Thomson Resources secures rigs to begin major exploration campaigns

Silver, Gold and tin explorer Thomson Resources has defied the tough business environment in Covid-impacted New South Wales to secure rigs to kick off drilling in the December Quarter.

The arrival of the multi-purpose rig from Thomson Resources (ASX:TMZ) shareholder Australian Mineral and Waterwell Drilling will enable the company to get started with a reverse circulation and diamond drilling campaign across its Lachlan Fold Belt projects.

A second rig will also be made available in early 2022 to the Webbs project in the New England fold belt to drill high-grade silver targets.

That will allow Thomson to hit the ground running on both fronts, with drilling at the Lachlan Fold Belt tin and gold projects expected to run until May next year.

Thomson executive chairman David Williams said accessing the rigs was a big achievement in the current environment.

“Securing RC and DD drilling capacity in this present COVID-19 impacted environment is a major achievement for the company,” he said.

“Due to constantly changing and different COVID restrictions throughout Australia, moving rigs and crews about has become problematic.

“That, coupled with constrained availability of suitably qualified crews and the heightened exploration activity in Australia, has meant that access to drilling has become difficult for many exploration companies.

“AMWD has been a long time supporter of Thomson and has undertaken a number of campaigns for us over the years. They are a driller we know and trust and who understands and supports our exploration and development strategies.”

Lachlan Fold Belt drilling targets Bygoo resource

According to an exploration plan released in August, Thomson’s Lachlan Fold Belt drilling will tackle multiple targets across its ground over the coming months, including the Yalgogrin and Harry Smith gold prospects, Bygoo tin project and regional targets across the LFB.

Importantly drilling at Bygoo will be geared towards drilling out and confirming a JORC resource towards the end of the exploration program.

It will also test for extensions of exciting new discoveries at Bygoo, including at Stewarts and P380, where hits of 118m at 0.43% tin from 57m deep and 23m at 1.4% tin (including 4m at 3.52% Sn) from 149m heralded new finds.

Thomson believes its Lachlan Fold Belt projects lend themselves to the implementation of a hub and spoke exploration strategy.

Its tenement portfolio stretches from the north to the south over around 100km. A centralised processing facility somewhere in the middle would provide synergies and scale – along with short transportation distances along good road infrastructure from the extreme ends of the project area.

Thomson is hoping to secure more drilling capacity as well to ramp up the pace of the concurrent discovery campaigns.

The company said it is continuing to work with AMWD to mobilise further drilling rigs to Thomson’s other projects in the New England Fold Belt Hub and Spoke Strategy as they are released from other AMWD customers’ projects.

This article was developed in collaboration with Thomson Resources, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing.

This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.