Thomson Resources to enlarge planned gold pits at Mt Carrington after base metals find
Thomson Resources 已确定 Mt Carrington 的多金属扩张潜力。
NSW-focused Thomson Resources (ASX: TMZ) has reported that the planned open pits at the Mt Carrington project near Drake will be enlarged after base metals potential triggered a review the of previous gold-silver priority.
Thomson, which is earning its stake in the project from White Rock Minerals (ASX: WRM), says relogging of some holes around the gold-optimised pit shells at Strauss and Kylo have revealed potential for bigger operations making them polymetallic propositions.
The drill hole review confirmed that the mineralisation extends beyond the current gold pit shells proposed in White Rock’s pre-feasibility study.
In May, the two companies agreed to restructure the earn-in agreement to move away from the “gold first” development strategy.
Came back and had another look at drill results
Thomson executive chairman David Williams said the shift follows a review of earlier holes that were drilled by his company for geotechnical purposes as part of its definitive feasibility study.
“We had put these holes, which were not exploration holes, to one side as we set about renegotiating the terms of our earn-in and option to joint venture with White Rock.
“With that done, and the freeing up of our resources, we came back and had a look at them to see what we could see,” Mr Williams continued.
The result was a view that the polymetallic mineralisation extended beyond the planned pits.
Larger pits, lower mining costs
Thomson says relogging the drill holes will lead to large open pits and, hence, lower mining costs.
Gold-silver and copper mining at Mt Carrington goes a long way back, where operations began in 1853.
More recently, in 2008 Rex Minerals (ASX: RXM) announced a JORC mineral resource estimate for the Strauss, Kylo, Guy Bell, Lady Hampden, Silver King and White Rock deposits.
In 2013, White Rock brought-in an updated mineral resource estimate for five of those, plus maiden resources for White Rock North and Red Rock.