Dundas Project - Maiden Drilling

RNS Number : 3268E

Thor Mining PLC

05 April 2011

 

THOR MINING PLC

DUNDAS PROJECT -COPPER AND GOLD MINERALISATION FROM MAIDEN DRILLING PROGRAM

Dated: 5 April 2011

The Directors of Thor Mining PLC ("Thor" or the "Company") (AIM, ASX: THR, THRO), the exploration company focussed on gold and base metal projects and advancing tungsten-molybdenum projects in the Northern Territory of Australia are pleased to advise peak values of 0.25% copper AND 0.17 grams/tonne (g/t) gold are reported from Thor's first drilling program at the Dundas Gold Project in Western Australia.

HIGHLIGHTS

·     Peak values of 0.25% copper & 0.17 grams/tonne gold;

·     Drill testing into top of bedrock only;

·     More anomaly's scheduled for testing; and

·     Follow-up drilling planned.

The 66 hole air core and RAB drilling program was designed to test the top section of weathered bedrock in portion of a 6km² anomaly identified from the 2010 surface calcrete sampling in EL 63/872.

Figure 1: Dundas Location Map

http://www.rns-pdf.londonstockexchange.com/rns/3268E_-2011-4-5.pdf  

Copper Mineralisation

Strongly anomalous copper values (>250ppm) are reported from 20 holes.  Most of these define and lie within a 100-200 metre wide zone trending north-south through the area tested, coincident with the axis of the geochemical anomaly.  Peak values of 2,751ppm and 1,291 ppm are considered to represent copper mineralisation.

Gold Mineralisation

Anomalous gold values (>10 ppb) occur in 16 of the 66 holes, mostly coincident with the axis of the geochemical anomaly.  More importantly, peak values of 174, 75 and 62 ppb are considered to indicate the occurrence of gold mineralisation (Figure 2).  Each of these samples is located within the copper-anomalous zone described below and each is associated with an elevated copper assay.  In each case the material sampled is semi-fresh weathered bedrock, without visible evidence of supergene remobilisation.  A fourth high value (144 ppb) is recorded in saprolite towards the western end of the northernmost drill traverse and may reflect a separate feature.

Figure 2: Dundas Project - contour of maximum copper values

http://www.rns-pdf.londonstockexchange.com/rns/3268E_1-2011-4-5.pdf

Drill Program and Geology

The largely aircore drilling program of 2,488metres (m) comprised 66 vertical holes, spaced 25 metres apart on three east-west traverses 200m apart.  They test a strong calcrete geochemical gold anomaly (Figure 3) in the eastern part of EL E63/872 (Figure 1).

All drill holes reached fresh bedrock at the base of a weathering profile 20 to 60 metres thick.

The basement mainly comprises quartz-felspar-biotite gneiss with variable garnet and pyroxene content, often with minor disseminated fine-grained pyrite.  Occasional holes intersected layers of mafic gneiss.

This first exploration drilling ever in this tenement area also confirms the validity of the calcrete geochemical sampling used as a reconnaissance technique.

Figure 3: Dundas aircore traverses

http://www.rns-pdf.londonstockexchange.com/rns/3268E_2-2011-4-5.pdf

Next steps at Dundas

The mineralised zone outlined by this geochemical drill program is open to both north and south.

Thor has identified at least five other areas of gold and copper anomalies in calcrete, elsewhere within EL E63/872 and within EL E63/1102 (adjacent to the north), which warrant better definition by more detailed infill calcrete sampling.

Elsewhere, reconnaissance calcrete geochemical survey of EL E63/1102 is yet to be completed.  In the immediate future, priority will be given to continuation of this program.

The next drilling program at Dundas will give priority to further testing of bedrock beneath geochemical anomalies, including the extensions of the mineralisation identified by the program just completed.

The mineralisation identified by this drilling will then be tested by deeper drilling later in the year, in conjunction with the testing of additional targets generated by the geochemical programs outlined above.

The timing of future drilling programs is subject to completion of permitting and Aboriginal heritage surveys.

Reconnaissance calcrete geochemical sampling of EL E63/1101 (located 15 km to the west of EL E63/872, and situated on a previously identified gold-mineralised trend), commenced earlier this week.

Commenting on the results, the Chairman of Thor, Mr Mick Billing, said today "these first results in the top metre or so of bedrock are extremely encouraging, particularly the strong copper values.  We have only drill tested a small portion of this anomaly and we are generating more targets with each field trip.   We will be scheduling follow-up drilling as a matter of urgency".

About the Dundas Project

The Thor Dundas Project is situated in Western Australia within the Albany-Fraser Province.  The project tenements lie on the general strike-extension of the most prolific gold-bearing belt of the Yilgarn Province - the 700km Wiluna-Kalgoorlie-Norseman greenstone belt, in an area where the trend of the Albany-Fraser belt is displaced south eastwards by about 50km.  The Albany-Fraser belt hosts a number of recent gold discoveries including the +5 million ounce Tropicana gold deposit, and other discoveries including Hercules, Beachcomber, Socrates, Corvette, and Corona.

Competent Persons Statement

The information in this report that relates to exploration results is based on information compiled by Trevor Ireland, who is a Fellow of The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy.  Mr Ireland is a Non-executive Director of Thor Mining PLC and provides professional services on a contractual basis.  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 2004 Edition of the 'Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves'.  Trevor Ireland consents to the inclusion in the report of the matters based on his information in the form and context in which it appears

Enquiries:

Mick Billing	[phone]	Thor Mining PLC	Executive Chairman
Allan Burchard	[phone]	Thor Mining PLC	CFO/Company  Secretary
John Simpson	[phone]	Daniel Stewart & Co. Plc	Nominated Adviser
Nick Emerson/ Renato Rufus	[phone]	Simple Investments	Broker

Updates on the Company's activities are regularly posted on Thor's website www.thormining.com, which includes a facility to register to receive these updates by email.

 

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