Pantoro Ltd (ASX:PNR) has returned further high-grade gold intersections during extensional drilling at its Halls Creek Project’s Wagtail underground development.
Exploration across the Western Australian mine has uncovered mineralisation from the current development levels to 120 vertical metres below the deepest level at Wagtail, returning as much as 60.9 g/t gold.
The Australian gold explorer and producer owns 100% of its cornerstone Halls Creek project, which includes the Nicolsons and Wagtail mines, as well as a pipeline of exploration and development prospects.
The announcement comes just one day after Pantoro tabled fresh exploration results from the Green Lantern mineralised zone, which forms part of the company’s 50%-owned Norseman Gold Project.
Growth continues
Pantoro managing director Paul Cmrlec said: “We have continued to see growth in the mineral resource and ore reserve at the Wagtail mine as development has progressed deeper.
“These results suggest that Pantoro will be continuing to extend them mine for the foreseeable future.
“Halls Creek operations are approaching six years of continuous production with reliable positive cashflow from the mine over a long period. Halls Creek has been a fantastic long term asset for the company and continues to play a critical role in Pantoro’s growth.”
Drilling at Wagtail
During extensional drilling, Pantoro confirmed a number of the lode positions at the Wagtail mine, confirming the continuity of high-grade gold down-dip of the lodes currently being mined.
Significant intersections include:
- 6.34 metres at 28.2 g/t gold;
- 1.45 metres at 60.9 g/t;
- 1.98 metres at 35.9 g/t;
- 3.42 metres at 32.1 g/t;
- 1.89 metres at 50.7 g/t;
- 1.4 metres at 9.10g/t;
- 0.32 metres at 56.5 g/t;
- 1.33 metres at 18.95 g/t;
- 2.48 metres at 11.5 g/t; and
- 3.08 metres at 8.49 g/t.
Looking ahead, drilling on continuous shifts at Wagtail and Nicolsons continues, aiming to extends the current mineral resources and ore reserves.
Green Lantern show promise
On Monday, Pantoro also reported on drilling at its Green Lantern discovery, which lies just 270 metres from the Scotia Open Pit, a target estimated to contain 4.14 million tonnes of resource at 3.45 g/t gold for 460,000 gold ounces.
To capitalise on this resource, Pantoro has committed to a large-scale exploration and resource extension program at Scotia, and expects drilling to continue in the area for at least the next six to twelve months.
To the southeast, adjacent to the Scotia Open Pit, Green Lantern’s mineralised zone remains open at depth and along strike, delineated over around 800 metres.
Pantoro is conducting infill drilling in the area to prove up the mineralised zone ahead of a maiden resource estimation.
Some of the best results from the most recent drilling assay compilation include:
- 9 metres at 5.44 g/t gold from 44;
- 28 metres at 8.41 g/t from 95 metres;
- 8 metres at 3.44 g/t from 30 metres;
- 3 metres at 8.06 g/t from 105 metres; and
- 4 metres at 7.74 g/t from 114 metres.
Additional drilling results are pending, while further exploration is now planned due to the ongoing growth in the orebody.
Following the infill exploration, Pantoro is targeting maiden mineral resource and open-pit ore reserve during the fourth quarter of 2021.
Commenting on the results, Cmrlec continued: “Green Lantern is a great exploration success story for the Norseman Gold Project, and highlights the opportunities available due to the lack of exploration activity in the area for the past 25 years.
“The Scotia Mining Centre is already one of our major ore sources in the planed operations restart at Norseman, and we are confident that a sustained drilling effort will continue to extend mine life and productivity in the area.”