Mt. Paynter is located within the Lachlan Fold Belt within a similar geological setting to Thomson ‘s Ardlethan project where drilling is to commence shortly.
Tin-tungsten mineralisation at Mount Paynter is hos ted within the Silurian Koetong Granite and the surrounding meta-sediments. Mineral isation occurs within quartz veins and greisenised vein selvedges, containing scheelit e, cassiterite and other minor accessory minerals.
The main Mount Paynter lode (Ma in Lode) has an average width of between 1 to 2m, strikes E-W, dips sub-vertically, and can be traced on the surface for over 600m along strike and extends over 300m down d ip based on current drilling information and an exploration adit and drives. A n umber of other quartz vein tin-tungsten lodes have also been mapped, but are not yet drill tested.
A small inferred JORC 2004 compliant resource was d efined on the Main Lode in 2007. This comprises 245,000 tons grading 0.45% tungsten and 0.27% tin (1100 tons of tungsten and 660 tons of ti n). The resource was confined to the main lode structure and estimated from 19 histo ric diamond drill holes (see Table A for a list of the better intercepts), 52 undergroun d channel chip samples and 18 underground bulk samples.
The latter were obtained from an exploration adit and level crosscuts. The top 5 to 10m of the lode was exclud ed from the resource, and most of the previous workings are confined to these shallow dep ths. This information was prepared and first disclosed under the JORC Code 2004. It ha s not been updated since to comply with the JORC Code 2012 on the basis that the infor mation has not materially changed since it was last reported.
Small scale mining took place at Mount Paynter betw een 1873 to 1930, with around 1,200 tons of ore raised and crushed for tin. One s haft was sunk to a depth of 64m. The exploration adit and sampling crosscuts were comple ted in 1982, but no production was undertaken. The adit and crosscuts access the Main Lode 183m below the surface outcrop and provide excellent control on the lode p osition and geometry.
The mineralisation at Mt Paynter is hosted in a qua rtz vein (the "Main Lode") and surrounding greisen alteration within the Koeteng Granite. It dips steeply north (Figure 2), strike east-west and is consistent where it has been drill tested, with 17 of 19 holes hitting significant mineralisation in the predicted Main Lode position. Within the Main Lode tin and tungsten appear to be zoned and occur in sh oots. Strong tungsten mineralisation occurs to the east of strong tin mineralisation.
Whilst the current resource is modest, there are go od exploration prospects for additional mineralization with potential to extend the known m ineralisation to the east and west as well as down dip. Further, there are several other veins in the area that have not been drill tested. Previous mining and exploration was m ainly focused on tin, and there is evidence that tungsten bearing greisens may have be en overlooked
The acquisition of the Mt Paynter tin-tungsten proj ect adds to Thomson Resources strong tin-tungsten portfolio. The Company’s top priority at present is the Bygoo project at Ardlethan , where drilling is expected to commence on June 2nd.