LONDON (ShareCast) - (Sharecast News) - Thor Explorations reported further high-grade drilling results from its Segilola gold mine in Nigeria on Monday, strengthening its case for extending the life of its flagship operation.
The AIM-traded company said diamond drilling beneath the current open pit continued to deliver significant intersections, including 4.2 metres at 12.48 grams of gold per tonne from 295 metres in hole SNMDD060, tw metres at 17.86 grams per tonne from 195.5 metres in hole SNMDD061, and 5.9 metres at six grams per tonne from 291 metres in hole SNMDD059.

It said the programme was targeting mineralisation along the down-plunge trend of the ore body and had now completed 60 holes totalling more than 16,500 metres.

"We are delighted to report continued positive progress from our deep diamond drilling programme at Segilola, which has generated several significant gold intersections below the current open pit design," said president and chief executive Segun Lawson.

"One of our key corporate priorities as a company is to extend the Segilola mine life, and the ongoing drilling programme has been designed to do this by both upgrading parts of the remaining inferred resource and increasing the size of the overall underground resource to support a longer life-of-mine at Segilola.

"We are encouraged by these results, which demonstrate continued high grade mineable mineralisation beneath the pit and look forward to testing these targets, which remain open."

Lawson added that Thor had increased its exploration budget to $11.5m this year, and would soon commission its own drilling rigs to accelerate the programme.

The company said it was also reviewing whether high gold prices make deepening the open pit more attractive than a near-term transition to underground mining.

Segilola, located 190 kilometres northeast of Lagos, is Nigeria's first industrial-scale gold mine.

Thor said ongoing drilling and supporting geotechnical and metallurgical studies weer aimed at upgrading inferred resources and enlarging the overall resource base to underpin a longer mine life.

At 1128 BST, shares in Thor Explorations were up 5.21% at 50.5p.

Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.

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