Thor Explorations has set its production guidance for the new year at between 95 000 oz and 100 000 oz of gold following solid production of 84 609 oz last year.
The TSX-V- and Aim-listed miner owns the Segolila gold mine, in Nigeria, as well as exploration licences in Senegal.
The company also does drilling in a 40 km radius around the Segolila mine, with a 5 000 m underground exploration drilling programme due to start in the first half of this year.
Thor has successfully drilled a number of high-grade intercepts at two key prospects within a 25 km radius of the Segolila plant.
A greenfield discovery at the Kola deposit located 23 km to the south of the mine returned several high-grade drill results last year, which Thor will further explore as a priority this year.
Some of the Kola intercepts include 4 m of gold grading 30.2 g/t gold from 14 m, 7 m of gold grading 34.2 g/t gold from 49 m and 7 m of gold grading 26 g/t gold from 49 m.
Thor is also undertaking drilling across a number of lithium targets in Nigeria, while a prefeasibility study is under way for the Douta project, in Senegal, which is due for publication before the end of the quarter.
Thor president and CEO Segun Lawson says the company managed to complete what was projected to be the most operationally challenging year in the Segolila mine plan. The company also managed to position the mine strongly for coming years.
“We expect the successful completion of the west wall pushback and the improvements made to the processing plant will allow the mine to operate more efficiently while also making accelerated drawdown of the current high levels of the gold in circuit through the course of the year,” he explains.