Thor Mining looks to add 'attractive' copper tenements to portfolio

Exploration and development company Thor Mining announced on Wednesday that it is set to acquire an interest in tenements in the Bonya Creek area along a high grade copper deposit.

The company intends gain its interest in the tenements through the purchase of 40% of exploration licence EL29701, which hosts 13 outcropping tungsten deposits and one copper deposit, and 100% of licence EL29599, which is considered prospective for copper exploration.

The acquisition of the interests in the two licences, which are approximately 30km from Thor’s Molyhil project in Australia’s Northern Territory, would see Vendor Rox Resources gain A$550,000 in Thor shares.

Mick Billing, executive chairman of Thor Mining, said: "The potential to increase both the scale and the life of the proposed Molyhil operation makes this acquisition compelling. The proximity of the Bonya deposits to Molyhil should add significantly to the projected economic returns, dovetailing with our commercialisation strategy for Molyhil."

The exploration target area at the new sites is of 3.0 to 4.9m tonnes at a grade of 0.3% to 0.5% tungsten trioxide.

"Historic drilling and trenching has confirmed tungsten mineralisation on several deposits at Bonya, however there has been no tungsten focussed exploration on the tenement in over 35 years. Provided some of these known prospects mature, along with others which we expect to develop, it is more than likely that Molyhil production life and throughput volume should increase substantially," said Billing.

Billing added that the potential for small high grade copper deposits is "very attractive" and that a proposed processing plant at Molyhil is likely to be suitable for copper flotation.

As of 1200 BST, Thor Mining’s shares were up 5% at 2.62p.