Flagship Minerals Ltd (ASX: FLG) has identified additional exploration opportunities at its Pantanillo Gold Project in Chile after reviewing a recently acquired dataset from Anglo American Norte, highlighting a gold-in-soil anomaly roughly 5 kilometres long and up to 1.2 kilometres wide centred on the 1.05 million ounce qualifying foreign estimate (QFE) at Pantanillo North.
The company said soil anomalism extends well beyond current drill coverage and is supported by elevated copper, molybdenum and other pathfinders, with sizeable target areas remaining undrilled or poorly tested. Collation and validation of drillhole data are near completion to fast-track conversion of the 1.05 million ounce QFE (reported under National Instrument 43-101) to a Mineral Resource Estimate in accordance with the Joint Ore Reserves Committee (JORC) Code 2012.
Flagship’s strategy plans for open-pit mining and heap-leach processing targeting annual production of 100,000 ounces over at least 10 years, alongside advancing metallurgical testwork and project studies. Follow-up drilling, additional soils and rock-chip sampling are planned in parallel with permitting and technical studies across the broader ~110 square kilometre holding.
“We are very pleased with the soils results, the large zone of anomalous gold essentially centred on the Pantanillo North deposit confirms our expectations that the Pantanillo Gold Project has the potential to yield handsomely around and along strike from the current 1.05Moz QFE pit shell," managing director Paul Lock said.
“The gold in soil anomaly is materially larger than the existing drill coverage which currently defines the deposit, at ~5km long and 1.2km wide the anomaly is over 6x the length and circa 2x the width of the current pit shell.
“These results further confirm Pantanillo’s credentials as a large scale gold system.”