3rd Oct 2007 07:00
Thor Mining PLC03 October 2007 THOR MINING PLC URANIUM EXPLORATION UPDATE Dated: 2 October 2007 Thor Mining PLC ("the Company" or "Thor"), AIM, ASX: "THR" the specialist metalscompany focused on advancing tungsten-molybdenum and uranium projects in theNorthern Territory of Australia, today releases an update on current explorationactivities on its uranium exploration projects in the Northern Territory ofAustralia. HIGHLIGHTS • Reconnaissance air core drilling completed at Plenty Highway Project with assay results expected in mid-to-late November 2007. • Encouraging rock chip results received from ground surveys at the Harts Range Project including elevated uranium values. Plenty Highway Uranium Project A program of reconnaissance air core drilling has been completed at the PlentyHighway Uranium project in the Northern Territory, with assay results currentlyawaited. A total of 16 air core holes (07PHAC001-016) were drilled for 1,582 m.However, only 55% of the overall program was completed due to slow drilling indifficult ground conditions. Drilling to date has completed wide spacedreconnaissance air core holes on two north-south lines and one east-westtraverse along a fence line track. A number of the holes did not reach bedrock due to the intersection of deep clayhorizons which exceeded the capabilities of the drill rig. At this stage, theCompany has not sourced another rig to complete more drilling. The HoistEM data appears to have correctly defined the extent and approximatedepth of the palaeo-channels in the area. Drilling has identified a thin sandylayer covering up to 10m of calcrete while below this thick horizons ofcalcareous clay have been identified with thin units of gypsum and calcretebeing common. Anomalous scintillometer readings have been restricted to units ofquartz sand below the clays. The most prospective area to date appears to be between holes 07PHAC010 and 012,along the fence line traverse, where quartz sands up to 8m thick have beenidentified returning twice the background radioactivity in the area. Moredrilling is required in the area. Assay results from this drilling will be available mid to late November 2007. Harts Range Project The Harts Range project area lies on the eastern margin of the Entia Dome. TheEntia Gneiss forms the core of the Entia Dome, which is located on the westernpart of the Exploration Licence area. In late July, a mapping and rock chip survey was carried out on tenementsEL24736 and EL24734, two of the tenements within the Harts Range Uranium Projectwhich is located approximately 200km east-northeast of Alice Springs in theArunta Province of the Northern Territory. The project includes five othertenements, EL24827, EL24735, EL24765 and A24766. The main objective of the sampling program was to follow up on previous rockchips taken earlier this year from identified areas around the Mt Mary, Daicosand Haddock prospects in order to identify drilling targets in this difficultterrain. A number of sub-parallel pegmatites had previously been surveyed at theHaddock Creek and Daicos prospects, with a maximum count of 19,000 cps returned. Four samples were taken, with one 1.5kg sample returning a very high uraniumresult of 8.87% U. At Mt Mary, two rock chips taken from 'hot spots' in thisarea returned elevated uranium values ranging from 107 to 246ppm. Rock chip sampling and mapping was also completed on the Daicos, Haddock, MountMary (SNAF & Indiana) and Starlight prospects, with a total of 39 rock chipsamples collected. Daicos Reconnaissance rock chip samples taken on pegmatite veins mapped at the Daicosprospect area returned a best assay of 19.37% U from highly radioactive sampleswith visible uraninite and columbite. Other highly anomalous elementsassociated with these samples included assays up to 28.32% Nb and 25.52% Ta.Highly anomalous assays for Dy, Er, Gd, Hf, Ho, Nd, Tb, Y and Zr from thesesamples were also noted. The combined average of these 9 associated rare earthelements is 3.49%. See attached appendix for sample locations The samples were taken along a number of contact zones associated with anexposed pegmatite vein system covering an area of 300m by 400m. Drilling isbeing planned to determine the thickness and strike extent of the individualzones. A petrological assessment of the pegmatites is also warranted. SAMPLE EAST NORTH PROSPECT CPS COMMENTS Th U ID (GDA94) (GDA94) DR001 516858 7439893 Daicos +1000 Pegmatite 0.55% 3.42% contact DR002 516876 7439834 Daicos +1000 Pegmatite 1.03% 9.11% contact DR003 516877 7439844 Daicos +1000 Pegmatite 0.67% 9.35% contact DR004 516894 7439851 Daicos +1000 Pegmatite 0.83% 9.85% contact DR005 516805 7439631 Daicos +1000 Pegmatite 1.09% 15.64% contact DR006 516832 7439555 Daicos +1000 Pegmatite 1.40% 18.53% contact DR007 516838 7439560 Daicos +1000 Pegmatite 1.48% 19.37% contact DR008 516874 7439418 Daicos +1000 Pegmatite 40 125 contact DR009 516803 7439633 Daicos +1000 Pegmatite 1.23% 16.64% contact DR010 516701 7439604 Daicos +1000 Quartz Biotite 163 11 Gniess DR011 516808 7439629 Daicos +1000 Pegmatite 1.18% 13.51% contact All units in this report are in ppm unless otherwise stated. Haddock The Haddock prospect covers the base of a large hill over a fold structurecontaining highly radioactive epidosite altered country rock and pegmatite.Previous trenching in the 1990's also returned highly anomalous U from trenchesacross the base of the hill. Recent sampling in this area returned a besturanium assay of 1,658 ppm from sample HK006. Additional trenching andreconnaissance drilling is required to determine the full extent ofmineralisation in the area. Of the 17 rock chip sample assays taken at the Haddock prospect to date, onlythree exceed 0.1% uranium. The prospect should be evaluated in terms of a largetonnage/low grade uranium resource. Haddock type anomalies have been recognisedat points along a stratigraphic arc extending north. Approximately 12 km ofprospective strike length provides potential host extensions or repetitions ofepidosite-pegmatoid layers. An detailed airborne radiometric survey shoulddelineate the broad corridor in which these extensions of epidosite-pegmatoidmay occur. SAMPLE EAST NORTH PROSPECT CPS COMMENTS U(ppm) ID (GDA94) (GDA94) HK001 515667 7441235 Haddock +1000 Epidosite altered country 1,415 rock and pegmatoid HK002 515667 7441235 Haddock +1000 Epidosite altered country 1,283 rock and pegmatoid HK003 515667 7441235 Haddock +1000 Epidosite altered country 697 rock and pegmatoid HK004 515667 7441235 Haddock +1000 Epidosite altered country 908 rock and pegmatoid HK005 515667 7441235 Haddock +1000 Epidosite altered country 1,358 rock and pegmatoid HK006 515667 7441235 Haddock +1000 Epidosite altered country 1,658 rock and pegmatoid HK007 515667 7441235 Haddock +1000 Epidosite altered country 793 rock and pegmatoid HK008 515667 7441235 Haddock +1000 Epidosite altered country 1,107 rock and pegmatoid HK009 515694 7441305 Haddock +3000 Further east up hill 1,041 HK010 515642 7441351 Haddock +2000 Further east up hill 454 HK011 515532 7441231 Haddock n/a Western limb ex PNC 392 HK012 515535 7441226 Haddock n/a Western limb ex PNC 866 HK013 515532 7441244 Haddock n/a Western limb ex PNC 25 SL001 515150 7436830 Starlight n/a Epidosite metasomatised 331 pegmatoid SL002 515678 7439225 Starlight n/a Gniessic metasediments at 16 contact with pegmatite NT001 515021 7439795 Near n/a Gniessic metasediments at 9 Starlight contact with pegmatite All units in this report are in ppm unless otherwise stated. n/a - not applicable Mt Mary The newly identified Indiana prospect is associated with multiple pegmatiteintrusions in sheared country rock in a valley at the base of Mount Mary. Highlyanomalous scintillometer readings were returned from numerous samples in thearea. Further mapping, rock chip sampling, trenching and drilling will be basedon these initial rock chip assay results. The full extent of the Indiana prospect is still not known; a best assay of673ppm uranium was returned from initial sampling in the area. SAMPLE EAST NORTH PROSPECT CPS COMMENTS U(ppm) ID (GDA94) (GDA94) MM001 532528 7452392 Mt Mary (Indiana) 800-1200 Pegmatite 112 MM002 532515 7452359 Mt Mary (Indiana) 800-1200 Pegmatite 27 MM003 532420 7452401 Mt Mary (Indiana) 800-1200 Pegmatite 184 MM004 532418 7452392 Mt Mary (Indiana) 800-1200 Pegmatite 286 MM005 532330 7452340 Mt Mary (Indiana) 800-1200 Pegmatite 44 MM006 532286 7452342 Mt Mary (Indiana) 800-1200 Pegmatite 75 MM007 532235 7452337 Mt Mary (Indiana) 800-1200 Pegmatite 410 MM008 532188 7452327 Mt Mary (Indiana) 800-1200 Pegmatite 118 MM009 532130 7452325 Mt Mary (Indiana) 800-1200 Pegmatite 196 MM010 532065 7452312 Mt Mary (Indiana) 800-1200 Pegmatite 87 MM011 530994 7452687 Mt Mary (SNAF) 800-1200 Pegmatite 451 intrusives MM012 531020 7452644 Mt Mary (SNAF) 800-1200 Pegmatite 673 intrusives All units in this report are in ppm unless otherwise stated. Commenting on the latest results, Thor Mining's Chief Executive Officer, Mr JohnYoung said: "With further ground based exploration in the area we believe we canoutline a number of drill targets in late stage pegmatitic intrusives within ourproject areas. Of particular interest is the strong rare earth elements'signature in the vicinity of Daicos, which upgrades the prospectivity of thisarea." GLOSSARY OF GEOLOGICAL AND TECHNICAL TERMS Ba The chemical symbol for the element Barium Biotite A brown to black magnesium aluminium silicate mineral, common in most volcanic rocks Ce The chemical symbol for the element Cerium Cs The chemical symbol for the element Caesium Dy The chemical symbol for the element Dysperosium Er The chemical symbol for the element Erbium Epidote A yellow to green silicate mineral, formed during low grade metamorphism or hydrothermal processes. Felsic Descriptive of light coloured rock containing an abundance of feldspar (generally Potassium rich) and quartz. Hf The chemical symbol for the element Hafnium Ho The chemical symbol for the element Holmium Ga The chemical symbol for the element Gallium Gd The chemical symbol for the element Gadolinium Gneiss High grade metamorphic rock composed of alternating bands respectively rich in light and dark coloured minerals. Granite Light coloured, coarse-grained, intrusive igneous rock; comprises large sections of the Earth's continental crust. Intrusion A body of igneous rock that invades older rocks. Mafic Descriptive of rocks containing major proportions of magnesium and iron silicate minerals. Mineralisation The concentration of metals and their minerals within a body of rock. Mineralogy The science of the study of minerals. Nd The chemical symbol for the element Neodymium Nb The chemical symbol for the element Niobium Pb The chemical symbol for the metallic element Lead. Pegmatite Very coarse-grained igneous intrusive body, usually granitic, usually in dyke or sill form. ppm Parts per million. Plagioclase Plagioclase is an important rock-forming mineral and occurs widely, primarily in igneous rocks such as basalts. Radiometric Measurement of radiation. An airborne radiometric survey may distinguish different rock units on the basis of their inherent radioactive minerals. Rock Chip Sampling Systematic collection of rock samples at a series of different locations in order to study the distribution of rock geochemical values. REE Rare earth elements Rb The chemical symbol for the element Rubidium Scintillometer Instrument used for measuring radiation Shear A zone in which rocks have been deformed, primarily in a ductile manner, as a result of applied stress. Strontium Strontium is a rare alkaline-earth metal Structural Pertaining to geological structure; including folds, faults, shears, cleavage, and joints. Structures range from regional scale to microscopic. Ta The chemical symbol for the element Tantalum Tb The chemical symbol for the element Terbium Th The chemical symbol for the element Thorium U The chemical symbol for the element Uranium Uraninite The chief ore mineral of uranium. Uraninite has the idealized chemical composition UO2, uranium dioxide. Thorium and rare earths, chiefly cerium, are usually present in variable and sometimes large amounts. Lead always is present by radioactive decay of the thorium and uranium present Vein A thin sheet-like intrusion into a fissure or crack, commonly bearing quartz Y The chemical symbol for the element Yttrium Zn The chemical symbol for the element Zinc. Zr The chemical symbol for the element Zirconium JORC Compliance The information in this report that relates to exploration results, mineralresources or ore reserves is based on information compiled by John Young, who isa Member of The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy. John Young is adirector of Thor Mining PLC. John Young has sufficient experience which isrelevant to the style of mineralisation and type of deposit under considerationand to the activity which he is undertaking to qualify as a Competent Person asdefined in the 2004 Edition of the "Australasian Code for Reporting ofExploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves". John Young consentsto the inclusion in the report of the matters based on his information in theform and context in which it appears. Enquiries: John Young +61 (0)419 954 020 Thor Mining PLC Chief Executive Officer John Simpson 020 7512 0191 ARM Corporate Finance Ltd Nominated Adviser Leesa Peters 020 7429 6600 Conduit PR Limited Public Relations orJos Simson 020 7429 6603 Nicholas Read +61 (0) 8 9388 1474 Read Corporate Public Relations/ Australia Updates on the Company's activities are regularly posted on Thor's websitewww.thormining.com, which includes a facility to register to receive theseupdates by email. 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