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- Phase three geochemical fieldwork has turned up more anomalous gold at Thor Mining’s (THR) Ragged Range project in WA’s Pilbara region
- Coupled with historical results, the recent stream sediment sampling program has defined four distinct clusters of consistently high-grade gold
- The company believes the clusters imply a gold feeder source nearby, and will attempt to locate the mother lode
- Thor is continuing fieldwork including aeromagnetic surveys, soil sampling and mapping programs to define priority targets for drilling
- Thor Mining closed Tuesday’s session where it started the day at 1.9 cents
Phase three geochemical fieldwork has turned up more anomalous gold at Thor Mining’s (THR) Ragged Range project in WA’s Pilbara region.
Islands in the stream
Coupled with historical results, the recent stream sediment sampling program has defined four distinct clusters of consistently high-grade gold.
The comprehensive program took 112 samples from 54 sites, which were selected based on results from geochemical programs conducted over the past two years.
11 of the 54 sample sites returned anomalous gold values above five parts per billion (ppb) with four of these returning greater than 20ppb, and one stunning outlier at 2200ppb — or 2.2 grams per tonne gold.
The sediments were sorted into coarse and fine samples (grains above or below two millimetres in size) and assayed using the Intertek method AR25 using Aqua Regia for extraction.
The sub-two-millimetre samples were also assayed using the CN2000 bulk leach extractable gold method, which is a cyanide leach process.
The program was designed by Thor’s consultant geologist George Merhi, who has many years’ experience in the Pilbara.
Next steps
The four defined high-grade clusters appear to be next to an interpreted thrust-faulted mafic–ultramafic contact.
The company believes the clusters imply a gold feeder source nearby. Locating the mother lode of the anomalous geochemistry would potentially be a serious find.
Thor Executive Chairman Mick Billing says Ragged Range keeps throwing up welcome surprises.
“These are very exciting times for Thor at Ragged Range, as this project continues to exceed expectations,” Mick said.
“A number of very promising drill targets appear destined for testing, and we expect that the interpretation of the airborne magnetic survey results (near completion) should confirm several of these,” he added.
There’s no timeline yet on any proposed drilling. The company will instead continue geochemical data analyses, with a field mapping and soil sampling program proposed over priority targets within the anomalous 13-kilometre gold trend.
Thor Mining closed Tuesday’s session where it started the day at 1.9 cents.
