Thor lauds inclusion of tungsten on list of critical minerals

Exploration and development company Thor Mining welcomed the inclusion of tungsten on the US department of the interior’s list of critical minerals.

Tungsten had been under consideration for the list for months and its inclusion is important for Thor as the resource is the primary resource material at the AIM traded firm's wholly-owned Pilot Mountain project in Nevada, which also contains copper and silver.

Mick Billing, chairman of Thor Mining, said: "With Pilot Mountain situated in the State of Nevada, a longstanding mining jurisdiction, and in the secure operating environment of the United States, we have an excellent environment in which to develop this project. Moreover the size and scalability of Pilot Mountain; the opportunity the project provides to create real jobs and additional economic prosperity in-country."

Thor said the opportunity will help the company to create jobs and add to the economic prosperity of the surrounding area.

The company also said that early indications from an internal scoping study suggest it should concentrate on the potential to develop an open-cut mining operation at Pilot Mountain’s Desert Scheelite deposit with the aim of achieving the creation of at least a medium term mining life.

The deposit’s indicated and inferred resource from May 2017 comprises 9.9m tonnes at 0.26% WO3 (tungsten trioxide), 0.14% copper, and 19.4g/t silver.

Billing said: "As we have expressed previously, the company is engaged in third party discussions with regard to its key tungsten projects and that interest is intensifying. We are balancing the need to make technical project progress with the obvious advantage of securing third party project level interest, whether that be project interest disposal, joint venture arrangements or off-take agreements."

As of 1606 BST, Thor Mining’s shares were up 13.66% at 2.33p.