The directors of Thor Mining Plc (“Thor”) (AIM, ASX: THR, OTCQB: THORF) are delighted to announce that all drilling approvals have been granted on the Company’s 100% owned Wedding Bell and Radium Mountain Projects, located in the historic uranium-vanadium mining district within the Uravan mineral belt, southwest Colorado, USA (See Figure 1).
Project highlights:
- The proposed drilling program at the priority Rim Rock, Groundhog and Section 23 prospects will commence once a suitable drill rig has been sourced (Figure 2).
- Drilling will target the prospective ‘Saltwash’ horizon of sandstone-hosted uranium/vanadium mineralisation at shallow depth.
- Field sampling by Thor has returned assay results of high-grade uranium (up to 1.25%U3O8) and vanadium (up to 3.47% V2O5) (THOR ASX, AIM: 21 July 2020).
- Thor will be visiting the drill sites in the next couple of weeks.
Photo A: Drillhole 1 – Section 23 may be viewed via the following link:
http://www.thormining.com/sites/thormining/media/maps/dh1_section23.jpg
Nicole Galloway Warland, Managing Director of Thor Mining, commented:
“Thor is delighted to have all permits now in place for our proposed upcoming drilling program. Based on my recent site visit I am very encouraged by the extent of mineralisation observed and the project overall prospectivity. Drillholes holes are now pegged and final drilling preparation underway.
“We look forward to getting on the ground and testing these shallow high-grade targets, especially Section 23, where Thor will be the first company to access and drill test this highly prospective area.”
Figure 1: US Uranium and Vanadium Project location map showing Wedding Bell and Radium Mountain in Colorado and Vanadium King in Utah, USA.
http://www.thormining.com/sites/thormining/media/Maps/20-003-1-VKRMWB-Loc.jpg
http://www.thormining.com/sites/thormining/media/Maps/20-003-2-VKRMWB-Locn.jpg
Full details on Thor’s US uranium and vanadium projects may be found on Thor’s website https://www.thormining.com/projects/us-uranium-and-vanadium.
Following on from the San Miguel County approvals on 30 March 2022, Thor has now received the Federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and Colorado Division of Reclamation, Mining and Safety (DRMS) approvals, completing the approval process to undertake the proposed shallow drilling program at Rim Rock, Groundhog and Section 23, shown on Figure 2.
DRILLING PROGRAM
High-grade assay results from due diligence work completed by Thor returned up to 1.25% U3O8 and 3.47% V2O5, confirming uranium and vanadium mineralisation within the Salt Wash member of the Morrison Formation. This is consistent with and typical of the historical production in the Wedding Bell, Radium Mountain area of the Uravan mineral belt (Figure 3).
Following this work, three priority areas within the Colorado claims were highlighted for drill testing – Section 23, Rim Rock, and Ground Hog (Figure 2). The initial drill program comprises 15 holes drilled to an average depth of 80-100m to fully test the prospective horizon. Final drilling preparations are now underway.
Section 23 (Figure 2) in the southeast corner of the Wedding Bell claims has been identified by Thor Mining and World Industrial Minerals LLC (US Consulting team) as the highest priority drill target in the Colorado Uranium-Vanadium Project. This area represents the only large area in the claim block with the “Salt Wash” Member precluded from historic prospecting, drilling and mine production. Proposed drillholes for this area are designed to target potential mineralisation in the third sandstone unit estimated to be within 30-40m of surface, stratigraphically, the mapped contact with the overlying upper Brushy Basin Member of the Morrison Formation.
The Rim Rock Mine area (Figure 2) represents a second priority drill target. The proposed drill holes are designed to straddle the ESE projection of the sampled Rim Rock Mine, whose adit opening is located immediately to the west. The Rim Rock Mine was the largest uranium-vanadium producer in the project area. When the adit area was sampled by Thor, a laterally continuous layer of vanadium mineralisation with assays was sampled:
- 0.89% U3O8 and 1.68%V2O5 – WR-004
- 0.14 % U308 and 1.9% V205 – WR-017
- 0.05% U3O8 and 2.14% V2O5 – WR0018
It is anticipated that this same layer or a stratigraphically equivalent layer of mineralisation will be intercepted by the proposed drill holes. Vanadium layers, such as this one, with relatively low in uranium content (by the standards of historical uranium mining in the Uravan District), were usually ignored by the miners.
Drilling proposed at the Groundhog Mine area (Figure 2) is designed to test for any lateral continuation of mineralisation parallel to the east-west mineralisation mined to the south.
Figure 2: Map of Colorado Wedding Bell Project showing priority areas – Section 23, Groundhog and Rim Rock may be viewed via the following link:
http://www.thormining.com/sites/thormining/media/maps/21-003-1-us-uranium.jpg
Photo B: Uranium and vanadium mineralisation in the Salt Wash member, Morrison Formation (Rim Rock Prospect) may be viewed via the following link:
http://www.thormining.com/sites/thormining/media/maps/photo—stratigraphy.jpg
Figure 3 : Simple Stratigraphy of the Uravan Mineral Belt showing the prospective Morrison Formation may be viewed by te following link.
http://www.thormining.com/sites/thormining/media/maps/21-003-2-us-uranium.jpg
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
Tel: +61 (8) 7324 1935
Ray Ridge, CFO / Company Secretary
Tel: +61 (8) 7324 1935
