Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - March 1, 2018) - Thunderstruck Resources Ltd. (TSXV: AWE) ("Thunderstruck") is pleased to report that recent exploration results have confirmed the presence of a large gold-copper mineralized porphyry stock at the Rama Creek project in Fiji. The recent work has also resulted in the discovery of a zone of broad, possibly structurally controlled, gold mineralization.
Rama Creek is part of an extensive property position held by Thunderstruck on Viti Levu, the main island of Fiji, and is located south of the Vatukoula mine, which has produced 7 million ounces of gold. The Thunderstruck property is located between the Tuvatu gold deposit of Lion One, which is now in development and Newcrest's Namosi (Combined reserves and resources of 16 million ounces gold, 15 million tonnes copper).
The property held by Thunderstruck was first explored by Anglo American in the 1970s. The recent field work built on the earlier results and was intended to test the extent of the porphyry system and to follow up on historic gold soil anomalies. Between October and December 2017, Thunderstruck crews completed the collection of 126 targeted auger soil, 102 prospecting rock grab, and 35 follow-up BLEG stream sediment geochemical samples at the Rama Creek Prospect. In addition, 59 metres of hand trenching at the Senikura West gold target, located 1 km south of the Rama Creek Porphyry, tested an historic gold-in-soil anomaly. Trench results include 11.1 meters of 0.96 g/t gold.
Commenting on the results, President/CEO Bryce Bradley notes, "This recent work confirms a mineralized gold-copper porphyry system at least a kilometre in diameter, which remains open to the north and south. The trenching showed the significance of the peripheral gold-in-soil anomalies, giving us a discovery in the first test, with several other anomalies yet to be tested. Having verified and extended the results of the historic work at Rama, and having done the same earlier at our various other targets, Thunderstruck's Fijian properties are beginning to attract considerable interest in the mining industry."
Director Lawrence Roulston notes: "The island of Viti Levu hosts multiple multi-million-ounce deposits, demonstrating the highly productive geological environment. Fiji is on the tectonic boundary between the Pacific Plate and the Australian Plate. This same tectonic feature hosts other large deposits, including Lihir and Grasberg, two of the biggest gold deposits in the world. This is the right environment to be searching for large deposits and the results to date are highly encouraging."
Senikura West Gold Target
At Senikura West, target specific auger soil sampling was designed to confirm an historic gold in soil anomaly (4 samples ranging from 107 to 511 ppb Au). Thunderstruck crews collected a series of 10 consecutive auger soil samples collected over a distance of 100 m along a northeast trending ridgeline, which returned an average of 0.47 g/t Au, with individual samples ranging from 0.029 g/t Au (29 parts-per-billion Au) and up to 2.13 g/t Au (Figure 1). In addition, a single soil sample collected 40 m to the northeast returned 1 g/t Au. The 10 samples form part of a broader zone of 20 auger soil samples collected over 200 m along the ridge returned an average of 0.3 g/t Au, with the northern and southernmost samples returning 0.10 and 0.27 g/t Au, respectively. The Senikura West gold in soil anomaly remains open to the north and south.
As a follow-up to detailed auger sampling, a 59 m northeast trending trench was excavated centered over the highest gold in soil values. The Senikura West trench returned, 0.96 g/t Au over 11.1 m (38.5 to 49.6 m), within a broader anomalous gold zone averaging 0.55 g/t Au over 37.6 m (12 to 49.6 m) (Table 1). The relationship of the trenched intervals to the true width of mineralization is not known.
Rama Creek Porphyry Target
A total of 18 auger soil samples were collected over a 240 m northwest trending ridgeline at the interpreted centre of the Rama Creek Porphyry Cu-Au target. The soil line transects a prominent magnetic high anomaly and historic 1974 Australian Anglo American Ltd (Anglo) diamond drill hole "DDH1" that returned a 244 metre interval between depths of 6 and 250 metres averaging 0.22% Cu, ending in mineralization. Thunderstruck's 18 auger soil samples returned an average of 0.27% Cu and 0.15 g/t Au; with individual copper and gold values ranging from 0.05 to 0.68% Cu, and 0.004 g/t Au (4 ppb Au) to 0.34 g/t Au, respectively (Figure 2).