Pantoro Ltd (ASX:PNR) shares are trading about 1.64% higher intra-day after starting a 20,000 metre drilling program for the 2022 field season at its Lamboo PGE Project within the Halls Creek Project in Kimberley, Western Australia.
Drilling completed in 2021 at Lamboo, prior to the wet season, had identified large zones of PGE (platinum group elements) and nickel mineralisation within the basal contact zone of the Lamboo Ultramafic sequence.
Over 20 kilometres of the prospective basal contact zone exists on the tenements.
Background
The PGE potential at Lamboo was initially identified in 2006.
PGE mineralisation was intersected in a number of locations from limited drill testing over a small area of the basal portion within the folded Lamboo ultramafic complex.
Since this time, Pantoro has undertaken significant work which has concluded that the basal contact over very wide zones is unusually enriched in PGEs, and that there is the potential for large, bulk tonnage styles of PGE mineralisation.
This style distinguishes Lamboo from other PGE discoveries within the region and WA as the mineralisation occurs over very wide zones from surface.
2021 drilling
Holes previously reported at Lamboo during 2021 returned encouraging nickel assays.
Full results including Pt+Pd+Au (platinum+palladium+gold) (3E), nickel and cobalt grades include:
- 100 metres at 1.10 g/t Pt+Pd+Au (3E); 0.38% Ni (nickel) and 0.022% Co (cobalt) from surface inc. 66 m at1.34 g/t Pt+Pd+Au (3E), 0.44% Ni and 0.026% Co from surface.
- 46 m at 1.11 g/t Pt+Pd+Au (3E), 0.40% Ni and 0.024% Co from surface.
- 22 m at 1.11 g/t Pt+Pd+Au (3E), 0.60% Ni and 0.052% Co from surface.
- 31 m at 0.90 g/t Pt+Pd+Au (3E), 0.34% Ni and 0.020% Co from 36 m.
- 30 m at 1.02 g/t Pt+Pd+Au (3E), 0.54% Ni and 0.033% Co from 3 m.
$45 million capital raise
Last month, Pantoro raised $45 million to strengthen its balance sheet and accelerate exploration at the Norseman Gold Project in Western Australia's Eastern Goldfields.
The Aussie gold producer tapped institutional and sophisticated investors to take part in the placement, raising $45 million at $0.29 per share.
As well as the balance sheet and exploration benefits, Pantoro believes the cash injection will:
- support the early commencement of mining at Norseman to underwrite ore supply to the new processing facility; and
- accelerate platinum group element (PGE) project exploration at the Halls Creek project.
