Thor Mining PLC (LON:THR) has received encouraging first results from hydrogeological drilling at the Kapunda ISR (in-situ recovery) copper project in Australia.
Associate EnviroCopper drilled three holes and two screened wells at Kapunda to test the potential for an ISR operation – where ore is dissolved in the ground and the solution pumped to the surface to extract the metals.
Thor has a 25% interest that can rise to 30% in EnviroCopper, which itself has an option to earn up to 75% of the rights over metals recovered through an in-situ process at Kapunda.
Results from the holes so far show that the water table is quite shallow, said Thor, while the fracture zone contains significant copper mineralisation that should be amenable to in-situ recovery.
Early-stage results indicated copper up to 0.72% in all three holes though these need confirmation by geochemical analysis said the junior.
Next steps are for large scale column leach recovery tests to be followed by a full-scale field trial.
Mick Billing, Thor’s executive chairman, said: "It is very exciting to have confirmation of both consistency of mineralisation and possible hydrogeological connectivity along strike in the fracture zone.
"This adds considerable weight to the potential for a successful ISR operation in due course."
Billing added that the preliminary copper grades are above the average for the resource, while the lab assays will also confirm if there is any gold present.
The holes were also drilled on the very southern tip of the main resource area, he said, and previously conducted IP surveys further south show additional chargeable anomalies that could significantly extend the resource.