Through diversifying its portfolio and advancing exploration projects, West Africa-focused gold producer Thor Explorations is transitioning from a single-mine junior producer towards its goal of achieving midtier status, says Thor Explorations CEO Segun Lawson.

Thor’s portfolio includes the 100%-owned Segilola gold project, in Nigeria, and exploration projects in Senegal and Côte d'Ivoire.

Compared to similar geological areas in Australia and Canada, West Africa’s highly prospective geology, particularly the Birimian greenstone belt, remains significantly underexplored, increasing the attractiveness for exploration and mine development.

West African countries’ permitting processes are also “relatively efficient, enabling a quicker path from discovery to construction”, he adds.

Owing to these factors, combined with high gold prices and supportive governments, the region presents strong opportunities for value creation, enthuses Lawson.

Leveraging these benefits, Thor’s immediate priorities include further exploration underneath and within a 50 km radius of its Segilola project, along with defining a maiden resource estimate at its Côte d’Ivoire project this year, adding another growth pipeline alongside the company’s assets in Nigeria and Senegal.

The Segilola project is currently the biggest gold-producing mine in the country and is on track to meet its guidance of 85 000 oz to 95 000 oz for the 2025 financial year, highlights Lawson.

He explains that production was based on an initial feasibility study, which was updated in March 2021, outlining over 500 000 oz of total probable reserves over the life of the mine; however, the project has never been fully drilled out, owing to budget constraints and debt facility covenants tied to the mine’s construction.

With the senior debt facility being fully repaid at the end of December 2024, cash was redeployed into exploration, says Lawson, adding that this enabled Thor to focus on better understanding the geological controls of gold mineralisation and continue drilling.

In addition, with the release of two sets of exploration results this year thus far, he says gold was intersected below the pit design at mineable widths and grades.

Ongoing drilling aims to build sufficient resources for an updated mine plan, potentially extending mine life.

“We believe there will be an inflection point where this mine will transition from an openpit to an underground [operation],” he adds, noting that upcoming work will assess this underground potential.

Douta Project
Thor announced its completed acquisition of the Douta gold project, in Senegal – from the project’s joint venture (JV) partner International Mining Company – last month.

Thor will be able to further diversify its portfolio by adding a second jurisdiction, thereby reducing risk, says Lawson.

Previously holding 70% ownership of the project, Thor now owns 100%, having greater flexibility in decision-making regarding Douta’s efficient development, without being subjected to JV approval processes.

Thor aims to release a prefeasibility study for Douta by the end of this year, having already completed “much of the heavy lifting”, particularly metallurgy and process flow sheet development, he acknowledges.

Infill drilling was completed in the second quarter of this year to upgrade the inferred resource into an indicated resource.

Following this, Thor will consolidate the results, update the mine plan, finalise costs and complete engineering designs.

The company also acquired an initial 65% interest in the early-stage Bousankhoba gold exploration permit, located to the east of the company’s Douta West permit.

Noting the significance of the Bousankhoba project in relation to Douta, Lawson explains that the former shows encouraging early exploration results across a big and highly prospective area, with its providing upside potential, either by supporting extended mine life or by allowing for expansion of production capacity in future for the anticipated Douta mine.

“If we ever are in a situation where we want to increase the production capacity of the mine, [Bousankhoba provides] additional good ground from which we can find resources.”

Guitry Project
Thor also undertook a maiden 3 000 m reverse circulation drilling campaign at its 100%-owned Guitry gold project, in Côte d’Ivoire, earlier this year, with Lawson commenting that “positive” results have been obtained.

He notes that Côte d’Ivoire has become a regional success story in gold exploration and mine development, which motivated Thor’s entry in 2024.

While benefiting from significant historical exploration work, Lawson says vast areas of the Guitry gold project remain unexplored.