Drilling Programme at Naton Project, Burkina Faso
16 July 2018
Panthera Resources Plc
("Panthera" or "the Company")
Drilling Programme at Naton Project, Burkina Faso
Panthera Resources PLC (AIM: PAT), the gold exploration and development company with assets in India and West Africa, is pleased to provide an update on its drilling activities at the Naton Project in southern Burkina Faso.
Highlights:
· 1077 metres ("m") of Reverse Circulation ("RC") drilling has been completed over eight holes as part of a preliminary evaluation of four targets from three different areas
· Most drill holes intersected zones of quartz veining and/or sulphide bearing altered lithologies
· Samples are currently being prepared for despatch for metallurgical analysis, including necessary quality assurance and quality control ("QAQC") procedures: results should be received, analysed and reported within the next four weeks
· A significant new high tenor soil geochemical anomaly has also been identified at the Kwademan prospect, which will be drilled during the second half of 2018
The initial drilling program at the Naton project has focused on four targets in three key areas; Somika Hill, Bido Vein and Old Orpailleur. The company has focused on the Somika Hill prospect, which during previous exploration produced rock chip samples of up to 7.14 grammes per tonne ("g/t").
Geoff Stanley, Panthera Resources Managing Director, commented;
"I am delighted to provide an update on our recent drill programme at the Naton Project in southern Burkina Faso. Our team has worked tirelessly to define drill targets, plan the drilling and complete the 1077m that will provide an important understanding of the geological makeup and geochemistry of the four targets.
"It has been highly encouraging to see that the holes have intersected altered lithologies and that we have been able to identify a new geochemical anomaly at the Kwademan prospect. We aim to drill this target in the second half of the year.
"We are excited by the progress at the Naton project and look forward to updating the market on further developments and results".
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
Financial Public Relations
Blytheweigh +44 (0) 20 7138 3204
Camilla Horsfall
Julia Tilley
James Husband
Technical Information
The technical information contained in this disclosure has been read and approved by Antony Truelove (BSc (Hon), MAusIMM, MAIG), who is a qualified geologist and acts as the Competent Person under the AIM Rules - Note for Mining and Oil & Gas Companies. Antony Truelove has visited the Naton Project site and reviewed the drilling and sampling protocols and procedures. Antony Truelove is the COO of Panthera Resources PLC.
Background:
The Naton project is located approximately 120km west-southwest of the capital Ouagadougou and is situated within a Birimian Greenstone Belt that hosts significant known gold mineralisation at Bissa-Bouly (Nordgold, 8.9Moz gold endowment), Kalsaka (Amara, 1.2Moz gold endowment), Poura (Cluff, 0.9Moz gold endowment), Gaoua (B2 Gold, 3.4Moz gold endowment plus considerable copper) and Konkera (Centamin, 3.2Moz gold endowment) as well as significant zinc mineralisation at Perkoa (Trevali, 5.5Mt @ 13 per cent Zn).
Work by Panthera has included the compilation and assessment of all previous exploration results from within the tenement area, extensive soil sampling, rock chip sampling, geological mapping and surveying of all current and past artisanal mining areas. This work has delineated multiple areas of interest, and three of these, Somika Hill, Bido Vein and Old Orpailleur have been the subject of this first pass RC drilling programme. These targets were selected based largely on the previous exploration work and Panthera's soil and rock chip sampling.
A total of 1077m Reverse Circulation drilling has been completed in eight drill-holes. All samples have been split and bagged and will be despatched to the laboratory with the next few days following addition of various QAQC samples (standards, blanks, duplicates).
Somika Hill Targets:
The Somika Hill prospect was the main area selected for drill testing in the current programme. This area has previously been subjected to semi-mechanised artisanal mining activities in three locations on the main trend. It has also had extensive eluvial artisanal workings and is currently being mined on a small scale at depths up to 20m below surface by artisanal underground miners. Panthera's soil sampling defined an open ended 1,800m by 100-200m gold (Au) soil anomaly that is associated with the main artisanal workings. Peak anomalous values up to 272ppb Au in soils were recorded. A Rock chip sampling programme completed by Panthera on this trend identified gold grading up to 7.14g/t.
Previous shallow drilling has been undertaken in the vicinity of the main semi-mechanised artisanal pits intersecting multiple zones of gold mineralisation including 1.5m @ 1.99g/t Au from 7.5m downhole, 1.5m @ 0.71g/t Au from 31.5m downhole, 1.5m @ 1.08g/t Au from 34.5m downhole and 3m @ 0.93g/t Au from 52.5m downhole. As this drilling data is only available from old publically available reports from over 20 years ago, it is considered to be unreliable, and hence one of Panthera's drill-holes (PSHRC001) was designed to test in the general vicinity of this old drilling. This drillhole was completed at a depth of 144m and intersected diorite with local sulphide (pyrite) alteration. Within the weathered zone, quartz veining was intersected over multiple intervals.
Two other drill-holes were completed within this main trend: PSHRC002 approximately 290m to the northwest and PSHRC003 approximately 480m to the southeast.
PSHRC002 was designed to test beneath an area of intensive active artisanal activity (including shafts up to 20m deep) with an associated low-level soil anomaly (59ppb Au). It was completed at a total depth of 135m and intersected multiple zones of quartz veining from surface to a depth of around 67m followed by fresh variably sulphide (pyrite) altered diorite.
PSHRC003 tested a moderate order soil anomaly (83ppb Au) along strike to the southeast. It was completed at a depth of 100m and intersected diorite with minor patchy sulphide (pyrite) alteration.
A single drill-hole was designed to test a subsidiary zone of mineralisation known as the Kaga Vein. Panthera's soil sampling has confirmed a gold anomalous trend over about 900m (open to the south) corresponding to this trend. This was previously explored by a single RC drill hole in the mid-1990s that returned drill intercepts of 1.5m @ 2.35g/t Au from 9m downhole, followed by 7.5m @ 1.18g.t Au from 22.5m downhole. Rock chip samples grading up to 2.0g/t Au have been collected from the vein by Panthera's geologists. PSHRC004 (139m) was designed to test this trend where it has an associated plus 100ppb Au soil anomaly. The drill-hole intersected diorite with some felsic dyke intrusions with minor sulphide (pyrite) mineralisation.
Panthera's soil sampling returned the highest order of soil anomalism (488ppb Au) from a separate trend approximately 300m east of the main Somika Hill trend. This was tested by a single drill-hole, PSHRC005, which was terminated at a total depth of 135m. This drill-hole intersected diorite with multiple zones of quartz veining between surface and 33m. Weak sulphide (pyrite) alteration was also noted within unweathered diorite.
Bido Vein Target:
A single drill-hole was designed to test an area of known mineralisation associated with a north-south trending quartz vein with associated artisanal mining that can be traced over approximately 700m strike. Previous drilling in this area had returned up to 1.5m @ 21.0g/t Au from 24m to the end of the hole. As this is derived from old public domain reports it cannot be verified and hence Panthera's drill-hole PBVRC001 (153m) was designed to examine the mineralisation in the general area of this intercept.
PBVRC001 intersected potassic and epidote-chlorite altered mafic volcanics with multiple zones of sulphide (pyrite) alteration and also some minor quartz veining between 101m and 106m.
Old Orpailleur Target:
Compilation of previous exploration data identified deep artisanal shafts over an areal extent of 1,600m x 150m. Previous drilling does not appear to have adequately tested this zone and hence two drill-holes were designed as a first pass test.
POPRC001 was designed to test the western part of the area. It was terminated at a depth of 139m and intersected unaltered granite beneath lateritic saprolite. It appears the artisanal shafts were targeting an eluvial or alluvial concentration of gold at the base of the laterite.
POPRC002 was designed to test the central part of the area, near the interpreted intersection of a trend of mineralisation within granite that was mapped to the north. The hole was terminated at a depth of 132m and intersected granitic rock beneath the lateritised saprolite with several zones of disseminated sulphide (pyrite) alteration between 80m and 120m depth.
New Targets Identified at Kwademen Prospect:
At the Kwademen prospect, ongoing exploration has identified a new soil geochemical anomaly of markedly higher tenor than those tested to date. This anomaly is aerially very extensive and requires refining by RAB/Aircore drilling prior to RC testing due to its large size. Most previous work was undertaken to the west of the highest tenor areas of the soil anomaly but, even so, has delineated a large strike of significant gold mineralisation in the broad spaced drilling. This high value anomaly will be tested by RAB/Aircore drilling in the second half of 2018, after the current wet season.
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