Pantoro Ltd (ASX:PNR) has delivered shallow, high-grade platinum group element (PGE) mineralisation highlighting PGE potential at its Monarch prospect situated within the Norseman Gold Project in Western Australia.
The company’s shallow aircore drilling program returned PGE anomalism including the high-grade hits over two southern reconnaissance lines returning results which included:
- 27 metres at 2.01 g/t (3E) (1.54 g/t palladium, 0.41 g/t platinum, 0.05 g/t gold, 0.13% nickel and 0.10% copper) from 28 metres, including 10 metres at 3.19 g/t (3E) (2.48 g/t palladium, 0.65 g/t platinum, 0.06 g/t gold, 0.11% nickel and 0.12% copper) from 39 metres; and
- 17 metres at 1.62 g/t (3E) (1.24 g/t palladium, 0.35 g/t platinum, 0.03 g/t gold, 0.11% nickel and 0.02% copper) from 33 metres, including 5 metres at 4 g/t (3E) (3.08 g/t palladium, 0.88 g/t platinum, 0.09 g/t gold, 0.09% nickel and 0.03% copper) from 33 metres.
Following the acquisition and assumption of management of the Norseman Project in 2019, Pantoro implemented a clear strategy for the development of its gold assets and has rapidly executed its development plan with construction due for completion in the September quarter.
Looking ahead, the company has focused initial project planning on six initial mining areas at Norseman containing multiple deposits which are amenable to both open pit and underground mining.
“Immense market interest”
Pantoro managing director Paul Cmrlec said: “At the present time Pantoro as manager of the Norseman Joint Venture is solely focused on successful completion of construction and transition to profitable gold operations.
“We recently demonstrated the value which can be derived from other commodities on the tenure with the potentially high-value lithium farm in and joint venture agreed with Mineral Resources Limited.
“Pantoro intends to pursue value from other commodities including PGEs and nickel as activities around the gold projects allow.
"Given the immense market interest in PGEs, and Pantoro’s large 100% owned Lamboo PGE Project near Halls Creek already delivering strong results, additional exploration efforts will be directed to the Mission Sill PGEs in the near term.”
PGE at Monarch
The Monarch Prospect is a layered mafic-ultramafic package where PGE mineralisation is hosted within a nickel-depleted unit that forms part of this ultramafic package located on its eastern margin.
Work on the PGE prospect at Monarch was undertaken in 2005-2006 which included initial aircore reconnaissance followed by ground-based electromagnetic surveys and diamond drilling.
Aircore drilling identified zones of anomalous PGE mineralisation including the high-grade hits over two southern reconnaissance lines.
Deep diamond drilling was completed beneath these hits, however, a review of the ground-based EM indicates shallow dipping conductors, which is consistent with the mineralised setting presented in recent Galileo Mining drilling and suggests that this deeper drilling beneath the high-grade results may have been ineffective.
The prospect is considered to be open with shallow aircore drilling unlikely to have intersected a shallow plunging mineralised zone in either direction.
Forward plan
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 one 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.
Approvals for the project were received in October 2021, and construction of the project is underway, with the first production expected in the September quarter of 2022.