Thunderwood bids to follow in Aur Resources’ footsteps

Just as Aur Resources is about to cross the barrier separating promising young junior exploration companies from Canadian gold producers, Chairman James Gill has hatched another company to take its place.

Back in April, Gill dusted off a previously forgotten junior explorer called Internati onal Thunderwood Explorations and injected some new properties into its portfolio.

With former Falconbridge Ltd. exploration director John Heslop at the helm, and a $3.2-million exploration budget, the Vancouver- listed company has committed itself to a number of projects which could have been overlooked by previous operators.

Before the Oct 19 market debacle, Thunderwood was trading as high as $7 but it has slipped to what market watchers say is a more realistic $2.20 on the Vancouver Stock Exchange.

Although Thunderwood is part of the Aur Resource/Syngold Exploration stable of companies, Heslop has been charged with running the show.

No stranger to the world of mineral discoveries, he was heavily involved in bringing Kidd Creek Mines’ Hoyle Pond gold deposit into commercial production after working with Texasgulf Inc.

While there are currently 13 properties in Thunderwood’s stable of exploration plays, Heslop is focusing his attention on three.

They include Thunderwood’s wholly-owned Gold Hawk property 13 miles west of Val d’Or, Que., where two narrow gold bearing quartz veins have been uncovered, the Pelletier Lake property two miles southwest of Rouyn-Noranda and the Linda-McKayseff polymetallic project near Snow Lake, Man.

In a bid to establish gold reserves at Gold Hawk, Thunderwood is spending $500,000 this year to drill the main “Marban” gold horizon which was outlined over a strike length of 600 ft and a 190 ft depth.

Heslop says the best intersections on this zone assayed 0.48 oz gold per ton over 3 ft, 0.42 oz over 5 ft, 5 ft of 0.46 oz and 0.27 oz over 6 ft.

Since the Goldhawk property is almost adjacent to Aur Resources’ First Canadian project where commercial production is expected to start in 1988, Thunderwood will drill on the Gold Hawk’s north east corner for a possible extension of the Kierens zone.

Underground drilling on the Kierens zone has outlined reserves of 1.5 million tons grading 0.30 oz but since it hasn’t been explored below 1,000 ft those reserves are expected to increase.

At the Pelletier Lake joint venture property which includes a past gold producer called the Stadacona Mine, Thunderwood is spending $3 million by 1991 to earn a 35% interest from Falconbridge.

According to a Thunderwood report, drilling there has uncovered several gold-bearing structures in the central portion of the 1,312-acre property.

“The 4,000-ft Stadacona mine shaft will allow Falconbridge access to any new zones and if we find something and the infrastructure is already in place,” said Heslop.

Out west in Manitoba, Thunderwood has entered a joint venture agreement with Minnova Inc. to earn 40% of Minnova’s interest in the Linda-McKayseff property by spending $1.75 million by February 1990.

Minnova currently holds an 80% interest in the 2,000-acre property where several sub-economic massive sulphide zones and anomalous to ore-grade intersections have been discovered.

Heslop says the Linda 2 Zone, containing 13 million tons of massive pyritic sulphides, averages 3% copper, 8% zinc, 3 oz silver and 0.025 oz gold. A drill hole completed in the northwest portion of the property intersected 436.5 oz gold over 3 ft in a quartz vein, he says.

With an exploration budget of $3.2 million and $900,000 in working capital, Heslop believes his debt- free company is well positioned to continue its activities.

“This is a real opportunity for me,” said the Thunderwood President who aims to emulate Aur Resources by turning Thunderwood into an operating mining company.