Alien Metals (UFO ) said it has received ‘excellent’ initial metallurgical results from its Silver Tailings Project at Elizabeth Hill with six samples returning high levels of silver recovery.

The purpose of the test work, which involved six samples being subject to test leaching by ALS Perth, was to determine the proportion of the silver content that is amenable to leaching, with the results assisting in the planning of a more formal test work campaign.

The highest and lowest recoveries taken from the samples were 95.2% and 88.0% respectively while the average silver recovery to solution was 91.9%. Alien added that the results suggest that silver recovery by leaching may be a viable processing method.

Meanwhile, Alien has extended the exclusivity period with the owner of the Silver Tailings Project at Elizabeth Hill, Wombat Resources, for a further 45 days to factor in the backlog of work from laboratories in Perth due to the current high workloads they are experiencing.

Alien, which has an exclusive arrangement to potentially buy the project, said the extension will allow it to undertake further assessment over the potential retreatment and recovery of the silver tailings as discussions continue regarding its potential acquisition of the project.

“We have been aware of the potential of the historic silver tailings at Elizabeth Hill for some time. Knowing that the Elizabeth Hill silver mine’s historic operations were somewhat inefficient and being a very high-grade project with abundant native silver in the orebody we felt that, despite previous reprocessing activities, there is likely significant value remaining in the silver tailings,” said Bill Brodie Good, CEO & Technical Director of UFO. 

The partly retreated tailings came from the original silver mine operations at Elizabeth Hill. Alien’s preliminary assessment indicates that there remains about 16,000 tons of silver tailings on site, based on tonnage of ore extracted from the mine; however further work will be undertaken during the exclusivity period to confirm available tailings for reprocessing. 

“These initial metallurgical results are really encouraging and have given the management confidence that, with further test work, the silver tailings hold potential for economic recovery. With the continued strength in the silver price, currently around $28 USD/Oz, we see potential for the project (Fig 1) to be a significant source of income,” said Brodie Good. 

Figure 1: Location of Elizabeth Hill Silver Project, Western Australia 

(Source: Alien Metals) 

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Today’s news follows positive results published in March 2021 from a sampling program which Alien had undertaken back in December 2020 to test the properties of the tailings. 

At the time, Alien said it would undertake more sample work and analysis to better understand the most efficient and cost-effective processes to extract the silver from the tailings. 

Alien believes the silver tailings project could generate near-term cash flow which could help underpin a range of exploration activities at Elizabeth Hill and the Munni Munni North project. 

Shares in Alien Metals have increased by over 70% since the beginning of October 2020. The stock was trading 4.35% higher this morning at 1.2p following the announcement.  

Reasons To Follow UFO

UFO’s portfolio of exploration stage assets includes volcanogenic massive sulphide style mineralisation (copper, zinc and lead), high-grade silver projects in Mexico and a 51% interest in two highly prospective iron ore projects in the Pilbara region in Australia.    

The company said its portfolio may be expanded to include other minerals such as iron ore and lithium, and jurisdictions within Africa and Asia where its management has demonstrable expertise advancing assets in line with international reporting standards.     

Expanding Licence Areas    

In recent months, Alien was granted a 208 km2 exploration licence by Ironbark Zinc surrounding the Citronen zinc-lead project, a high-grade metal project located in northern Greenland which is believed to be one of the world's largest undeveloped zinc-lead projects.    

The minerals exploration and development company said the project holds a JORC resource of 131.1m tonnes @ 4.5% zinc and lead for 13bn pounds of contained zinc and lead metal.    

The licence is valid until 31 December 2023 and continues UFO’s strategy of identifying counter-cyclical opportunities in first class mining jurisdictions with ‘excellent upside potential.’     

"The Company and its advisers continue to assess new projects and identified an opportunity to secure an exploration footprint in northern Greenland on strike and adjacent to the world class undeveloped Citronen zinc-lead project,”  said CEO, Bill Brodie Good.    

IBK believes the projects offer an attractive entry into one of the world's premier silver belts and will soon start marketing them to a range of potential investors and project partners.    

UFO said it will continue its efforts in exploring and developing the projects and simultaneously consider third party funding options to develop and mine the projects.    

In other recent news, the company has also recently completed a detailed geological mapping and sampling programme at the Hamersley iron ore projects in Australia with field observations indicating that two of its prospects may be part of the same larger system.    

The two projects, which have demonstrated “great potential” are located in the Hamersley Province which is known as one of the premier iron ore producing regions of the world.    
Preliminary handheld XRF results are consistent with those observed in the 2019 field programme, with reported ranges of between 40% and 70% iron.    

Alien Metals has now commenced preparing a Program of Works ("POW") for submission ahead of drilling.    

Meanwhile, North American advisor firm IBK Capital has commenced the marketing process for the Company's San Celso and Los Campos silver projects which are located in Mexico.    

The process for the silver projects follows the successful earn-in transaction with Capstone Mining announced earlier in October 2020 regarding UFO’s Donovan 2 copper-gold project.     
Complementary Acquisitions    

Alien has executed an acquisition-led strategy headed by a high-quality geological team to build a strong portfolio of diversified assets including two recent acquisitions in 2019. 

These include the Brockman and Hancock Ranges high-grade iron ore projects and the Elizabeth Hill Silver projects both located in the Pilbara region, Western Australia.    

In addition to progressing its portfolio of assets and following its strategic review of its portfolio of silver and precious metals projects in Mexico, Alien Metals has identified priority exploration targets within its 9 mining concessions which it is working to advance systematically.     

The Company’s silver projects are located in the Zacatecas State, Mexico’s largest silver producing state which produced over 190m oz of silver in 2018 alone accounting for 45% of the total silver production of Mexico for that year.      

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