Thor Mining nears sale completion of Australian gold project

(ShareCast News) - Thor Mining is one payment away from completing the sale of its Australian gold project to PC Gold as it begins conducting drilling programmes at other projects.Following PC Gold's exploration and evaluation of the Spring Hill gold project, its funding partner has now committed to the acquisition, which is expected to complete later in February.Last February, Thor said it would sell the Spring Hill gold project for AU$3.5m, of which AU$1.5m remains for the residual 40% stake in the project which will be later this month.The deal also includes royalties of AU$6 per ounce of gold produced from the Spring Hill tenements where the gold produced is sold for up to AU$1,500 per ounce, and AU$14 per ounce of gold produced where the gold produced is sold for over AU$1,500 per ounce.The AIM-listed company also said that preparations for the scheduled Pilot Mountain drilling programme are complete, and the program will start as soon as weather conditions permit, as unusually heavy snowfall has temporarily held up the start of the programme.Executive chairman Mick Billing said: "The expected final consideration is due this month and this will allow us to conduct some aggressive exploration programs, commencing with the Pilot Mountain drilling program, and to be followed also in the first half of 2017 with drilling at the Dundas gold project".Shares in Thor Mining were up 14.8% to 0.689p at 1024 GMT.