RCS - Panther Metals PLC - Obonga: Wishbone Exploration Permit Application

Panther MetalsAnnouncement

01/02/2024 14:15

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RNS Number : 7520B  Panther Metals PLC  01 February 2024

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PANTHER METALS PLC

("Panther" or the "Company")

(Incorporated in the Isle of Man with company number 009753V)

1 February 2024

Obonga: Wishbone Exploration Permit Application

Panther Metals plc (LSE:PALM) the company focused on mineral exploration in
Canada, is pleased to announce it has submitted an Exploration Permit
application for additional drilling following the discovery of volcanogenic
massive sulphide ("VMS") base metal mineralisation on the Wishbone Prospect at
the Company's Obonga Project ("Obonga") located on the Obonga Greenstone Belt
in northern Ontario.

 

The Exploration Permit application has been submitted in collaboration with
Broken Rock Resources Ltd ("Broken Rock"), and concerns planned work within 19
Single Cell Mining Claims ("Claims") in the Kashishibog Lake Area and Uneven
Lake Area administrative regions.

 

The submitted application covers a planned series of up to 39 diamond core
drill holes and associated down-hole geophysics surveys spread across the
Wishbone Prospect in the centre-west of the Obonga area.  The Wishbone
application supplements Exploration Permit PR-22-000116 which covers work
through to 14 July 2025 at Obonga's Survey VMS discovery, and the Ottertooth
and Silver Rim prospect areas.

 

The planned work covered by the application follows on from drilling conducted
by Panther in 2022 and 2021 whereby the Company successfully confirmed and
characterised the first VMS discovery to be made on the Obonga Greenstone Belt
(1, 2).

 

Details of the planned work is outlined in Table 1 below.

 

Darren Hazelwood, Chief Executive Officer, commented:

 

"Our exploration work has confirmed that our Obonga Project's Wishbone Target
contains a VMS system, it contains mineralisation across multiple lenses.
Geochemical analysis also indicates its a sub-seafloor VMS, acknowledged to
have greater potential for both tonnage and grade, and an outstanding target
for any explorer.

 

Our greenfield exploration has consisted of 5 holes in the area to date, this
additional permit application is designed to allow us to step out our drilling
and expand on our programme seamlessly as we move into the discovery phase at
Wishbone.

 

With all plans firmly in place we would expect to commence drilling within a
relatively short period of time post the granting of the permit. I look
forward to updating the market in due course."

 

 

Table 1: Exploration Permit Application and Prospect Details

 

 Exploration Permit Application Number (Administrative Area & Claim               Prospect Name (location)          Targeting  & Exploration Rational                                                Requested Activities
 numbers)
                                                                                                                    Delineate potential extent of the Wishbone VMS discovery.                        ·   Mechanised Drilling (up to 39 diamond core drill holes)

 PR-24-000022                                                                     Wishbone Prospect

                                                                                                                    Seven drill holes for a total of 1,601m  completed by the Company in 2021 and    ·   Down-hole Electromagnetic ("EM") Geophysics

                                 2022.

 (Kashishibog Lake Area and Uneven Lake Area                                      (Centre-west of Obonga Project)

                                                                                ·   Airborne drone magnetic high resolution survey

                                                                                                                  Follow-up on wide drill hole intercepts, including 27.3m of massive sulphide

 Cells: 201651, 226706, 312236, 343720, 545404, 545405, 545406, 545408, 545409,                                     and 51m of sulphide-dominated mineralisation.
 545411, 545415, 545419, 545421, 545422, 545423, 545424, 545425, 545426 and

 545431)                                                                                                                                                                                             ·   Ground EM, Magnetic and Induced Polarisation Geophysics Surveys

                                                                                                                    Drill intersections such as 3.6m @ 3.9% Zn, including 2m @ 6.8% Zn & 4.3
                                                                                                                    g/t Ag, indicating proximity to metal-fertile fluid flow.

                                                                                ·   Exploration Camp for 20 persons

                                                                                                                    Coincident magnetic and electromagnetic anomalies.

                                                                                ·   Bulk Samples (<1 cubic metre)

                                                                                                                                                                                                     ·   Access Trails to link with existing logging trails from the north of
                                                                                                                                                                                                     the Obonga Project area.

 

 

Obonga Project Background

 

·    Total Area: 285.0 km(2)

·    Prospective for: Base Metals (Copper, Zinc, Lead, Nickel) and
Precious Metals (Gold, Silver and Platinum Group Metals) with Energy Mineral
(Lithium, Graphite) potential.

·    Significant Neighbours: Mattabi Mine (Glencore) and Sturgeon Lake VMS
Camp to west, Lac des Iles Mine (Impala Canada) to south.

·    Potential: Canada's Next Mining District

 

The Obonga Project is Panther's flagship project, which has advanced from a
greenfield regional data based target area, through proof of concept to
drilling success and base metal VMS and graphite discoveries (1, 2, 3).

 

Panther has achieved significant milestones through successful drilling
campaigns at Obonga's Wishbone prospect, revealing a substantial Volcanogenic
Massive Sulphide system. The Wishbone discovery, a first of its kind on the
Obonga Greenstone Belt, is characterised by impressive drill hole intercepts,
including 27.3m of massive sulphide and 51m of sulphide-dominated
mineralisation (1).

 

Further drilling in late 2022 reaffirmed the potential (2), with intersections
such as 3.6m @ 3.9% Zn, including 2m @ 6.8% Zn & 4.3 g/t Ag, indicating
proximity to metal-fertile fluid flow. The discovery of the Wishbone VMS
system is pivotal, boding well for the existence of additional VMS bodies in
the vicinity, given their tendency to occur in clusters.

 

The Survey and Awkward targets also witnessed preliminary drilling, confirming
VMS style mineralisation at Survey with a 29m wide intercept of cyclical
semi-massive and disseminated sulphide, with graphite discovered at Awkward
(3, 4). This, coupled with the Wishbone discovery, solidifies the Obonga
Greenstone Belt's status as a new emerging VMS Camp.

 

The Obonga Greenstone Belt, with its emerging VMS Camp status, is
strategically positioned close to national railroad transport links and the
industrial port city of Thunder Bay. Moreover, it is approximately 75km east
of the former Mattabi/Sturgeon Lake Mining Camp on the Wabigoon Greenstone
Belt, underlining its advantageous geological and logistical position.

 

The presence of significant gold occurrences, base metals, and promising
exploration results in the Obonga Greenstone Belt contribute to its appeal as
a potential mining district. This strategic positioning makes it an attractive
prospect for future resource development and exploration.

 

References

 

1:             Company announcement, dated 2 February 2023,
'Obonga: New VMS Camp Discovered & High Grades Intersected'

( https://polaris.brighterir.com/public/panther_metals/news/rns/story/x4gy0kx
(https://polaris.brighterir.com/public/panther_metals/news/rns/story/x4gy0kx)
)

 

2:             Company announcement, dated 18 January 2022, 'VMS
Mineral System Discovered on Obonga Project'

(
 https://polaris.brighterir.com/public/panther_metals/news/rns/story/x8kld5x
(https://polaris.brighterir.com/public/panther_metals/news/rns/story/x8kld5x)
)

 

3:             Company announcement, dated 2 February 2023,
'Obonga: Flake Graphite Discovery'

( https://polaris.brighterir.com/public/panther_metals/news/rns/story/xzjzl3w
(https://polaris.brighterir.com/public/panther_metals/news/rns/story/xzjzl3w)
)

 

4:             Company announcement, dated 11 January 2024,
'Graphite Discovery Grows Significantly at Obonga'

( https://polaris.brighterir.com/public/panther_metals/news/rns/story/wv484pw
)

 

 

For further information please contact:

 

 

Panther Metals PLC:

Darren Hazelwood, Chief Executive Officer:            +44(0) 1462
429 743

 
+44(0) 7971 957 685

Brokers:

Tavira Financial Limited

Christopher James Kipling
         +44(0) 203 833 3743

SI Capital Limited

Nick Emerson
                         +44(0) 1438 416 500

Axis Capital Markets Limited

Ben Tadd

Lewis Jones
                                                +44
(0)20 3026 0449

 

Notes to Editors

Panther Metals PLC is an exploration company listed on the main market of the
London Stock Exchange. Panther is focussed on the discovery of commercially
viable mineral deposits. The Company's operational focus is on established
mining jurisdictions with the capacity for project scalability. Drill targets
are assessed rapidly utilising a combination of advanced technologies and
extensive geological data to decipher potential commercial viability and act
accordingly. Panther's current geological portfolio comprises of three highly
prospective properties in Ontario, Canada while the developing investment wing
focuses on the targeting of nickel and gold in Australia.

Obonga Project

Panther Metals acquired the Obonga Greenstone Belt in July 2021 and have
already identified five prospective primary targets: Wishbone, Awkward,
Survey, Ottertooth and Silver Rim. A successful Phase 1 drilling campaign at
Wishbone in Autumn 2021 revealed the presence of significant VMS-style
mineralised systems on the property - the first such discovery across the
entire greenstone belt. Intercepts include 27.3m of massive sulphide in hole
one, and 51m of sulphide-dominated mineralisation in hole two. Both drill
holes contained multiple lenses. Anomalous high-grade copper in lake sediment
close to the target area has also been identified, increasing confidence in
the prospectivity of the location.

Awkward is a highly anomalous magnetic target, interpreted to be a layered
mafic intrusion and magmatic conduit based on mapped geology and airborne
geophysics. Historic sampling in the area returned anomalous platinum and
palladium (Pt, Pd) values, while historic drilling on the periphery of the
target intersected non-assayed massive sulphide and copper (assumed to be
chalcopyrite), non-assayed disseminated pyrite and chalcopyrite in coarse
gabbro, and non-assayed 'marble cake' gabbro (matching the description of the
Lac des Iles Mine varitexture gabbro ore zone).

Two additional named targets, Survey and Ottertooth, both displays further
coincident magnetic and electromagnetic anomalies and are adjacent to the
contact between intrusive and extrusive mafic rocks. Historic drilling at
Survey intersected several meters of massive sulphides in multiple
intersections (main parts of the anomaly remain untested) while Ottertooth
remains untested in its entirety.

Dotted Lake Project

Panther Metals acquired the Dotted Lake Project in July 2020, it is situated
approximately 16km from Barrick Gold's renowned Hemlo Gold Mine. An extensive
soil programme conducted in 2021 identified numerous gold and base metal
targets, all within the same geological footprint. Following the installation
of a new trail providing direct access to the target location, an initial
drilling programme in Autumn 2021 confirmed the presence of gold
mineralisation within this system with anomalous gold continuing along strike
and present within the surrounding area.

Manitou Lakes Project

The Manitou Lakes gold project is located approximately 300km's east of
Thunder Bay, Ontario and covers a total area of around 98sq km's.

There are over 200 known gold occurrences on the Manitou Lakes project area
with the wider Eagle/Manitou Lakes greenstone belt hosting numerous historic
gold producers and is prospective for Archean age orogenic gold and associated
base metal deposits.

Exploration work conducted by Shear Gold on the Project to date has identified
numerous gold bearing structures and favourable geological host rocks through
early-stage mapping and surface sampling. The work has focussed on two target
areas, being the West Limb Gold Property and the Glass Reef Gold Property,
both of which host historic gold mines which have never been systematically
explored using modern techniques or drill tested

Fulcrum Metals Plc

Fulcrum Metals PLC (LON: FMET) is an AIM listed exploration company which
finances and manages exploration projects focused on Canada, widely recognised
as a top mining jurisdiction.

 

FMET currently holds a beneficial 100% interest in highly prospective gold and
base metals projects in Ontario and Uranium projects in Saskatchewan.

 

Fulcrum's strategy is to focus on discovery and commercialisation of its
Projects through targeted exploration programmes. The primary focus is to make
an economic discovery on the flagship Schreiber-Hemlo Properties and
establishing the prospectivity of its wider Ontario and Saskatchewan portfolio
with a view to securing potential joint venture and/or acquisition interest.

 

Panther Metals Plc own 20% of the issued share capital of Fulcrum Metals Plc
and a 2% NSR on the Big Bear project.

Panther Metals Australia

Following the listing of Panther Metals' Australian assets on the Australian
Securities Exchange ("ASX") in December 2021. The ASX listing has provided the
Australian projects with the necessary capital to advance drill-ready targets
focused on nickel and gold (within the Tier 1 Mining Districts of Laverton WA
and in the NT). Through this spin-out Panther holds an attractive investment
prospect, without any disruption to the Company's capital structure and
without any financial obligations.

Conclusion

Panther Metals understand that the commercial realities of building an
exploration company requires expertise in geology, finance, and the markets
within which they operate. The Company's extensive network of industry leaders
allows it to meet these objectives. Ultimately however, drilling success is
the only route to discovery: the fundamental objective of any exploration
company. Once Panther's world-class geological team identify the anomalies,
they work hard to get drilling. The drill hole is the only place where
substantial and sustained capital growth originates and it's with that
operational focus Panther Metals will continue to advance.

 

 

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