Thor homes in on priority gold drill targets in the Pilbara

Special Report: Thor Mining is eager to find out exactly where it needs to drill in the Pilbara for high priority gold targets and has kicked off an airborne magnetics survey.

Thor (ASX:THR) expects that by early November it will know exactly where it needs to drill at its Ragged Range project in the highly fertile Pilbara region of Western Australia.

That’s because the company has started a close spaced airborne magnetics survey over the full tenement package covering its Ragged Range project to pinpoint high priority targets to follow up.

The survey is expected to take six days, with the valuable data it generates due to be in Thor’s hands by early November.

“Drilling for gold mineralisation at Ragged Range is a key near term objective for Thor, and identified as a priority in the recent capital raising,” executive chairman Mick Billing said.

“This airborne magnetic survey, along with the sampling program, also to be conducted during October, is an important part of the process towards selection of targets for drill testing.”

Cashed up for ‘intensive’ exploration

In mid-September, Thor raised around £1.1m ($1.9m) in a strongly supported strategic placement to new institutional and sophisticated investors.

That raising saw fellow Pilbara gold hunter Artemis Resources (ASX:ARV) drop £138,000 of its own cash in.

Thor’s biggest shareholder, Metal Tiger, also took part in the capital raising, handing over a further £150,000.

The fresh cash injection will allow Thor to undertake an intensive exploration program at Ragged Range, as well as fund further investment in EnviroCopper to test the gold potential at the Kapunda project, and undertake exploration on its US uranium and vanadium projects.

The airborne magnetics survey at Ragged Range is designed to map out the underlying mafic/ultramafic greenstones and to identify key prospective structures.

Ragged Range host to a large gold zone

Once the airborne geophysical survey, Thor plans to immediately start further mapping and infill stream sediment sampling along the 13km gold target zone.

Follow up sampling previously undertaken at the Ragged Range project substantially beat the company’s expectations.

Tenement and sample location map. Pic: Supplied

That sampling program defined the 13km long gold target and supported the potential for gold mineralisation along the entire strike length.

Billing said in early September the sample results returned were substantially above background, which is typically less than 5 parts per billion ppb.

“Stream sediment samples capture gold eroded over time and washed through creek systems and become encouraging when values approach 5ppb,” he said.

“A cluster of results, in close proximity, significantly higher than this level, including up to 26 times higher, is considered by the directors to be an outstanding outcome.”

This article was developed in collaboration with Thor Mining, 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.