Panthera Resources plc (LON: PAT), the gold exploration and development company with assets in India and West Africa, also holds a 17.2% interest in Anglo Saxony Mining.
ASM is a privately held European exploration and development company with its flagship project being Tellerhäuser, an undeveloped tin deposit in Germany. Panthera has recently received a shareholder update from ASM outlining the successful metallurgical pilot plant test-work, receipt of an additional £1.0 million from Baker Steel and acquisition of a second globally significant tin resource, the text of which is set out below:
Funding
Anglo Saxony Mining Ltd has today announced that it has received from Baker Steel Resources Trust (BSRT) the third tranche of the convertible note loan, comprising an additional £1,000,000. These funds will now but used to complete the on-going pre-feasibility study for Tellerhauser.
This investment was dependent upon positive results of the Pilot Plant test work and the commercial test work being conducted by ALS in Tasmania. These results have been even better than the ASM technical team anticipated and prove that the mineralisation can be successfully processed into a saleable tin concentrate. This is in contrast to the previous test work conducted during the 1970s and 1980s by a joint Soviet/GDR joint venture which suggested that only a low grade, unsaleable concentrate could be produced, and confirms the revised geological and mineral processing interpretations of the ASM technical team.
ASM is very pleased with the results of the test work to date and will continue to refine this work to maximise the economic benefits and design an effective processing facility.
Additional technical details will be reported in the next newsletter once all results have been received and assessed.
Gottesberg:
An agreement to purchase the Gottesberg tin deposit, approximately 28km west of our flagship Tellerhäuser tin deposit, has been reached with Tin International AG, and the transfer of the licence has been approved by the Mines Authority in Saxony. Consideration is a mix of cash and ASM shares.
Gottesberg is a large tonnage, low grade tin deposit with excellent mineral processing characteristics. It has a resource (reported under JORC guidelines by Tin International) of:
· Indicated 10.8Mt @ 0.26% Sn (29,000t tin)
· Inferred 31.3Mt @ 0.27% Sn (84,000t tin)
· Total 42.1Mt @ 0.27% S
This takes the total resource base controlled by ASM in Saxony to 217,000t tin, amongst the largest undeveloped tin resources in the world.
Tin International have previously reported a higher grade JORC resource using a 0.35% lower cut-off, of:
· Indicated 2.0Mt @ 0.48% Sn (10,000t tin)
· Inferred 4.8Mt @ 0.49% Sn (23,000t tin)
· Total 6.8Mt @ 0.49% Sn (33,000t tin)
The proximity of this deposit to our Flagship Tellerhäuser deposit, combined with its large resource base, higher grade zones, and excellent mineral processing characteristics mean significant synergies exist for combining these two deposits into a single integrated tin operation in Saxony.
This is an excellent development and gives ASM several operating and development options, as well as doubling its existing tin resource base.
