Thomson Resources (ASX: TMZ) (OTCQB: TMZRF) is well advanced in defining a JORC 2012 Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) for the undeveloped near surface Mt Gunyan silver (and gold) deposit located in the Texas silver district, southern Queensland.
Thomson has MRE calculations progressing on Silver Spur, Twin Hills and now on the Mt Gunyan silver-gold deposits, leveraging a combined total of over 56,000 meters of historic drilling on these projects.
The company’s aim is to deliver a district scale picture of the in-ground silver, gold and zinc resources for the Texas Project during Q1 of 2022, as a key step in advancing Thomson’s New England Fold Belt Hub and Spoke central processing concept.
The Texas Project is a 100% Thomson owned, large scale silver-gold-zinc-lead-copper district with historic production totalling an estimated 4.2 million ounces of silver and has also produced small tonnages of high-grade zinc-copper-lead mineralisation.
An enormous amount of work has been done by our geoscience team who have painstakingly been working through the huge amount of historic information. We now have a much clearer and more robust picture of the Mt Gunyan deposit to go along with the same for Twin Hills and Silver Spur,” Executive Chairman David Williams said.
“The understanding of what is there at each of the deposits and the work we are doing on metallurgy are fundamental steps in our centralised processing strategy. This cannot be rushed.
“We are now starting to see the fruits of our labour which has required a patient and thorough approach. The picture will become clearer as the MRE’s are published along with the metallurgical studies. We will then have a very good understanding of what we have and the pathway forward.
“Whilst it might appear to have taken a long time, in actual fact we have, with the massive effort from our team, actually achieved a huge amount in a very short period.”
From 1981 to 2008, a total of five resource companies invested many millions of dollars on exploration in the district defining silver-gold-base metal deposits at Silver Spur, Twin Hills and Mt Gunyan as well as many other precious and base metal prospects in the district.
It is Thomson’s view that the Texas district remains under explored and very prospective for the discovery of further silver gold, copper and base metal mineralisation.
New Geological Model, Implications for Resource Modelling and District Exploration
Thomson’s geoscience consultants, Global Ore, have completed detailed geological mapping of the eight kms of drill roads that circle the Mt Gunyan Hill, relogging 299 historic drill holes and completed petrology on 28 core samples to build an improved geological understanding of the Mt Gunyan deposit.
This geological knowledge has been translated into a 3D wireframe of the Mt Gunyan Deposit that will be used by Thomson’s Resource Geologists to guide the new JORC 2012 MRE and further optimise future exploration and resource drilling at the project.
The Mt Gunyan silver-gold deposit occurs on top of and on the northern flank of a hill and is near surface forming two lozenge shaped bodies 230 m by up to 120 m wide and 250 m by up to 100 m wide. This deposit geometry may be amenable to an open pit bulk mining approach.
Mineralisation is localised at structural flexures within large scale NE to NS trending corridor of silicified veinlet structures. In detail, mineralisation is hosted in a fracture network of veinlets and in silicification halos to the veinlet structure.
In contrast to Twin Hills and Silver Spur that are predominantly sulphide deposits, the majority of the Mt Gunyan mineralisation is strongly-to-partially oxidised, up to 190 m below surface, where oxidation has exploited the vein zones to penetrate to depth.
