Pantoro Ltd (ASX:PNR) has hit a two-year high after high-grade results extended gold mineralisation north and south of the recent Panda discovery at Norseman project in Western Australia, with mineralisation open.
Drilling has been focused on potential open pit material, and as such the deposit remains open at depth with the deepest hole drilled to date around 150 metres below surface returning 3 metres at 9.41 g/t gold suggesting continued high grades down plunge.
Panda is part of the 413,000-ounce Scotia Mining Centre about 25 kilometres south of the primary 4.4-million-ounce Norseman project.
The encouraging results of up to 2 metres at 12.7 g/t along with a surging gold price, which has hit a new all-time record high of US$1943.93 an ounce (spot gold), has seen Pantoro reach a new two-year high of 29 cents.
“Shaping up to be an important ore source”
Managing director Paul Cmrlec said: “Ongoing drilling at Panda has highlighted substantial strike and depth extensions beyond the initial discovery.
“The deposit is shaping up to be another important ore source within the Scotia Mining Centre and further drilling will be undertaken to test the full extent of mineralisation and to define an initial mineral resource and ore reserve available for mining when operations recommence.
“Pantoro has extended its drilling programs across multiple zones at Scotia as the real potential of the area has become clear.
“To date, Pantoro has only completed exploration drilling outside of our resource development and extension activities at Panda and the Sailfish prospect on Lake Cowan.
“Both areas have produced outstanding results demonstrating the great potential for ongoing discovery at Norseman.”
Notable results
Results from the latest round of drilling include:
- 2 metres at 12.70 g/t from 46 metres;
- 2 metres at 9.10 g/t from 50 metres;
- 5 metres at 4.65 g/t from 141 metres; and
- 3 metres at 9.41 g/t from 155 metres.
Since the discovery of Panda, 59 holes have been drilled, defining a shallow plunging lode system similar to that seen in the adjacent Scotia lodes.
Further work is planned to test the lode system along strike and at depth with the latest round of drilling focused on potential extensions to the North and South of the discovery zone where historical sterilisation drilling was ineffective in identifying the deposit.