Panthera Resources PLC (LON:PAT), the gold exploration and development company with assets in India and West Africa, has today provided results of the recent reverse circulation drilling activities at the Naton Project in southern Burkina Faso.
Highlights:
Significant drill results have been returned from the Somika Hill, Kaga Vein, Bido Vein and Somika Hill East targets including:
· Somika Hill: 10m at 0.52 grammes per tonne (“g/t”) gold (“Au”) from 11 metres (“m”)
including 2m at 1.61g/t Au from 13m
3m at 1.03g/t Au from 36m
6m at 1.04g/t Au from 82m including 1m at 4.98g/t Au from 86m
2m at 3.00g/t Au from 77m
· Kaga Vein: 8m at 4.76g/t Au from 66m including 4m at 9.26g/t Au from 68m
· Bido Vein: 6m at 1.90g/t Au from 99m including 3m at 3.26g/t Au from 100m
· Somika East: 4m at 1.80g/t Au from 99m including 1m at 6.44g/t Au from 101m
The Company has tested the Somika Hill target with three drill holes over about 900m of strike. The Kaga and Bido veins have only had a single hole drilled into them as part of this programme and hence remain open in all directions. The Somika East target is a virgin discovery without any previous artisanal activity and the site has also only been tested by a single drill-hole after it was identified via soil sampling.
The drill programme has been very successful in upgrading the Kaga Vein, Bido Vein and Somika East targets, with these all requiring additional drill testing to ascertain size potential. The resulting grades have shown positive results with over 3g/t Au being returned from each target and up to 32.3g/t Au as a best result.
Much of the better mineralisation at each of these targets appears to be associated with sulphide alteration rather than quartz veins suggesting that Induced Polarisation (“IP”) may be a good exploration tool and useful in the targeting of future drilling locations.
The main Somika Hill trend has been significantly extended with regards to strike potential. Additional exploration is required to assess its full potential as drilling is still very broad spaced.
The Old Orpailleur target has been downgraded and a source for the transported gold mineralisation will now be the main target there.
Geoff Stanley, Panthera Resources Managing Director, commented; “I am delighted to announce these exciting results from our Naton Project in southern Burkina Faso. The significance of achieving results of this tenor in the Company’s first drilling program on the property cannot be overstated. The intersections clearly highlight the potential for multiple zones of ore grade mineralisation. The anomalies associated with this mineralisation are all laterally extensive, which gives us great encouragement that we may be able to confirm mineralisation over significant distances on the property.
“We are now planning follow-up drilling on these areas and have also identified higher tenor soil anomalies elsewhere on the Naton property that will also require drill testing. We are excited by the progress at the Naton project and look forward to updating the market on further developments and results.”
