PERTH (miningweekly.com) – ASX-listed Thor Mining on Monday said that it would continue to look at development alternatives for its Spring Hill gold project, in the Northern Territory, after TSX-listed Crocodile Gold withdrew from a toll treatment agreement.
In April last year, Crocodile Gold, which operates the Union Reefs gold processing facility, some 20 km from the Spring Hill operation, entered into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Thor to treat Spring Hill ore.
However, Crocodile has now withdrawn from the MoU, saying that its own projected requirements for the processing facility left insufficient capacity to commit to a toll treatment for the Spring Hill project.
The Spring Hill project is estimated to host an indicated resource of 450 000 oz of gold, within a 10-million-ton resource, grading 1.4 g/t.
Thor executive chairperson Mick Billings said on Monday that the Spring Hill gold project retained its current value and had an attractive exploration upside, adding that the company directors were committed to exploring all potential alternatives to deliver value from it.
Meanwhile, the company’s focus has increasingly shifted towards the Molyhil tungsten project, in the Northern Territory.
“Our primary goal is to complete an upgrade of the definitive feasibility study (DFS) for this project as soon as possible and secure project finance,” said Billings.
The initial DFS found that the Molyhil mine could produce some 400 000 t/y, delivering 2 200 t/y of scheelite product and 1 250 t/y of molybdenum concentrate.