TIDMTHR
RNS Number : 1705Y
Thor Mining PLC
01 March 2017
1 March 2017
THOR MINING PLC
COMMENCEMENT OF DRILLING, PILOT MOUNTAIN - NEVADA
The Board of Thor Mining Plc ("Thor" or the "Company") (AIM,
ASX: THR), is pleased to advise the commencement of drilling in a
campaign designed to expand the tungsten resource at the Company's
wholly owned Pilot Mountain tungsten project in Nevada, USA.
The program of eight reverse circulation ("RC") drill holes is
designed to confirm and expand upon existing high grade drill
intersections, which the directors hope will facilitate a
significant increase in the existing Pilot Mountain mineral
resources, and also test for extensions of high grade
mineralisation, intersected in the Desert Scheelite resource in
2012.
Highlights:
-- Two holes target extension of the 2012 high grade Desert
Scheelite intersection from DSDD015 (17.5m @ 5.7% Cu equivalent)
which comprised; 13.9 metres (m) @ 0.89% tungsten trioxide (WO(3) )
from 198m, and 17.5m @1.80% copper and 2.2% zinc from 196m (Figure
2);
-- Six holes to validate selected 1970's Union Carbide
Corporation drill intersections from the Garnet deposit (Figure 3
& 4);
-- Estimation of initial Garnet deposit mineral resource.
-- Potential extension of the existing Pilot Mountain JORC
compliant resource of 6.79 million tonnes (Mt) @ 0.31% WO(3) (Table
1)
Mr Mick Billing, Executive Chairman of Thor: "We have dual
objectives for the drilling programme at Pilot Mountain. The first
of these is to add to the overall project resource inventory by
twinning some historical holes at the Garnet deposit which, if
successful, should allow the preparation of a mineral resource
estimate for this deposit.
"The second & potentially very exciting objective is to test
for potential extension of high grade mineralisation at the eastern
end of the Desert Scheelite resource, which, if successful, could
result in the re-classification of that deposit as a significant
tungsten and copper deposit."
"The proposed significant infrastructure works signalled by the
new US administration is likely to have a positive impact on demand
for tungsten products, and with no current tungsten mining
operations in the country, Pilot Mountain may be well placed to
fill part of that demand."
Thor's Pilot Mountain Project, acquired in 2014, is located
approximately 200 kilometres south of the city of Reno and 20
kilometres east of the town of Mina located on US Highway 95.
The Pilot Mountain Project comprises four tungsten deposits:
Desert Scheelite, Gunmetal, Garnet and Good Hope. All are in close
proximity (three kilometres) to each other and have been subjected
to small-scale mining activities at various times during the 20th
century. Union Carbide acquired the project in 1978, for US$7.0
million (estimated at US$26million - US$40million in 2017 dollars),
and conducted detailed exploration and feasibility activities
until, following a global downturn in the tungsten industry in the
1980s, they suspended further work.
The proposed significant infrastructure works signalled by the
new US administration is likely to have a positive impact on demand
for tungsten products, and with no current tungsten mining
operations in the country, Pilot Mountain may be well placed to
fill part of that demand.
A drill program in 2012 at Desert Scheelite facilitated the
estimate & publication of a resource estimate for that deposit,
shown in Table1. Importantly the final hole of the program
intersected 17.5 metres at 1.80% Copper ("Cu") plus 2.2% Zinc
("Zn") and 32 grams per tonne ("g/t") Silver ("Ag"), along with
13.5m of 0.89% tungsten trioxide ("WO ). At recent commodity prices
(US$2.66/lb Cu, US$1.26/lb Zn, US$16.80/oz Ag, and US$200/mtu WO )
this delivers an equivalent copper grade of 5.7%.
The Desert Scheelite deposit currently comprises 100% of the
Pilot Mountain Resource estimate of 6.7Mt. The objective of the two
holes programmed at this deposit is to test for extensions to the
high grade mineralisation intersected in the last hole drilled into
this deposit in 2012.
Table 1: Pilot Mountain Resource Summary 2014 (JORC 2012),
announced 10 June 2014. 100% owned by Thor Mining Plc
Desert Resource WO(3) Ag Cu
Scheelite
-----------
Tonnes Grade Contained Grade Contained Grade Contained
% metal g/t metal % metal
(t) (t) (t)
----------- --------- ----- ---------- ------ --------- ------ ---------
Indicated 6,090,000 0.31 18,900 24.2 150 0.16 10,000
Inferred 700,000 0.30 2,100 9.1 10 0.24 2,000
----------- --------- ----- ---------- ------ --------- ------ ---------
Total 6,790,000 0.31 21,000 22.8 160 0.17 12,000
----------- --------- ----- ---------- ------ --------- ------ ---------
Link to Figure 2: Desert Scheelite drill intersections viewed in
long section looking northwards. Proposed drill targets and hole
paths shown at the eastern (right hand) end.
http://www.rns-pdf.londonstockexchange.com/rns/1705Y_-2017-3-1.pdf
Table 2: Summary of Pilot Mountain exploration
targets
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Tonnage % WO(3) Comment
(Mt)
------------------- -------- -------- --------------------------
Tier 1 Exploration 7.5 - 0.3 Based on historic
Targets* 13.5 - 0.5 drill intersections
------------------- -------- -------- --------------------------
Tier 2 Exploration 3.5 - 0.3 Based on favourable
Targets* 9.1 - 0.5 geology and proximity
to known mineralisation.
------------------- -------- -------- --------------------------
Total Exploration 11.0 - 0.3 Combined Tier 1
Target* 23.0 - 0.5 & 2
------------------- -------- -------- --------------------------
Tier 1 Exploration Targets* at Pilot Mountain are based on
1970's drilling undertaken by Union Carbide Corporation and total
7.5 to 13.5 Mt at 0.2 to 0.4% WO(3) (Table 2). The proposed
drilling at Garnet will target conversion to resource of between
1.0 to 2.0Mt of the total Tier 1 Exploration Target.
*Exploration Targets are conceptual in nature and there has been
insufficient exploration to define a Mineral Resource under the
JORC Code and it is uncertain if further exploration will result in
the determination of a Mineral Resource.
Link to Figure 3: Six proposed RC drill holes at the Garnet
prospect shown as red dots amongst historic drilling shown as black
dots. The drill program is expected to facilitate the estimation of
an initial mineral resource estimate for the Garnet prospect.
http://www.rns-pdf.londonstockexchange.com/rns/1705Y_1-2017-3-1.pdf
Link to Figure 4: East - west cross section through one of the
seven mineralised zone from the 1970's Union Carbide Corp drilling.
Historic drilling indicates a further two mineralised horizons
exist below that shown in the figure above. (Cross section trace
shown in Figure 3)
http://www.rns-pdf.londonstockexchange.com/rns/1705Y_2-2017-3-1.pdf
To meet the objective of the program at the Garnet deposit Thor
have scheduled six RC drill holes designed as twins to historical
drilling from which the following results were reported
Historical Interval Assay From hole
Drill hole (m) (%WO ) depth
ref (m)
------------- --------- -------- ----------
GR66 3.8 0.50% 3.2
------------- --------- -------- ----------
7.9 0.14% 40.5
------------- --------- -------- ----------
4.9 0.49% 83.6
------------- --------- -------- ----------
GR98 0.7 0.30% 7.8
------------- --------- -------- ----------
4.1 0.28% 13.6
------------- --------- -------- ----------
1.2 0.51% 18.3
------------- --------- -------- ----------
GR100 2.2 0.20% 7.1
------------- --------- -------- ----------
3.4 0.06% 11.5
------------- --------- -------- ----------
4.6 0.36% 15.1
------------- --------- -------- ----------
9.4 0.42% 25.9
------------- --------- -------- ----------
GR-119 2.2 0.32% 29.9
------------- --------- -------- ----------
2.9 0.16% 32.1
------------- --------- -------- ----------
3.0 0.90% 34.9
------------- --------- -------- ----------
GR-123 4.5 0.58% 14.0
------------- --------- -------- ----------
GR-128 7.7 0.04% 18.9
------------- --------- -------- ----------
1.4 0.40% 29.9
------------- --------- -------- ----------
1.2 0.12% 44.2
------------- --------- -------- ----------
1.5 0.12% 48.2
------------- --------- -------- ----------
Enquiries:
Mick Billing +61 (8) 7324 1935 Thor Mining Executive Chairman
PLC
Ray Ridge +61 (8) 7324 1935 Thor Mining CFO/Company
PLC Secretary
Colin Aaronson/ +44 (0) 207 383 Grant Thornton Nominated Adviser
Daniel Bush/ 5100 UK LLP
Richard Tonthat
Elliot Hance +44 (0) 207382 Beaufort Securities Joint Broker
8300 Limited
Nick Emerson +44 (0) 1483 413 SI Capital Ltd Joint Broker
/ Andy Thacker 500
Tim Blythe/ +44 (0) 207 138 Blytheweigh Financial PR
Camilla Horsfall 3222
Competent Person's Report
The information in this report that relates to exploration
results and exploration targets is based on information compiled by
Richard Bradey, who holds a BSc in applied geology and an MSc in
natural resource management and who is a Member of The Australasian
Institute of Mining and Metallurgy. Mr Bradey is an employee of
Thor Mining PLC. He has sufficient experience which is relevant to
the style of mineralisation and type of deposit under consideration
and to the activity which he is undertaking to qualify as a
Competent Person as defined in the 2012 Edition of the
'Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral
Resources and Ore Reserves'. Richard Bradey consents to the
inclusion in the report of the matters based on his information in
the form and context in which it appears.
Link to Figure 5: Pilot Mountain view from the east
http://www.rns-pdf.londonstockexchange.com/rns/1705Y_3-2017-3-1.pdf
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
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