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(Sharecast News) - Thor Explorations said on Wednesday that initial results from its 2026 drilling programme had confirmed an expanding gold footprint at the Douta Project in Senegal, as it looked to extend the project's oxide phase following completion of a pre-feasibility study earlier this year.
The AIM-traded company said the drilling covered the three licences that make up Douta: the original Douta licence, the contiguous Douta West licence and the adjoining Bousankhoba licence.
The project currently comprises the Makosa deposits and an initial resource from Baraka 3, with total resources of about 1.97 million ounces of gold, including 1.7 million ounces indicated and 0.27 million ounces inferred.
Current reserves totalled 36.6 million tonnes grading 1 gramme per tonne gold for 1.2 million ounces.
Thor said the latest exploration had focused on identifying additional oxide resources either around the existing Baraka 3 and Makosa Tail deposits or at new targets within the Bousankhoba permit generated through rotary air blast drilling.
At Baraka 3, reported intercepts included 5.5 metres at 2.91 grams per tonne gold from 185 metres in drillhole DWDD003, 7 metres at 4.28 grams per tonne from 122 metres in DWRC453, 18 metres at 1.31 grams per tonne from 90 metres in DWRC523, and 9 metres at 1.62 grams per tonne from 24 metres in DWRC543.
At Makosa Tail, the company reported 4 metres at 3.26 grams per tonne gold from 24 metres in DTRC1211 and 4 metres at 3.06 grams per tonne from 20 metres in DTRC1193.
Thor said the results indicated that mineralisation extended beyond the current pit design, with further drilling planned along strike to the southwest.
At Bousankhoba, first-pass air-core drilling at the Sekhoto North prospect returned high-grade shallow oxide mineralisation, including 4 metres at 17 grams per tonne gold from 7 metres in BSAC045, 4 metres at 4.56 grams per tonne from 6 metres in BSAC019, and 2 metres at 9.09 grams per tonne from 14 metres in BSAC001.
President and chief executive officer Segun Lawson said the Douta pre-feasibility study had "already confirmed a robust, long-life project with strong economics and a fast payback period".
"The current drilling campaign on our extended land package is designed to further improve the project economics by extending the Oxide Phase of the Project," he said.
"This first set of drilling results demonstrates the potential for additional exploration upside within our portfolio, which we intend to continue to drill out through the development phase of the project."
Lawson said the ongoing 40,000 metre drilling programme was designed to upgrade inferred mineralisation within the pit shells and test oxide targets across the Douta, Douta West and Bousankhoba licences.
"These initial results are encouraging as they have successfully intersected wide, shallow, high-grade oxide mineralisation," he added.
"At Makosa Tail, drilling has successfully extended the strike length of the previously defined mineralisation, and in the Bousankhoba licence, drilling has successfully intersected new oxide mineralisation."
Thor said drilling had also intersected mineralisation in inferred areas within and below the Baraka 3 pre-feasibility study pit shells, which it expected to improve the existing mineral reserve.
The company said it was continuing post-PFS workstreams and expected full permitting and the start of construction later this year.
At 1247 BST, shares in Thor Explorations were down 0.37% at 74.33p.
Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.
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