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PANTHER METALS PLC
("Panther" or the "Company")
(Incorporated in the Isle of Man with company number 009753V)
9 February 2021
Targeted Soil Sampling Programme Scheduled for Merolia Gold Project, Western Australia
Panther Metals PLC (LSE:PALM) the company focused on mineral exploration in Canada and Australia, is pleased to announce an upcoming soil geochemical sampling programme at the Merolia Gold Project ("Meriolia") in the Eastern Goldfields region of Western Australia. The Kalgoorlie based drilling and survey company Gyro Australia Pty Ltd. ("Gyro") has been awarded the auger drilling and sampling contract for a planned 828 samples taken from a planned 1.5m depth. Sample assay will be initially by portable x-ray fluorescence analyser ("pXRF") conducted by Gyro with sample material retained for verification analysis as appropriate.
Darren Hazelwood, Chief Executive Officer, commented:
"We're excited to be getting 'boots on ground' at Merolia to test a priority target zone south of the Ironstone and Comet Well prospects. Prior technical review highlighted that it contained a gap in previous exploration coverage along a strike of about 15km. The ground immediately to the north and south of this area have historically returned significant gold in soil anomalies. This soil geochemistry programme aims to 'fill in the gap' and provide us with further targets for future mineral exploration. We expect this work to commence from mid-February."
Planned Auger Programme Details
The auger sampling programme will employ a 3.5-inch diameter pick-up mounted auger drill utilising 1.5m drill rods. A total of 828 auger samples are planned drilled at 200m by 500m grid spacings providing coverage of a geologically prospective area striking approximately 15km long by 6km wide entirely located within Panther exclusive option tenement E 38/3384 1.
Each sample will be geologically and geomorphologically logged and placed into a geochemical sample bag for later analysis. The sampling depth is currently planned at a 1.5m depth however the drilling equipment has the capability to take samples from greater depths where this is deemed necessary to obtaining a representative sample below transported cover material.
Merolia Project Background
The Meriolia Gold Project ("Merolia" or the "Project") comprises a portfolio of four contiguous, 100% held exploration tenements (totalling 145km2) and five, largely contiguous, exploration tenements (totalling 290km2) which held under an exclusive option agreeement1.
The Project is located approximately 250km north-northeast of the town of Kalgoorlie and 23km to the west of Laverton in the Eastern Goldfields region of Western Australia.
The area around Laverton includes several major gold mines, including Granny Smith (3 Moz), Sunrise Dam (8 Moz) and Wallaby (8 Moz), and many significant gold deposits. It is one of the most prolific gold producing areas in Western Australia and is consequently well-serviced by infrastructure and has a skilled local workforce.
The Archaean greenstone belts in the Laverton region are dominantly basaltic in composition, containing ultramafic intercalations, which were subsequently intruded by dolerite dykes in places and which are particularly prospective for gold mineralisation. The areas under licence are partly obscured by a veneer of transported cover and exploration in the area has consequently been limited.
Within the eastern part of Merolia are a series of gold prospects, notably Burtville East, Comet Well and Ironstone. Regional magnetic data over this part of the project identifies several NW-SE trending shear systems which have potential to host substantial gold mineralisation. This potential has been confirmed by surface geochemical sampling along the Comet Well gold trend, which has identified significant coherent linear soil gold anomalies at Comet South, Comet North, Comet West and at Ironstone.
The Comet Well gold trend extends NW over at least 15km from the Comet Well area in the south to the Burtville East area in the north. In a broader context, the Comet Well gold trend and associated sub-parallel structures extend at least 30 kilometres north to the Stone Resources Australia Limited (ASX: SHK) owned Bright Star (106,000 ounce) gold deposit. Much of the Comet Well gold trend and the known gold prospects in this area are covered by the Merolia project licences.
References:
1: Panther RNS announcement 16 November 2020: https://polaris.brighterir.com/public/panther_metals/news/rns/story/ry10kkr
Panther Metals PLC:
Darren Hazelwood, Chief Executive Officer: +44(0) 1462 429 743
+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