Thor Explorations (TSXV/AIM: THX) Reports Segilola Gold Results
Thor Explorations reported further gold drill results below the Segilola open pit in Nigeria, including 19.4m at 3.01 g/t Au, as it weighs underground mining.
Thor Explorations Ltd (TSXV/AIM: THX) on August 6 reported further gold drill results from beneath the open pit at its Segilola Gold Mine in Nigeria, where the company said mineralisation remains open at depth. The results extend an ongoing diamond drilling program that Thor is running as it weighs a possible underground operation.
The drilling targets gold below the current pit design at Segilola, Thor’s operating gold mine about 190 kilometres northeast of Lagos, in the Pan African Ilesha Schist Belt. Miners commonly drill beneath an existing open pit to test whether mineralisation continues at depth, work that can support a later underground phase and extend a mine’s producing life.
The company’s shares trade on the TSX Venture Exchange in Canada and on London’s AIM market.
#Thor Intersects Gold to 400 Metres Below Segilola Pit
The widest reported intercept was 19.4 metres at 3.01 grammes per tonne of gold (g/t Au) from 346 metres in drillhole SNMDD089. Thor said the drilling continues to define a steeply dipping gold shoot that extends to 400 metres beneath the pit and remains open.
Other reported intersections included 5.3 metres at 5.66 g/t Au from 300 metres in hole SNMDD166, 3.4 metres at 7.58 g/t Au from 289 metres in SNMDD170, 2 metres at 9.27 g/t Au from 420 metres in SNMDD171, and 1.2 metres at 11.31 g/t Au from 256 metres in SNMDD178.
Drillhole SNMDD179 returned three stacked gold intervals: 1.6 metres at 3.67 g/t Au from 297.4 metres, 3.3 metres at 10.19 g/t Au from 307.7 metres, and 3.5 metres at 2.86 g/t Au from 312.5 metres, the company said.
Thor said drilling has focused on two areas, a Northern Zone where mineralisation forms the hanging wall lode, and a Southern Zone where gold occurs in both footwall and hanging wall zones.
The main mineralised structure in the Southern Zone is more continuous, with true widths of 3 to 5 metres and a strike length of about 800 metres, the company said.
Samples were analysed by fire assay at the SROL Laboratory, established by MSA Laboratories at the Segilola mine site, with final grades averaging a primary assay and two additional assays of the same pulp, according to the release.
#Company Weighs Underground Mine as Drilling Continues
“As our drilling program continues, using four owner-operated rigs, we will focus on testing the along-strike and down-plunge extensions of the deposit where relatively little drill-testing has taken place,” Segun Lawson, President and CEO of Thor Explorations, said in the statement.
Thor said the program will run through the year as it works toward an underground mining development decision. The company has engaged a mining consultancy to review the underground potential and a possible open pit extension, and is aiming to define an updated resource by the end of 2026.
The company also said the current record gold price has changed Segilola’s economics, prompting it to review extending the open pit in the short term before any transition to underground mining.
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#2018 Assessment Sets Segilola Underground Resource Baseline
A 2018 preliminary economic assessment outlined an underground indicated resource of 28,000 ounces grading 9.4 g/t Au, together with an inferred resource of 90,000 ounces grading 7.9 g/t Au, part of which was later incorporated into a larger open pit design, the release said.
The technical information was reviewed and approved by Alfred Gillman, a qualified person under National Instrument 43-101 and the AIM Rules, the company said.
Thor cautioned that its forward-looking plans depend on the company’s ability to finance the project, to bring any expansion into operation and to produce gold, and that the results are subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions. No underground development decision has been made, and the targeted resource update is not due until the end of 2026.
Thor said continued drilling is intended to upgrade and expand the underground resource with the aim of extending Segilola’s life of mine, though the underground decision, financing, further drill results and the pace of the resource review remain key risks to that outlook.
