Thunderbird Resources is forging a golden path in NSW’S renowned Lachlan Orogen, acquiring the drill-ready Springfield gold deposit, having also lobbed a $2.2 million placement into the market to fuel its upcoming exploration blitz.
The binding agreement to acquire Springfield sets in train a boost to the company’s growing portfolio of gold projects.
Limited historical shallow drilling of a minimal 6568m, along with previous mapping, has delineated a well-mineralised intrusion extending for more than 1700m in strike length.
Previous drilling at the site has thrown up some serious shallow gold results such as 27m at 3.65 grams per tonne (g/t) from surface, a 65m stretch going 1.16g/t from 2m and 41m running 1.47g/t from 22m.
A deeper interval of 86m at 1.04g/t from 104m included a 26m section grading 1.83g/t from 146m and a solid 12m slice at 2.9g/t from 160m.
Management says mineralisation remains open in both directions, along strike and at depth. It believes only 500m of the 1700m strike length has been subjected to deeper drilling, with no drilling on site since 1999.
Notably, significant mineralisation has been intersected at depth across the entire 500m strike length tested to date.
The company plans to launch into its maiden drill program at the project shortly after completion of the purchase.
In a region renowned for massive gold operations like Newmont Mining’s revered Cadia deposit, which contains 14.5 million-ounces of gold and 3.2 million tonnes of copper, the Springfield project offers the potential of a blockbuster deposit. It complements Thunderbird’s existing Kookabookra and Rockvale gold-antimony projects in NSW.
Thunderbird’s two-tranche $2.2M placement will be done at 1.4 cents per share and will ensure sufficient funds are available for planned exploration programs at the site.
The Springfield gold deposit is within the Slashers Flat project near Gulgong in NSW. The deposit is hosted in a monzodiorite intrusion outcropping at surface.
A previous 186 drillholes averaging 35m were hammered into the Springfield and Springfield North deposits, with the deepest hole drilled to a depth of 249.1m.
Mineralised hits worthy of follow-up have occurred at multiple prospects within Slashers Flat. They include Springfield North’s shallow gold hits of 2m at 1.43g/t from 13m and 1m going 1.12g/t from 10m, Lady Belmore’s 5m at 1.4g/t gold from 5m and 5m at 1.09g/t gold from 20m.
The Divide 4 prospect encountered 1m at 1.63g/t gold from 21m and a 1m slice grading 1.35g/t gold from 11m.
Thunderbird has purchased the unlisted company LM2 Pty Ltd to acquire Springfield, with the added benefit of pumping up its exploration ground by a significant 344 square kilometres. LM2 holds five granted exploration licences in central and northern NSW.
In addition to Slashers Flat, three of the other projects are based in the Lachlan Orogen, a geological terrane hosting several large, high-grade deposits such as Cadia, North Parkes’ 2.6 million ounce gold and 2.3 mt copper operation and the 9 million-ounce Cowal gold deposit.
Two other projects wrapped up in the purchase, Shanahans and Warrane, are within the New England Orogen, known for hosting high-grade gold and antimony projects like Larvotto’s Hillgrove deposit that caused that company’s share price to hike by almost 1000 per cent last year.
Terms for the purchase of LM2 don’t look too onerous either, comprising $50,000 cash up front, $150,000 on completion, about 28.57M shares in Thunderbird on completion, and deferred payments of $200,000 and $600,000 in shares tied to various resource milestones, such as more than 200,000oz and greater than 500,000oz gold grading higher than1g/t.
Thunderbird’s strategic leap integrates Springfield’s drill-ready targets with its northern NSW gold assets and the company now plans to charge into exploration across bountiful gold-copper and gold-antimony Orogens.
In a gold market ablaze at more than US$3715 (A$5637) per golden ounce, expected huge growth in copper demand and the antimony market also catching fire, Thunderbird might just be on the hunt for the right commodities at the right time.
Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: matt.birney@businessnews.com.au
By Craig Nolan
