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This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of EU Regulation 596/2014.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
PANTHER METALS PLC
(Incorporated in the Isle of Man with company number 009753V)
10th February 2020
Grant of Annaburroo Gold Project
Appointment of Dr. David Groves
Panther Metals PLC (LSE:PALM) ("Panther" or "the Company"), the company focused on mineral exploration in Canada and Australia, is pleased to announce the formal grant of exploration license EL32140, named the Annaburroo Gold Project, in the Northern Territory, Australia. In addition, the Company has appointed Dr. David Groves to the board of its 100%-owned Australian subsidiary, Panther Metals Pty Ltd (ACN 614 676 578), with immediate effect.
Annaburroo Gold Project
·; Gold discovered at Annaburroo by Newmont Australia.
·; Grab sample grades include 61.2 g/t Au and 50.8 g/t Au.
·; 5m @ 6.68 g/t Au intercepted in trenching.
·; Near surface drilling intercepts include 2m @ 3.10 g/t Au.
·; Located in the highly prospective Pine Creek Orogen, Northern Territory.
Dr. David Groves
·; PhD in Economic Geology.
·; Ex-President of the Society of Economic Geologists (SEG), Geological Society of Australia (GSA) and Society for Geology Applied to Mineral Deposits (SGA).
·; Ex-Director of Key Centre for Strategic Mineral Deposits, University of Western Australia.
·; Awarded the SEG Penrose Gold Medal and SGA-Newmont Gold Medal for his career achievements.
Darren Hazelwood, CEO, commented:
"The grant of the Annaburroo Gold Project license allows the Company to proceed with its maiden exploration programme on its fully-owned gold exploration projects in the Northern Territory. I expect this programme to commence from Q2 of 2020. With the Company fully funded into 2021 for our planned work programmes, we look forward to reporting on the corresponding results of these programmes accordingly.
Meanwhile, the appointment of Dr. David Groves is another seminal moment for the Company, confirming recognition from within the geological community of Panther Metals commitment to excellence in its pursuit of economic mineral discoveries. I would like thank Dr. Groves for agreeing to join the Company at this important time and I personally look forward to engaging with one of the most widely respected geologists in the world".
Annaburroo Gold Project
The Annaburroo Gold Project comprises a single licence (EL32140) covering an area of 149.8km2, located 105km to the southeast of Darwin, Northern Territory. The Annaburroo Project is located near infrastructure and the Toms Gully (20km away) and Rustlers Roost (27km away) deposits, which are owned by China Hanking Holdings Limited. Toms Gully is a high-grade underground mine containing 1.1Mt @ 8.9 g/t Au (0.3 Moz). Rustlers Roost contains 51Mt @ 1.0 g/t Au (1.6Moz) and is one of the largest gold projects in the region. It is expected that this licence area will be explored by Panther contemporaneously with the Marrakai Gold Project, which is located 32km away to the west.
The Annaburroo Project is located within the Palaeoproterozoic Pine Creek Orogen ("PCO"), proximal to the Mount Bundey granite and Mount Goyder syenite. The host rocks in the area are metamorphosed sandstone, siltstone, mudstones, tuffs and sulphidic/carbonaceous units of the Palaeoproterozoic South Alligator and Mount Partridge groups, which represent highly prospective hosts for gold mineralisation in the Pine Creek Orogen. The area around these intrusive rocks is known to contain several uranium (e.g. Quest 31 to 33) and gold prospects, and may also have potential to host an unusual style of hydrothermal Au-PGE (±U) mineralisation encountered at the Coronation Hill (4.85Mt @ 4.31 g/t Au, 0.65 g/t Pd and 0.19 g/t Pt), Gold Ridge and Sargents North deposits found elsewhere in the PCO. The presence of suitable host structures and stratigraphy, proximity to high-heat producing intrusions and spatially related uranium and gold mineralisation is suggestive of potential for this style of deposit.
Despite the potential for the area to host various styles of gold mineralisation, exploration since the early 1970s has been sporadic and geographically limited. Only two phases of work during the past fifty years have involved significant field activities, with several other operators having conducted only cursory exploration, field reconnaissance and data review. During the late 1980s Newmont Australia identified the Donkey Hill gold prospect from several grab samples with results up to 50.8 g/t Au and 13.7 g/t Au from different veins. Follow-up trenching recorded five-metre composite chip samples up to 6.68 g/t Au. This work led to a short Reverse Circulation ("RC") drilling programme (four RC holes totalling 244m) with a best intercept of 2m @ 3.10 g/t Au from 28m in hole RCD-3.
No further work of significance was undertaken in the area apart from an airborne magnetic, radiometric and electro-magnetic survey in the late 2000s, which was followed up by field reconnaissance and a geochemical soil survey of 665 samples. Grab samples of up to 61.2 g/t Au from veins at the Donkey Hill prospect and 0.27 g/t Au from a large outcropping quartz vein 3.8 km to the north of Donkey Hill, highlighted the prospectivity of the broader "Annaburroo Dome". This work was followed-up with six RC holes for a total of 666m designed to test parts of the Donkey Hill prospect and three geophysical anomalies approximately 5km to the north.
Panther recognises that the Annaburroo Gold Project is highly prospective for the discovery of orogenic gold systems. This is underpinned by the underexplored nature the licence area, which is characterised by highly prospective bedrock and potential host structures. The widespread post-mineral cover and the very limited drill testing to date suggests there is opportunity for gold deposits to have been overlooked in earlier exploration. Almost all of the previous drill-testing occurred in a limited area at the Donkey Hill gold prospect
This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of EU Regulation 596/2014. The person responsible for arranging the release of this announcement on behalf of the Company is Darren Hazelwood, Chief Executive Officer of the Company.
For further information please contact:
Panther Metals PLC:
Darren Hazelwood, Chief Executive Officer: +44(0) 1462 429 743 and +44(0) 7971 957 685
Mitchell Smith, Chief Operating Officer: +1(604) 209 6678
Brokers:
SI Capital Limited
Nick Emerson +44(0) 1438 416 500
Peterhouse Capital Limited
Guy Miller and Duncan Vasey +44(0) 20 7469 0930