Thunder Gold starts diamond drilling campaign at Tower Mountain Gold Property

Drilling started February 14 and will continue for seven weeks

Joseph Morton

Published

February 17, 2023

Thunder Gold Corp. (TSXV: TGOL) (FSE: Z25) (OTC Pink: TNMLF) announced the start of its diamond drill campaign at the Tower Mountain Gold Property in Ontario today.

The exploration data analysis shows induced polarization (IP) chargeability, which correlates to increased gold grades. The initial drill holes will target the strongest identified chargeable anomaly, and additional holes will target new chargeable targets identified by the 2022 survey.

“Recent petrographic and geochemistry suggests that mineralization at Tower Mountain may represent a large, magmatic hydrothermal system associated with the alkalic Tower Mountain Intrusive Complex,” said Wes Hanson, CEO of Thunder Gold.

“Surface sampling has identified anomalous gold mineralization around the entire perimeter of the intrusion, specifically at or near the intrusive-volcanic contact.”

The Tower Mountain Gold Property is five kilometers off the Trans-Canada highway and 50 kilometers west of Thunder Bay, Ontario. It lies in the late Archean Shebandowan greenstone belt, which is a gold district in northwestern Ontario. Exploration suggests the property offers a large gold endowment with widespread gold mineralization. Diamond drilling identified low-grade gold mineralization extending outward for 500 meters from a central alkalic intrusion called the Tower Mountain Intrusive Complex.

The Chibougamau Diamond Drilling company received the 4,000 metre contract. The first drill arrived on site on February 13, and drilling started on February 14, 2023. The estimated duration for the program is seven weeks.

The main objectives for 2023 are to rapidly expand the footprint of the low-grade gold mineralization. Additionally, the company aims to demonstrate the discovery potential of higher-grade gold mineralization. Thunder Gold also wants to demonstrate the potential for additional mineralization elsewhere in the assembled claim package.

Thunder Gold’s initial targets are the strongest responses yet

Induced polarization is a geophysical method used in mineral exploration and mining. The IP survey bears similarities to electrical resistivity tomography (ETC) in that resistivity and IP methods are often applied on ground surface using multiple four-electrode sites. Where it differs, though, is that it measures electrical and chargeability properties of underground materials. This way, IP surveys provide information about the space-related variations in lithology and grain-surface chemistry.

Thunder Gold’s initial targets are the strongest chargeable responses to date, which have been tested by portions of five holes.

“This anomaly persists over 500 metres (length) x 200 metres (width) x +300 metres (depth), offering a potential tonnage of greater than 75 million tonnes. Our analysis suggests that gold grades are approximately 2x higher inside the +40 mV/V anomaly and the frequency of composites greater than cut-off is 2 to 3x more frequent,” said Hanson.

The plan is to finish six to eight holes on 100 meter spaced sections along the length of the target.

After which, the company will dig an additional four to six holes to test other IP anomalies isolated from the survey it completed last year.

Ten metre composite data – frequency distribution and average grade by chargeability strength at a cut-off grade of 0.00 g/t Au. Image via Thunder Gold

Presently, the data suggests grade and frequency of occurrence increases accordingly with the IP chargeable response strength. It also notes this assertion is reliant on a limited data population above the 40 mV/V chargeable signal strength.

Chart via Stockwatch

Thunder Gold’s shares rose 16.7 per cent today and is presently trading at $0.035 on the TSX Venture Exchange.

2023 will be a great year for gold

NevGold Corp. (TSXV:NAU) (OTCQX:NAUFF) (Frankfurt:5E50) is another Canadian gold explorer presently with drilling programs bringing back positive results in jurisdictions in Idaho, Nevada and British Columbia.

The company’s focus is on the Limousine Butte project in Nevada and Nutmeg Mountain Idaho. CEO Brandon Bonifacio indicated that the results from the first 10,000 meters drilled at Limousine Butte were “fantastic.”

Bonifacio said NevGold is a good prospect for investors because its team has multiple decades of experience and a strong familiarity with contractors as well as an ability to get drill rigs and quick turnaround times at assay labs.