Pinnacle Minerals (ASX: PIM) has initiated plans to fast-track a restart of the historical Thunder Mountain gold and antimony project in Idaho, USA.
The mine restart study will focus on technical and field work assessing the potential commercialisation of the Lightning Peak open pit at Thunder Mountain, where on-ground mapping and sampling has already identified a continuation of the mineralisation.
Pinnacle is currently processing airborne magnetic and satellite datasets to define new high-priority drill targets with discussions underway to establishing a pathway for drill permitting and mine redevelopment.
1890s Gold Rush Site
Thunder Mountain was the site of a significant gold rush in the 1890s, with the area hosting numerous mines and prospects by 1897.
More recent activity focused on the Lightning Peak pit, which produced 17,315 ounces of gold and 22,744oz silver from 583,751 tons of ore in 1989 and 25,000oz gold and 30,000oz silver the following year.
Coeur d’Alene developed the pit as part of its Sunnyside mine, but it has seen minimal exploration since then.
The Thunder Mountain site is nearby to both Resolution Minerals' (ASX: RML) Horse Heaven project and Perpetua Resources’ Stibnite operation.
Modern Exploration Technology
“Our work at Thunder Mountain represents a genuine opportunity to bring historic US gold and silver mines back to life using modern exploration and technology,” executive chair William Witham said.
“So far, this is an excellent result from our restart study at the project, and it marks an important milestone as Pinnacle transitions into an active explorer across its growing US critical minerals portfolio.”
“The verification of historical workings and confirmation of mineralisation within the project area reinforce the quality of the asset and highlight its strong potential.”
The Thunder Mountain claims cover approximately 3.7 square kilometres in a historically productive gold and silver district with extensive workings.
