Thistle bulks up resources at Steyn (November 13, 2003)

Re-evaluation of existing drill data at the President Steyn gold mine near Welkom, South Africa, has identified two large new blocks of mineralization, and owner Thistle Mining (THT-T) plans a drill campaign to increase its confidence in the resource.

The blocks are Witswatersrand-style reefs at the top end of the mine’s Northern Section. They are about 2.5 km from the Steyn Three production shaft. Together, they hold a resource of about 740,000 tonnes grading 8.5 grams gold per tonne.

One block is about 12.5 metres wide and 150 metres along strike, with a vertical depth of 100 metres, and sits between the mine’s 52 and 54 levels. The second, 15 metres wide, is 20 metres above the first, and extends 125 metres down-dip, with about the same strike extent.

Thistle plans a 16-hole underground drilling program to bring the resource into the measured category. A mine plan and initial access should take about three months, after which Thistle expects to mine about 20,000 tonnes per month from the blocks.

The company has not yet decided whether to mine the blocks itself, or bring in contract miners. The estimated cost of contract-mining them is around R250 per tonne.

Thistle is compiling and re-interpreting data from a 2.5-km strike length of the mineralized horizons at Steyn. The new blocks represent only a 150-metre strike length of that target.