q&a with chairman mick billing

I'm not sure if this has been posted before but thought that everyone should reflect on the core principles of what THOR is trying to achieve in these turbulent times.

Courtesy of miningmaven.com

In advance of their forthcoming presentation at the MiningMaven Investor Evening on Wednesday 16th May, Thor Mining (LON:THR) Chairman Mick Billing took the time to answer some investor focused questions, which we trust readers will find informative and also give you a flavour of what to expect in terms of developments and news-flow over the coming months, and the rest of the year.

MM: Could you outline for investors the reasons for the recently announced delay in the release of the Molyhil DFS, and advise if this in any way reflects on the quality and/or viability of the project?

MB: The consultants preparing the ore reserve estimate and detailed mining plan and schedule advised us that their internal sign off process would take a further 5 weeks. This was unexpected as they have been working with the resource and reserve model for Molyhil since late in 2011, and it was our understanding that the bulk of this work had been covered off.

The delay is not a result of any problems with the viability of the project. All the evidence we have suggests that Molyhil is a very robust project which will deliver attractive returns for investors.

However we have a mining boom in Australia & all consultants are struggling to keep good people and are stretched very thin with their workload.

MM: Please explain what remains to be undertaken, particularly with regard to the due process and procedural work, outlined in your recent Molyhil announcement?

MB: These, as we understand them, are largely internal sign off procedures required before appropriately qualified personnel will sign off as competent persons under the JORC Code.

MM: How important is the receipt of the DFS in terms enabling you to undertake discussions with potential parties, interested in engaging with Thor in respect of Molyhil?

MB: The people who have indicated an interest in both off-take agreements for the concentrate we will produce, and for project finance, will not enter into a binding agreement until the feasibility study is complete and they have digested it.

We cannot move forward until the feasibility study is completed – it is as simple as that.

MM: Alongside the DFS you have also indicated numerous additional resource extension targets at Molyhil. Can you tell us a little more about this and how you intend to explore these areas of interest?

MB: It is early days yet for some of these prospects. Some contain known “at surface” mineralisation of tungsten and/or molybdenum which have not been followed up adequately, others are under cover, but have a similar geophysical (magnetic) signature to Molyhil. We have commenced some ground geochemical survey activities and will follow up encouraging results with some shallow drilling.

The process is unlikely to deliver additional resources in 2012, however over the next couple of years, we hope to find sufficient additional resources to expand the scale of throughput at Molyhil, and also extend its life.

MM: Whilst investor focus has definitely been on Molyhil progress of late, what should investors be focusing on with regard to your gold operations?

MB: Spring Hill, in particular, is set for an exciting year. Last year we were not able to commence drilling until the last 2 months of the dry season which curtailed the drilling program. This season we expect to be able to drill for most of the “dry”, and we are excited at the prospect. Targets for testing include:

Additional mineralisation below the known resource
Other targets to the north, south, and west.
The deeper “Callie” style target
At Dundas we have targets to drill test, and we expect that this will happen over the next few months

MM: You are coming to London for your AGM and are also presenting at MiningMaven on Wednesday 16th May. Why should investors come to hear the Thor Mining story?

MB: Later this year we expect to commence development of a robust tungsten project which we expect will deliver returns well in excess of our current market capitalisation. In addition we will be drilling at Spring Hill right next to significant known gold mineralisation.

I could be accused of bias, but the Thor story is very compelling. It does not get much better than this!!

ENDS