Thunderwood active near Owl Creek

With a 35% interest in a property sandwiched between the Owl Creek gold mine on the east and the Bell Creek mine on the west, Thunderwood Resources (TSE) had an unobstructed view of this summer’s action in Hoyle Twp., east of Timmins, Ont. And now that operator Kinross Gold (TSE) has started a drilling program on the property, looking down may be as exciting as looking sideways.

Previous drilling by Kinross’ predecessor, Falconbridge Gold, featured some excellent results, with grades up to 0.51 oz. gold per ton and widths ranging from 4.9 to 49.2 ft. Geological mapping and recent drilling of gold-bearing structures at Kinross’ 1060 gold zone to the east and, at the Vogel property of Black Hawk Mining (TSE) to the west, suggest that, if the structures have extensions along strike, they will continue on to the Thunderwood joint venture’s property.

A total of 6,500 ft. of drilling is planned on the property, mainly to test the continuity of mineralized zones found in earlier work.

It was also announced that Thunderwood and associated company Consolidated Abitibi Resources (ME) have taken an option to earn 30% interests in the Manitoba and Saskatchewan properties recently acquired by parent company Aur Resources (TSE). The properties cover about 1,700 sq. km, and vendor Granges (TSE) has thrown in a regional technical database and durable goods on the properties. Granges receives 1.25 million shares of Aur and a 2% net smelter return royalty, which can be diluted to 1% on payment of $1 million at Aur’s option.

Thunderwood and Abitibi will each provide $5 million of funding before Feb. 28, 1999, to earn their interests. Aur will continue as operator. Aur must obtain a waiver of rights of first refusal from some of Granges’ joint-venture partners before the option agreements with Thunderwood and Abitibi are effective.