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A new Broken Hill mining agreement looks set to secure the city's historic mining industry for the next five decades.
Pinnacles Mine, which sits 15 kilometres south-west of Broken Hill, has entered what some are calling a "game changing" agreement with Broken Hill Mines Limited (BHM).
The mine is believed to hold 6 million tonnes of high-grade silver, zinc and lead, with the potential for other large deposits nearby contributing another 15 million tonnes.
This week's agreement has seen BHM purchase 70 per cent of Pinnacles Mine's profit share.
Geologist Ian Plimer believed the move would be a "game changer" for the mining city.
"[While] the top 50 metres around Broken Hill have been fairly well explored … certainly not at the Pinnacles," he said.
"We're getting techniques now where we can go a lot deeper.
"I think this is going to stimulate exploration at Broken Hill."
Pinnacles Mine has been found to contain zinc, lead, silver, copper and even gold. (ABC Broken Hill: Oliver Brown)
Mr Plimer was also hopeful the move would lead to new local employment opportunities.
“Hope, that's what it gives Broken Hill," he said.
"It gives us hope that there are jobs here for the kids.”
Craig Williams' family has owned Pinnacles Mine since 1952. (ABC Broken Hill: Oliver Brown)
'A bigger shovel'
Craig Williams's family has privately owned the Pinnacles Mine since 1952.
However, Mr Williams said it had become clear the resource-rich mine was too much for the family to manage alone.
He said the new agreement with BHM provided "a bigger shovel" to help them access more deposits of zinc, lead, silver, copper and gold from the site, which he believes easily has another 50 years in it.
"It's not a family concern no more," Mr Williams said.
"We'd be there 1,000 years at our rate to mine it."
Mr Williams said while BHM will now take a significant chunk of the profits, his family will still receive a percentage as he plans to continue working on the business.
Craig Williams is still eager to keep working alongside BHM on the family mine. (ABC Broken Hill: Oliver Brown)
BHM was listed for the first time in May this year.
Shortly after it formed, the company announced it would be acquiring the city's CBH Rasp Mine.
Mr Williams said this latest agreement will help the company with cashflow.
"There's not a lot of cash up-front," he said.
"So they can utilise that cash [from Pinnacles] to develop Rasp Mine as well as Pinnacles Mine."
Pinnacles a 'special' mining site
BHM executive director Patrick Walta said the Pinnacles site was quite "special" and would be a "multi-decade" project.
"Pinnacles is really the last known virgin ore body in Broken Hill," he said.
"It's got nearly 3,000 metres of drilling core there that hasn't even been assayed yet and developed."
Mr Walta added that acquiring an existing mine was always his first preference.
"You know the timeline from a discovery [of a new mine] through to production for any ore bodies is probably 10 to 15 years, assuming it's economic and can be developed," Mr Walta said.
"But if you can acquire an old mine … and reinvigorate it, you can compress it into one to two years."
Peter Strachan thinks the Pinnacles mine will be a viable project for BHM. (Supplied: StockAnalysis)
Independent mining analyst Peter Strachan agreed.
"When you don't have to spend $300 million on a concentrating plant and the tailings and all the other infrastructure, that's a huge leg up," he said.
"Because that reduces your capital cost to get into production."
Mr Strachan said the new venture looked promising.
"The ore seems to grade, you know, one to four ounces a tonne of silver," he said.
"With silver at over $US31 an ounce … that's not bad."