West Coast Silver Drills 1,800m to Grow 2.8 Moz Silver Resource Toward 2027 Scoping Study
Key Takeaways
- West Core Drilling mobilises the week of 5 October 2026 to commence an 18-hole, ~1,800m diamond drilling program at Elizabeth Hill, funded by a A$6 million capital raise completed in September 2026.
- The program targets four distinct workstreams: MRE confidence uplift (6 holes), western step-out exploration beyond the 2.8 Moz resource boundary (8 holes), high-grade Deeps zone continuity (2 holes), and down-plunge testing below the historic 102 Level (2 holes).
- The Elizabeth Hill Deeps zone has already returned intercepts including 7m @ 607 g/t Ag and a 1m sub-interval at 3,340 g/t Ag — a structurally separate, open-ended high-grade target that commands attention within the program.
- A November 2026 MRE update is already scheduled independently of this program, with a second MRE update incorporating H2 2026 drill results targeted for March 2027 and a Q1 2027 Scoping Study covering financial, processing, mine planning, and ESG review.
- The broader 180 km² tenement package holds multiple Elizabeth Hill-style analogues along the Munni Munni Fault system, extending the exploration upside well beyond the current 2.8 Moz resource.
Drill program scheduled at one of Australia’s highest-grade silver projects
West Coast Silver (ASX: WCE) is commencing an 18-hole diamond drilling program of approximately 1,800m at the Elizabeth Hill Silver Project in Western Australia, with West Core Drilling scheduled to mobilise in the week of 5 October 2026. The program targets resource definition, step-out exploration, and high-grade zone continuity across four distinct workstreams.
Elizabeth Hill carries a formidable historical pedigree. The project produced 1.2 Moz of silver from just 16,830t of ore at a head grade of 2,194 g/t Ag, placing it among Australia’s highest-grade silver projects based on historical production grades.
The H2 2026 program directly delivers on the objectives of the company’s A$6 million September 2026 capital raise, as confirmed by CEO Sergei Smolonogov.
Sergei Smolonogov, CEO
“The program is focused on four objectives: increasing confidence in the current resource, testing extensions west of the resource, establishing continuity of the high-grade Elizabeth Hill Deeps zone and testing a potential down-plunge extension below the historic mine.”
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Four workstreams, one clear objective — growing a 2.8 Moz silver resource
The H2 2026 program is structured around four workstreams, each tied to a specific resource-development or exploration objective:
- MRE Development (6 holes, 510m) — targets selected Inferred mineralisation above the historic mine workings to support potential reclassification to Indicated status; also provides core for geotechnical and metallurgical sampling.
- Western Extension (8 holes, 640m) — tests broad silver mineralisation outside the current 2.8 Moz MRE block model, where prior RC and diamond drilling has already defined a zone of low-to-moderate grade silver in granite northwest and west of Elizabeth Hill.
- Elizabeth Hill Deeps (2 holes, 360m) — tests the continuity of a newly identified high-grade silver zone on a structural trend separate from the Munni Munni Fault Zone; the zone remains open to the east and south.
- Underground Workings Plunge Extension (2 holes, 290m) — targets the immediate down-plunge gap beneath the deepest historic workings (102 Level), where previous drilling is sparse.
| Workstream | Holes | Metres | Objective |
|---|---|---|---|
| MRE Development | 6 | 510m | Inferred-to-Indicated conversion + test work |
| Western Extension | 8 | 640m | Step-out beyond 2.8 Moz MRE boundary |
| Elizabeth Hill Deeps | 2 | 360m | High-grade zone continuity definition |
| Underground Plunge Extension | 2 | 290m | Below 102 Level down-plunge testing |
The Deeps target is a standout within the program. Three intercepts define this zone and illustrate why it commands attention: AG33 returned 4m @ 223 g/t Ag from 190m; UGD084 returned 7m @ 607 g/t Ag from 57m, including 1m @ 3,340 g/t Ag from 61m; and 26WCDD029 returned 3m @ 524 g/t Ag from 183m, including 1.5m @ 1,039 g/t Ag from 184.5m.
Recent drilling has now bracketed the Deeps zone, with holes passing both above and below the interpreted zone, giving the team a more tightly constrained target for this program.
The high-grade zone at depth sits on a structural trend separate from the Munni Munni Fault Zone, and remains open to the east and south, giving the two Deeps holes in this program a well-constrained but genuinely open-ended target.
What is a Mineral Resource Estimate — and why does this drilling matter?
A Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) is a formal calculation of the quantity and grade of mineralisation in the ground that has reasonable prospects for eventual economic extraction. Under the JORC Code (the Australian standard for resource reporting), resources are classified by geological confidence into three categories: Inferred (lowest confidence), Indicated (moderate confidence), and Measured (highest confidence).
The distinction between Inferred and Indicated is commercially significant. Indicated resources carry sufficient geological confidence to inform ore reserve estimates. Upgrading Inferred material to Indicated is therefore a key step in advancing a project from exploration toward development.
For West Coast Silver, the MRE Development workstream is explicitly designed to support this reclassification. A November 2026 MRE update is already scheduled, with drilling results from this H2 program expected to feed into a further MRE update targeted for March 2027 and a Q1 2027 Scoping Study.
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Key milestones ahead — from drill results to Scoping Study
The program establishes a clear sequence of milestones through to the first half of 2027:
- Week of 5 October 2026: West Core Drilling mobilises to site
- Early to mid-October through early to mid-December 2026: H2 2026 drilling program underway
- November 2026: MRE update (separate from H2 2026 drilling results)
- March 2027: Second MRE update, incorporating H2 2026 drilling results
- Q1 2027: Scoping Study outcomes, covering first-pass financial, processing, mine planning, and ESG review
Importantly, drill core from this program will be geotechnically, metallurgically, and structurally logged as part of Scoping Study test works. This is not purely an exploration program; it is building the technical dataset required for project development evaluation.
The broader project scale reinforces the longer-term exploration upside. The consolidated 180 km² tenement package holds a significant portion of the Munni Munni Fault system, which is considered prospective for Elizabeth Hill-style analogues, extending the growth story well beyond the current 2.8 Moz MRE.
Near-mine exploration targets identified along the Munni Munni Fault system extend the project’s growth story well beyond the four workstreams in this program, with geochemical and structural mapping having outlined multiple Elizabeth Hill-style analogues across the 180 km2 tenement package.
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