-and-shovel operations now underway.
The restart makes Pinnacles the second high-grade ore feed Broken Hill Mines has brought online within 12 months of its ASX listing.
The company is building a hub-and-spoke production model centred on the Rasp processing facility, designed to combine feed from Pinnacles, Main Lode and Western Min into a single processing pathway producing silver in lead concentrate, lead concentrate, zinc concentrate, and copper and gold in lead concentrate.
Broken Hill Mines holds a binding joint venture agreement covering mining operations at Pinnacles, where it acts as exclusive operator and receives about 70% of profits from operations after agreed net smelter return calculations and deductions.
Open Pit the Focus
Initial work at Pinnacles is focused on restarting and expanding the existing open pit, which remains open at depth.
Broken Hill Mines has identified up to 50,000t of high-grade ore in the base of the existing pit, where mining stopped abruptly due to logistical constraints during the Covid pandemic.
The company plans to progressively expand the open pit into the Consols South, Fishers, Rope Shaft, and Junction areas.
Those plans are targeting existing high-grade resources and new shallow drilling areas across the broader Pinnacles system.
High-Grade Intercepts
Pinnacles open-pit potential has been supported by significant silver-lead-zinc intercepts released over the past 12 months that included 7.9m at 56.4% zinc equivalent and 1,562 grams per tonne silver equivalent from 57m, including 921g/t silver, 18.8% lead, 6.8% zinc, 0.1% copper, and 0.7g/t gold.
The current historical Pinnacles mineral resource estimate is 6 million tonnes at 13.5% zinc equivalent and 374g/t silver equivalent.
This includes 132g/t silver, 3.3% lead, and 4.7% zinc.
Broken Hill Mines plans to release an updated mineral resource estimate in late 2026 for Pinnacles, which was discovered in 1886 and has been mined intermittently from underground and open-cut operations.
Broken Hill Mines believes the project also has strong potential for very high-grade underground operations, and is assessing that opportunity as a potential additional near-term ore feed source for the Rasp processing plant.
