Thor showing promise for Taranis

Vancouver — Finnish explorer Taranis Resources (TRO-V, TNREF-O) is proving up the potential of its polymetallic Thor project, releasing a steady stream of drill and sampling results from its Canadian venture, in southeastern B.C.

A late summer drill program at Thor managed to punch 60 drill holes for 5,378 metres into the project before winter set in. All of the holes hit massive sulphide or quartz-sulphide mineralization, with most returning significant gold, silver, lead and zinc grades, plus low-grade copper.

Mineralized intervals from the main zone, which is called the True Fissure zone and includes a small historic open pit, range from 30 cm to over 6 metres. From 50 metres east of the old open pit, hole 2 intersected 1.8 metres grading 0.72 gram gold, 86.12 grams silver per tonne, 0.14% copper, 1.32% lead and 4.03% zinc from 30 metres depth. From the same collar, hole 3 returned higher-grade mineralization: 1.2 grams gold, 416.7 grams silver, 0.38% copper, 5.42% lead and 7.48% zinc.

Moving 40 metres north, still along the edge of the old open pit, hole 6 hit 2.75 metres of 0.37 gram gold, 96.91 grams silver, 0.04% copper, 0.67% lead and 2.65% zinc from 24 metres depth. From the same collar, but drilled at a steeper angle, hole 8 intersected 5.4 metres grading 0.53 gram gold, 118.58 grams silver, 0.08% copper, 0.93% lead and 2.86% zinc.

Continuing north on an easterly stepout line from the pit, hole 10 returned 3.4 metres grading 1.26 grams gold, 273.9 grams silver, 0.19% copper, 6.51% lead, and 6.89% zinc from 24 metres depth. And directly north of the old pit, hole 14 returned 0.71 gram gold, 100.74 grams silver, 0.08% copper, 2.26% lead and 2% zinc over 4.7 metres.

Some 300 metres south of the True Fissure zone is the Great Northern zone, where Taranis picked some high-grade grab samples in 2006. Hole 50 tested the prospective zone and returned 3.1 metres grading 0.37 gram gold, 18.74 grams silver, 0.09% copper, 0.27% lead and 2.95% zinc from 17 metres depth. Two other holes in the zone returned several shorter, higher-grade intercepts, however, difficult ground conditions led to lost core between mineralized core sections that make it difficult to estimate true widths.

Farther south in the Great Northern zone, hole 53 hit two mineralized zones, indicating that the fault footwall may host a second zone. From 18 metres, the drill returned 7.2 metres grading 1.13 grams gold, 88.58 grams silver, 2.29% lead and 3.44% zinc; from 31.7 metres, the drill cut 10.1 metres of 0.14 gram gold, 60.8 grams silver, 0.42% lead and 0.51% zinc.

And the company’s latest drill results proved that Great Northern zone mineralization continues considerably farther south than previously known. For example, hole 47 intersected mineralization close to surface, returning 1.1 metres grading 0.23 gram gold, 292.5 grams silver, 0.36% copper, 5.15% lead and 1.11% zinc from 19.4 metres depth.

Finally, the new year saw Taranis release underground sampling results from six crosscuts in the Blue Bell area, which is simply a more northerly underground mine accessing the True Fissure zone. The sampling results, which showed that mineralization at Blue Bell is dominated by gold and silver, extended mineralization north 590 metres from the True Fissure mine.

Taranis acquired the Thor property, which sits northeast of Trout Lake, in 2006. It hosts five known deposits along a 1.6-km strike that have seen previous small-scale open-pit and underground work. The mined area is on the southwest side of the Cup Creek fault, which strikes and plunges to the northwest. The area has been further divided into four blocks by later faults, one of which is the northerly striking Great Northern fault that dips shallowly to the east.

Most of the mineralization in the area is in graphitic schists in the footwall of the Great Northern fault, which is a gouge and breccia zone of variable width that has been injected with quartz and carbonate. A lens-shaped vein of quartz and carbonate follows the fault footwall for 365 metres from Fissure Creek to the True Fissure No. 1 adit, and may continue south into the Great Northern mine workings.

Taranis gained 9.5 on the latest sampling news to close at 55. The company has a 52-week trading range of 36-70 with 14.8 million shares issued.