- New Century Resources (NCZ) has begun a 5300-metre drilling program at the Silver King deposit which is part of the Century Zinc Mine in Queensland
- The deposit was discovered in 1887 and contains 186,000 tonnes of zinc, 337,500 tonnes of lead and 10.5 million ounces of silver
- However, New Century’s resource definition drilling program is aimed at upgrading the existing resource to the measured and indicated category
- The program is expected to be completed by April and an updated mineral resource estimate is targeted for June
- Company shares are down 1.11 per cent and are trading at 22.3 cents
New Century Resources (NCZ) has announced a 32-hole infill diamond drilling program is now underway at the Silver King deposit.
The Silver King lead-zinc-silver deposit is located three kilometres west of the Century processing plant and is part of the Century Zinc Mine in Queensland.
The 5300-metre program is initially focused on defining a mineral resource for the historic, high-grade Silver King deposit.
Silver King currently has an inferred mineral resource of 2.7 million tonnes at 6.9 per cent zinc, 12.5 per cent lead and 120g/t silver for 186,000 tonnes of zinc, 337,500 tonnes of lead and 10.5 million ounces of silver.
The deposit is known to host mineralisation and NCZ hopes to upgrade that to an indicated or measured confidence level.
Significantly, the deposit was discovered in 1887 and is one of the first earliest identified deposits in the region. It was mined intermittently until 1961 and is believed to have produced 3149 tonnes of lead and 101,000 ounces of silver in high-grade direct ship ore (DSO).
The resource definition drilling will be completed in the upper section of the deposit to a 20-metre-by-20-metre spacing.
The program is expected to be completed by April and an updated mineral resource estimate is targeted for June.
New Century will also collect samples for metallurgical test work and ore sorting assessment.
Additionally, New Century Resources has completed an optimisation study for the potential near-term development of Silver King and East Fault Block, which is also part of the Century Zinc Mine.
The drilling results, metallurgical test work and optimisation work will be used to complete a development study ahead of a final investment decision in the third quarter of the year.
Company shares are down 1.11 per cent and are trading at 22.3 cents at 3:12 pm AEDT.