TIDMPAT
RNS Number : 6190N
Panthera Resources PLC
21 January 2019
Panthera Resources Plc
("Panthera" or "the Company")
Labola Gold Project Acquisition
Panthera Resources plc (AIM: PAT), the gold exploration and
development company with assets in India and West Africa, is
pleased to announce it has negotiated an opportunity to acquire the
Labola gold project in Burkina Faso, West Africa.
Highlights
-- The Labola gold project consist of a package of approximately
65km(2) of licences that host two significant quartz vein
structures that have been mined (artisanal) over at least a 9km
strike.
-- This is the first time this package of properties has been
consolidated under one ownership and it represents an excellent
opportunity to integrate the significant amount of previous
drilling and optimise the resource potential of the project.
-- Previous explorers have announced combined JORC and 43-101
compliant resources of over 600,000oz averaging (approximately)
1.2g/t Au. Panthera believes these estimates require verification
and accordingly, should only be considered as exploration
targets.
-- Significant potential for higher grade mineralisation can
also be seen based on previous drill results:
2m @ 130.6g/t Au from 66m
11m @ 8.2g/t Au from 147m
6.5m @ 7.26g/t Au from 318m.
-- Panthera will commence its exploration process with due
diligence focussed on compiling historical data, re-log and
re-assay core, confirming previously reported mineralisation and
identifying areas for drilling to confirm, infill and extend those
areas.
Geoff Stanley, Managing Director said "This agreement offers a
great opportunity to fast track Panthera's path to an economic
resource in Burkina Faso. The large strike extent of artisanal
workings and the significant amount of previous drilling
significantly de-risks the project and we are optimistic it will
allow us to plan a major drill-out for later this calendar
year."
The Agreement
Panthera has four months in which to undertake technical and
legal due diligence on the project.
Following this four month due diligence period exploration,
resource definition and development will proceed for a period of up
to 5 years assuming results justify the programmes and Panthera
makes the necessary US$50k annual payments to the vendors. Panthera
has an option to purchase 100% of the vendor's interest at any time
within the 5 year with the payment of US$1.0m to the vendor, at
which time the annual payments will cease. An additional payment of
US$1.0m will be paid to the vendor upon the successful definition
of a JORC compliant resource of at least 1,000,000 ounces of gold.
The vendor will retain a 1% net smelter royalty on all gold
produced up to a total aggregate payment of US$2.0m.
The Project
The project is located in the south-eastern part of Burkina Faso
within the Banfora greenstone belt, approximately 380km southwest
of the capital city Ouagadougou and 90km east-northeast of the
Banfora gold deposit.
Satellite imagery of the area clearly shows two main quartz
veins that have been exploited by artisanal gold miners over around
9km of strike. Field observations confirm that mining is generally
shallow (around 10-30m), however significant mineralisation has
been shown to occur at depths of up to 300m below surface.
Historical exploration work was undertaken by High River Gold
and Nordgold (ex TSX and LSE listed, now private) and Taurus Gold
(private South African company). While not all of this work has
been obtained and compiled, the following drilling has been
identified to date:
High River Gold / Nordgold:
-- RC: 25,025m in 227 drillholes (possibly up to 90 additional drillholes)
-- DD: 2,489m in 24 drillholes
-- RAB: 1628m in 48 drillholes
Taurus Gold:
-- RC: 5059m in 27 drillholes
-- DD: 19,949m in 103 drillholes
The data and core is available for the Taurus drilling but the
HRG/Nordgold data has not been sighted as yet.
Both groups undertook preliminary resource estimations to JORC
and/or NI43-101 guidelines, but as only summary data has seen
sighted to date, these estimates are considered to be exploration
targets only at this stage. The total estimate is over 600,000
ounces at a grade of around 1.2g/t Au but a preliminary review by
Panthera's geologists suggest that a lower tonnage, higher grade
resource a likely outcome of further work. Following due diligence
Panthera anticipates undertaking infill and confirmation drilling
followed by revised resource calculations.
Numerous significantly higher grade drill intercepts have been
returned, consistent with the high grades being reported by the
artisanal miners, including:
-- WNDD15: 2m @ 130.6g/t Au from 66m
-- WNDD24: 11m @ 8.2g/t Au from 147m
-- WNDD58: 6.5m @ 7.26g/t Au from 318m
Site inspections identified sophisticated artisanal mining
operations on a 0.9m to 1.4m wide quartz vein where the main shaft
had reached a depth of 57m. Local miners claim to recover between
5g and 40g of gold from each 200kg bag of quartz (i.e. between 25
and 200g/t Au). This is on the eastern vein which appears to be a
single vein with a few stringers either side and thus represents a
good high-grade underground target.
The western vein consists of a series of sheeted and stringer
veins over 1-10m total width and has potential to be mined as an
open pit. Alteration, including coarse arsenopyrite and tourmaline
(both typical of gold in the Birimian), was seen. Some veins at an
angle to the main trend were also noted and the possibility of this
zone being a Reidel-array style shear system is likely.
Thus potential to significantly increase the overall resource
base is considered to be good by Panthera's geologists, in
particular higher grade shoots at depth and structural targets
where the two veins merge and become more of a stockwork or
Reidel-array style shear zone.
Enquiries
Panthera Resources PLC
Geoff Stanley (CEO) +1 (917) 941 7704
Nominated Advisor and Broker
RFC Ambrian +44 (0) 20 3440 6800
Rob Adamson
Bhavesh Patel
Charlie Cryer
Market Abuse Regulation (MAR) Disclosure
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inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of Regulation
596/2014.
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END
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