Pantoro Limited’s (ASX:PNR) (FRA:RKN) ongoing drilling at Scotia Mining Centre within the Norseman Gold Project has returned several deep high-grade intersections from inside and outside of the inferred mineral resource envelope.
The infill drilling program around and below the historic underground workings continues to increase the company’s confidence in the ongoing upgrade of mineral resources from the inferred to the indicated category for subsequent expansion of ore reserves.
Two high-grade lodes have been confirmed at the deepest level drilled to date, which is over 400 metres below surface and remains open.
New results include:
- 4 metres at 10.83 g/t gold including 0.7-metre at 56.20 g/t from 437 metres;
- 2.6 metres at 6.51 g/t from 451.8 metres;
- 5.25 metres at 5.27 g/t from 155.75 metres;
- 10 metres at 3.18 g/t from 177 metres;
- 3 metres at 8.12 g/t including 1-metre at 21.60 g/t from 180 metres;
- 3.85 metres at 4.03 g/t from 446.1 metres; and
- 9.94 metres at 7.24 g/t including 1.75 metres at 17.38 g/t from 195.06 metres.
“Key component of Norseman restart”
The latest drilling at Scotia has returned the deepest high-grade intercepts in the area to date and confirms the long term underground mining proposition following completion of open pit activities as contemplated in the project DFS.
Pantoro managing director Paul Cmrlec said: “The Scotia Mining Centre is a key component of the planned recommencement of production at Norseman.
“Ongoing drilling continues to confirm the growth potential of the Scotia Mining Centre, at depth, through expansion of other existing mineral resources, and through new discoveries such as Green Lantern and Panda.”
The Scotia Mining Centre is around 25 kilometres south of Norseman, with historic production (1987 until 1996) from open pit and underground mining recorded at 811,000 tonnes at 5.9 g/t gold for 155,000 ounces.
It hosts several mineral resource areas in close proximity, including the dominant Scotia resource and smaller satellite resources at Lady Eleanor and Free Gift.
The company’s ongoing drill program using multiple drill rigs at Scotia is planned to continue throughout this year.
New results at Scotia
Norseman production plans
The Norseman Gold Project (Pantoro 50%) comprises 146 near-contiguous mining tenements in the southern end of the highly productive Norseman-Wiluna greenstone belt in the Eastern Goldfields of Western Australia.
Pantoro has focused initial project planning on six initial mining areas containing multiple deposits which are amenable to both open pit and underground mining.
A Phase 1 DFS was completed in October 2020 detailing an initial seven-year mine plan with a centralised processing facility and a combination of open pit and underground mining producing approximately 108,000 ounces per annum.
A new one million tonnes per annum processing plant is to be constructed by GR Engineering following an extensive tendering process.
Pre-construction works are underway, with first production planned for the first half of 2022.
An additional 100,000 metres of drilling is planned to be completed during 2021 with the aim of doubling the current mining inventory.