Thor Mining Plc (AIM, ASX: THR, OTCQB: THORF) are pleased to advise the results from our initial pump test for preliminary hydrogeological assessment at the Alford East Copper-Gold Project, South Australia.
Project highlights:
- Initial aquifer pump test successfully completed.
- Copper-gold mineralisation at the test site is saturated below the water table; essential for ISR production.
- Groundwater salinity reports in the range of 15,000 – 55,000 milligrams per litre total dissolved solids (mg/L TDS). This is classed as saline and precludes agricultural or potable use.
- Ground water is alkaline with pH – 8.1. This is ideal for trial lixiviant glycine.
- Short term pumping tests demonstrated consistent water flows suitable for ISR production.
- The host rock is permeable
- This work is all co-funded by the SA Government Accelerated Discovery Grant (ADI) of A$300,000.
“Pump testing of our initial water bore has shown favourable water characterisation and permeability for potential In Situ copper-gold recovery at our Alford East Project. This is positive news as we progress the project towards ISR assessment and development of an environmentally, low carbon emission alternative to conventional open cut and underground mining,” Managing Director, Galloway Warland, said.
Alford East Project Background
The Alford East Copper-Gold Project is located on EL6529, where Thor is earning up to 80% interest from unlisted Australian explorer Spencer Metals Pty Ltd, covering portions of EL6255 and EL6529 (Figure 1) (ASX: THR Announcement 23 November 2020).
The Alford East Project covers the northern extension of the Alford Copper Belt, located on the Yorke Peninsula, SA. The Alford Copper Belt is a semi coherent zone of copper-gold oxide mineralisation, within a structurally controlled, north-south corridor consisting of deeply kaolinised and oxidised troughs within metamorphic units on the edge of the Tickera Granite (Figure 1), Gawler Craton, SA.
Utilising historic drill hole information, Thor completed an inferred Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) is 125.6Mt @ 0.14% Cu containing 177,000t of contained copper, 71, 500oz of contained gold.
Based on the nature on the oxide mineralisation, the deposit is considered amenable to In Situ Recovery (ISR) techniques.
For further information please visit: https://www.thormining.com/
