The directors of Thor Mining Plc (“Thor”) (AIM, ASX: THR, OTCQB: THORF) are pleased to announce that OZ Minerals Limited (ASX:OZL) (“OZL”) will provide funding support for technical investigations into In Situ Recovery (ISR) technology at the EnviroCopper Ltd (“ECL”), Kapunda copper-gold ISR Project, in South Australia. Thor owns 30% equity in ECL.
Project highlights:
- OZL has committed AUD$2.5 million over 18 months to support ISR research at the Kapunda project.
- Funding is non-dilutive to Thor’s 30% interest in ECL.
- OZL funding will continue studies into the potential economic extraction of copper resources via ISR.
- Collaboration between ECL and OZL will commence this quarter.
- Anticipated outcomes will be shared IP, for ECL and OZL to extend to further projects, within South Australia and Australia.
- ECL’s plan is to develop a Mining Lease application for the Kapunda project.
Nicole Galloway Warland, Managing Director of Thor Mining, commented:
“We are very pleased to announce this collaboration between EnviroCopper and OZ Minerals, with OZL committing funds to continue the investigation at Kapunda Project into the potential economic extraction of copper via the low-footprint In-Situ Recovery mining technique.
This is a validation of the previous work by ECL on In-Situ Recovery of copper at the Kapunda project, in cooperation with The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (“CSIRO”) and the University of Adelaide under a CRC-P grant (Commonwealth Research Centre Project).
The OZ Minerals funding is non-dilutive and hence will not impact Thor’s 30% equity interest in EnviroCopper. ”
Figure 1: Kapunda Location Map showing Alford West (ECL) and Thor’s Alford East
Background
OZL’s Think & Act Differently innovation team, through OZ Exploration Pty Ltd, a subsidiary of OZL, has committed AUD $2.5 million over 18 months into investigating the potential economic extraction of copper via ISR at the Kapunda Project (the “Research Agreement”). This funding expands on previous work by ECL in cooperation with CSIRO and University of Adelaide under a CRC-P grant (Commonwealth Research Centre Project) . Any resulting IP from the Research Agreement will be owned by ECL, and a license will be granted to OZL which will be worldwide, perpetual, assignable, irrevocable and royalty free.
The Kapunda ISR Copper-Gold Project is located approximately 90 kilometres north north-east of Adelaide in South Australia (Figure 1). ECL manage the Kapunda project under a Joint Venture with tenement holder Terramin Ltd (ASX:TZN) (“Terramin”) to earn 75% interest in the mineral rights over metals which may be recovered via ISR with Thor owning 30% equity in ECL. Terramin and ECR have estimated a combined Resource of 47.4 million tonnes at 0.25% copper containing 119,000 tonnes of copper using a 0.05% copper cut off. This Resource estimate is only in respect of that part of the Kapunda mineralisation that is considered amendable to ISR (copper oxides and secondary copper sulphides) and only reports mineralisation that is within 100 metres of the surface (ASX TZN Announcement 12 February 2018).
ECL is now working to developing Kapunda into an operational Copper ISR mine.
About EnviroCopper
Thor holds a 30% interest in ECL which is a public, unlisted company, with In-Situ Recovery Copper projects at Kapunda and Alford West , South Australia (Figure 1). ECL manage the Kapunda Project in Joint venture with tenement holder Terramin to earn up to a 75% interest in the mineral rights over metals which may be recovered via ISR. (ASX:THR Announcement 11 November 2020).
This announcement is authorised for release to the market by the Board of Directors.
For further information, please contact:
Thor Mining PLC
Nicole Galloway Warland, Managing Director
Ray Ridge, CFO / Company Secretary
Tel: +61 (8) 7324 1935
Tel: +61 (8) 7324 1935
Updates on the Company’s activities are regularly posted on Thor’s website www.thormining.com, which includes a facility to register to receive these updates by email, and on the Company’s Twitter page @ThorMining.
