Tournigan expands drilling in Northern Ireland

Vancouver — Tournigan Gold (TVC-V) has added a second diamond drill rig to its Tyrone project in Northern Ireland.

The main target on the 346-sq.-km property is the Curraghinalt deposit, though several additional ones have been identified on the surrounding Tyrone licence. Among these, the most advanced is Glenlark, where induced-polarization geophysics, soil geochemistry, trenching and drilling have defined stratabound gold-silver-lead-zinc mineralization. The additional rig will also be used to test the Glenlark prospect (until now five holes have been drilled, and assays are pending).

Tournigan also plans to test strike extensions to the Curraghinalt resource. Trenching is under way on the eastern extension of the Curraghinalt vein system, and several veins have been exposed. Some of these veins appear to be extensions of known veins; others represent new discoveries.

At Golan Burn, 3 km west of Curraghinalt, crews have traced possible extensions of the Curraghinalt vein system via geochemical and geophysical surveys. These new targets will be trenched and drilled in the weeks ahead.

The Curraghinalt gold deposit represents a mesothermal gold quartz vein system with an inferred resource of 468,097 tonnes averaging 16.96 grams gold per tonne, or 230,000 contained ounces. Tournigan intends to advance this resource to production, and increase it with further drilling.

In November 2002, Tournigan inked a deal with Strongbow Resources (SR-V) to option the Curraghinalt and Tyrone gold projects. Tournigan can acquire a 51% interest in Curraghinalt by spending $2 million over three years, and it can buy half of Tyrone by spending $1.5 million over the same period.

Once vested, Strongbow can elect to retain the balance of its interest in the relevant project by funding its share of future exploration. If Strongbow decides not to participate, Tournigan can increase its interest in Curraghinalt to 60% by spending an additional $2 million and to 75% by completing a feasibility study within seven years.

Tournigan can increase its interest in the Tyrone project to 60% by spending an additional $1.5 million, and to 75% by completing a feasibility within seven years. It can buy the remaining interest in both projects by issuing shares at a deemed price equivalent to the net present value of each project at that time.