Variscan Mines (ASX:VAR) has kicked off drilling at an underground mine formerly unoccupied on-site its larger Novales-Udias project

The mine, called Udias, represents a brownfield opportunity for the company – and Variscan noted on Thursday drillers for the company haven’t previously tested it.

It’s connected to another mine called San Jose and along 3km of strike in a south westerly direction connecting to that latter asset. Drilling back at Udias was informed by historical underground sampling of exposed rockface.

High-grade lead and zinc results geotechs interpret to confirm mineralisation outside Variscan’s existing mineral resource estimate area geospatial boundaries.

With drill targets now in place, the company is hoping it can use its recently acquired Estela licence to make worth this latest plan of attack. Drillers will start at the southern end of Udias, an asset with three levels.

An in-house rig possessed by Variscan will be used which the company.

“Our acquisition and interpretation of historical data has certainly been value-accretive,” Variscan CEO Stewart Dickson said.

“It has given us operational leverage as we believe that a sizeable tonnage of high-grade zinc sulphide mineralization remains and has been untouched for nearly a century.

“The Udias Mine complex is substantially larger than San Jose and comparatively under-explored.”

VAR last traded at 0.7cps.

Join the discussion: See what HotCopper users are saying about Variscan Mines and be part of the conversations that move the markets.