Arafura Resources Limited (ASX:ARU) welcomes the first reverse circulation (RC) drilling program by Thor Mining PLC (ASX:THR) at Bonya Tungsten Project in the Northern Territory.
The project is a joint venture with Thor Mining and both parties contribute to the cost of the program in proportion to their project entity with Arafura holding 60%.
Targets scheduled for drill testing include the Samarkand, Jericho, White Violet and Tashkent deposits of about 2,500 metres with each deposit containing outcropping of tungsten at surface ensuring drilling is into or below known mineralisation.
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Thor executive chairman Mick Billing said: “We are very hopeful of positive results from our first drilling and costeaning program on the Bonya tungsten deposits.
“The 13 outcropping tungsten deposits at Bonya, several of which have historical mine workings, have the potential to add considerably to the life, scale and economic outcomes of the company’s flagship Molyhil project nearby.
“We hope to be able to provide regular updates of progress including provisional XRF analysis during the program.
“Despite the licence area being part of a known tungsten ‘province’ it has had no tungsten drilling since the 1970s and we are very excited at the commencement of this program and the potential it brings.”
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The program will comprise 2,500 metres of RC drilling and 200 metres of trench sampling across each of the Marrakesh and Tashkent deposits.
The Jericho deposit, in particular, has been mined historically with a surface stockpile estimated at several hundred tonnes of scheelite ore at surface adjacent to the deposit.
It is expected that the program will be completed within two weeks with progressive XRF results followed by laboratory assay results after a further four weeks.