Pantoro Gold Ltd (ASX:PNR, OTC:PNTOF, FRA:RKN) has identified a significant new high-grade gold discovery at the Racetrack target within its Norseman Gold Project in Western Australia, with early drilling pointing to a substantial new ore source close to existing infrastructure.
The discovery comes from an initial 27-hole RC and diamond drilling growth program targeting early-stage prospects across the Norseman Mainfield, including Racetrack, Golden Goose and southern extensions to the Crown Reef.
Initial results from Racetrack have outlined a broad high-grade mineralised zone over a current strike length of 400 metres, extending from near surface to around 600 metres' depth.
Key intersections include:
- 8 metres at 28.68 g/t gold, including 1 metre at 189.84 g/t;
- 5 metres at 28.73 g/t, including 2 metres at 68.05 g/t;
- 2.01 metres at 82.99 g/t, including 1 metre at 165 g/t;
- 1.53 metres at 40.59 g/t, including 0.45 metres at 109.90 g/t; and
- 3.73 metres at 7.60 g/t gold.
Long Section of Racetrack.
The high-grade zone remains open to the east and down dip, highlighting strong potential for further growth.
“The strike rate for broad, high-grade intercepts within Racetrack has been remarkable and the scale of the zone identified to date has potential to materially increase the production capacity of the OK Underground Mine once sufficiently drilled and developed. Critically, with Racetrack sitting just 600 metres from existing OK infrastructure, we have a clear pathway to bringing this ore into production in a capital-efficient manner,” Pantoro Gold managing director Paul Cmrlec said.
“With approximately 1,000 metres of strike between the current results and the Mararoa Reef still to be tested, and the zone remaining open to the east and down dip, we see significant upside from here. Infill and extensional drilling will be progressed rapidly to bring this target to Mineral Resource and Ore Reserve status as soon as possible.”
Close to infrastructure and analogous to Bullen Reef
Racetrack is located around 600 metres north of the OK Underground Mine and associated infrastructure, positioning it as a potentially low-cost source of additional underground feed.
The ENE-trending structure is interpreted as a cross-link system between the Mararoa Reef and Crown Reef structures and is considered analogous to the historically productive Bullen Reef, which produced more than 500,000 ounces of gold.
Wide-spaced drilling on a nominal 200-metre-by-80-metre pattern has identified a west-plunging high-grade zone, with mineralisation extending from near surface to depth.
Pantoro also reported multiple intercepts from associated splays and parallel structures, including:
- 2 metres at 9.37 g/t gold;
- 2.42 metres at 7.16 g/t;
- 4.3 metres at 5.94 g/t; and
- 0.7 metres at 5.51 g/t.
The company believes these subsidiary structures may complement future mining inventory from the main Racetrack lode.
Growth pipeline expands at Norseman
The discovery adds to Pantoro’s growing pipeline of high-grade underground targets at Norseman and could provide a material uplift to future production at the OK Underground Mine.
The drilling program forms part of broader growth exploration aimed at expanding high-grade ore sources within trucking distance of existing processing and mining infrastructure.
What’s next?
Pantoro will continue drilling along the Racetrack trend to the east toward the Mararoa Reef to test continuity of the high-grade zone.
The company will also continue testing the Golden Goose lodes and extend selected holes into the southern extension of the Crown Reef.
Some RC holes interpreted to have stopped short of the target lode will also be deepened as part of follow-up work.