Thor Explorations up 15% on Nigerian gold drill results
Thor Explorations Ltd. [THX-TSXV] on Wednesday April 25 released encouraging results from drilling at its flagship Segilola Gold Project in Nigeria. Its shares rallied on the news, rising 15.15% or $0.025 to 19 cents in early afternoon trading.
Thor Explorations is a Canadian mineral exploration company engaged in the acquisition, exploration and development of mineral properties located in Nigeria, Senegal and Burkina Faso, West Africa. Aside from Segilola, its portfolio of projects includes the Douta Gold Project in southeast Senegal, and a 49% interest in the Hounde gold project in Burkina Faso.
Segilola is considered to be Nigeria’s most advanced gold project with an indicated resource of 556,000 ounces, grading 4.2 g/t gold. On top of that is an inferred resource of 306,000 ounces, grading 4.7 g/t. Probable reserves at the site stand at 448,000 ounces, grading 4.2 g/t.
Segilola is located approximately 120 kilometres northeast of Lagos in the Osun region of Nigeria.
The project is fully permitted and development ready. A 25-year mining license was issued for the project in September, 2016.
Results announced Wednesday are from a drill program which forms part of a definitive feasibility study and pre-development workstream that aims to de-risk and optimize the project following the completion of a preliminary feasibility study in October 2017.
The core drilling program is designed to increase the open pit head grade from 4.2 g/t. Drilling to date has targeted the less defined areas of the open-pit resources. The company said management believes the assay results received to date are likely to result in an upgrade of the open-pit resource and reserve.
Highlights from Wednesday’s results include 5.5 metres of 30.1 g/t gold, including 1.0 metre of 117.6 g/t gold.
“We are also very encouraged by these drill results and equally excited by the pending results on our Segilola project,” said Thor Explorations President Segun Lawson. “We are also very encouraged with the high-grade mineralization found in the previously under-drilled saddle in the central area of the resource,” he said. “Follow-up drilling will test the deeper high-grade lodes identified in the successful 2017 drill program, which are now supported by these new results.”
Thor expects to announce additional results in early May. In some holes that have yet to be assayed, visual indications are very encouraging, the company said.
Targeted outcomes of the drill program are as follows:
- Increase in open-pit reserves as a result of better definition of the higher grade zones (greater than 10 g/t gold) of the resource;
- Upgrade parts of the resource from indicated to measured classification;
- Upgrade parts of the resource from inferred to indicated classification in order to be included in reserved and mine planning studies;
- Obtain further confirmation of high-grade extensions of the gold system at depth;
- Provide sample for metallurgical testing;
Obtain data for open-pit grade control design.