Interim Results – Six months ended 30 September 2023
Panthera Resources PLC (AIM: PAT), the gold exploration and development company with key assets in West Africa and India, is pleased to announce its unaudited interim results for the half-year ended 30 September 2023.
Highlights
· Total loss for the reporting period of US$1,010,983 loss or US$0.01 per share (2022: US$1,477,506 loss or US$0.01 per share) reflecting our ongoing commitment to our exploration activities during the period
· LCM Funding SG Pty Ltd (“LCM Funding” or the “Funder”) successfully completed its due diligence and issued the Funding Confirmation Notice (the “FCN”) for US$13.6 million
· Moydow completed a 5641 metre reverse circulation (“RC”) drilling campaign at the Cascades Project targeting extensions to the current resources and several new targets
· At Kalaka, the Company completed eight reverse circulation drill holes for 705 metres advance at the K1A Prospect with drill assay results including 76 metres at 0.53 g/t Au (includes 10 metres at 1.16 g/t Au), 34 metres at 0.50 g/t Au, 85 metres at 0.52 g/t Au (includes 12 metres at 1.62 g/t Au to End of the hole)
· At Bido, the Company completed IP gradient array (for a total of 82 km lines) and IP pole-dipole array lines (6.4 km) focusing on the Kwademen Zone
Mark Bolton, Managing Director of Panthera Resources, commented:
“The September 2023 decision by the High Court of Rajasthan (“HCR”) to dismiss the writ petition adds to the act of expropriation, and India has again breached its obligations to provide investment protections to Indo Gold Pty Ltd (“IGPL”) and its investment under the Treaty.
Our focus has now shifted to pursuing a claim against India for breaches of its obligations under Treaty and we have secured the US$13.6 million unconditional funding facility from LCM Funding in support of our claim. The issuance of a Notice of Dispute (“NoD”) will be the first step in this process.
Under the Treaty, compensation for expropriation is required to be calculated on the basis of the market value of the investment immediately before the expropriation. The Company believes that the market value of Bhukia is substantial with the project ranking among the top undeveloped gold projects in the world.“
Bhukia Project (India)
Arbitration
On 27 September 2023, the Company announced that the HCR had dismissed Metal Mining India Pvt Ltd’s (“MMI”) writ petition based on the recent Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Act (2021) (“MMDR2021”).
Following the decision by the HCR, the Company’s Australian subsidiary, Indo Gold Pty Ltd (“IGPL”) expects to issue a NoD against India over the latter’s breaches of its obligations under the Treaty.
Following the delivery of the NoD and in the absence of any meaningful correspondence in relation to this matter from the Government of India or if no amicable settlement is reached, IGPL will subsequently deliver a notice of arbitration to the Government of India. Under the Treaty, an arbitral tribunal is to be constituted within two months of delivery of the notice of arbitration.
The Company is aware that on 30 September 2023 the Times of India reported that, based on information from the Geological Survey of India and the Additional Chief Secretary of Mines, the gold deposit at the site could be worth over US$1 billion. This valuation has not been independently verified by the Company. Accordingly, while at this stage the Company is not able to make any comments in relation to the potential quantum of damages that IGPL will claim from India, the Company will in due course, announce the actual quantum of damages that IGPL will claim from India when available. This quantum may differ from that reported by third parties, including but not limited to, the Times of India.
Litigation Financing Facility
On 28 February 2023, the Company announced that it had entered into a conditional agreement with LCM Funding SG Pty Ltd (“LCM Funding” or the “Funder”) to provide a facility to the Company’s subsidiary, IGPL, to support IGPL’s claims against India arising from the Treaty.
On 25 August 2023, the Company announced that LCM Funding had successfully completed its due diligence and issued the Funding Confirmation Notice (the “FCN”) for US$13.6 million. Following such issuance, an unconditional funding facility has been made available to IGPL.
LCM Funding is a subsidiary of Litigation Capital Management Limited (“LCM”), a firm quoted on the AIM Market of the London Stock Exchange. LCM is a leading global disputes funder with significant expertise in international arbitration and cross-border disputes, including bilateral investment treaty claims over mineral resource assets.
The US$13.6 million non-recourse litigation financing facility from LCM Funding is to be used in pursuing its Treaty claims against India. If no award and/or recovery are achieved, then LCM Funding is not entitled to any repayment of the Facility.
In the event that there is an award and/or recovery, LCM Funding shall be entitled, in the first instance, to the amounts it has deployed from the Facility, as well as the greater of:
a) approximately US$1.36 million being 10% of the Funding Limit (which is the amount of the Facility);
b) a Funder’s commission (the “Commission”) of between 5% and 15% of the damages recovered, based upon the number of years that have passed from the date of the Funding Confirmation Notice; or
c) a multiple (the “Multiple”) of between 2 and 4.25 times the total of the Facility, based upon the number of years that have passed from the date of the Funding Confirmation Notice.
In the event that the settlement or award includes the value or benefit of any property other than cash, pursuant to the terms of the AFA, IGPL is required to realise and convert a portion of its interest in the property, or secure external finance, to secure sufficient cash and then apply it in accordance with the above.
West Africa Activities
Cascades (Burkina Faso)
The Cascades Project, formerly named Labola, is owned and managed by Moydow Holdings Ltd (Moydow). Following a restructuring completed and announced on 30 June 2022, Panthera currently holds an equity interest of 20% in Moydow with DFR agreeing to spend up to US$18 million (Earn-In) on Cascades in order to maintain its ownership interest of up to 80%.
The Cascades gold exploration project is in the Banfora greenstone belt of the West African Birimian Supergroup in southwest Burkina Faso. Cascades is approximately 450km west-southwest of the capital, Ouagadougou, and 100km northeast of the Wahgnion gold mine, operated by Endeavour Mining.
More than 65,500m of historical drilling (541 holes) has been completed across multiple drilling campaigns by previous owners with Moydow exploring the area since August 2020. Following a 2021 drilling program by Moydow, a maiden Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) was published in October 2021 as stated in Table 1:
Table 1 Maiden Mineral Resource Estimate, October 2021
|
Indicated Mineral Resource: |
5.41Mt @ 1.52g/t Au (264,000oz) |
|
Inferred Mineral Resource: |
6.93Mt @ 1.67g/t Au (371,000oz) |
In May 2023, the Company completed a 5641 metre (RC) in 57 drill holes targeting five areas. The drilling programme was the first phase of a planned two-phase 10,000m programme and targeted both extensions to the current resources and several new areas (Figure 1):
· two newly defined targets immediately north and southwest of the Daramandougou resource pit shell western Zone extension, and Dara North respectively;
· step-out drilling on the TT13 target, a significant new gold zone identified in 2022; and
· first-pass drilling on three other newly delineated targets in the Wuo Land 2 licence area at Far East, Sina Yar and TT13-West.
Sina Yar
Ten drill holes were drilled for an aggregate of 903 metres. Significant mineralisation was intersected in each hole drilled. In particular, three consecutive holes testing 250m metres of strike length of the main north-south trending structure in metasediments intersected significant widths of mineralisation as follows:
– CS23-RC077 50-84 metres, 34 metres @ 1.83g/t
– CS23-RC077 23-29 metres 6 metres @ 1.14
– CS23-RC078 53-71 metres, 18 metres @ 1.13g/t
– CS23-RC078 74-78 metres, 4 metres @ 1.25g/t and
– CS23-RC078 88-96 metres, 8 metres @ 1.64g/t and
– CS23-RC078 103-113 metres, 10 metres @ 1.02g/t
The mineralisation is hosted by quartz veins within a north-south trending mineralised envelope hosted by banded greywacke and sandstone metasedimentary sequence. Sina Yar is currently the target of significant artisanal mining activity over a kilometre-long strike length exploiting a north-south zone from what appears to be a near-vertical mineralised envelope. The zone is open to the north and possibly to the south.
Mineralisation appears open to the north of the drill-tested area. In the more southerly holes, mineralisation was weaker and patchier although artisanal activity remains intense. A highly altered felsitic intrusion has been mapped towards the southern end of the Sina Yar workings, similar to the intrusions mapped at both the Daramandougou and Wuo Ne mineral resource areas. Follow-up drilling is planned at Sina Yar, starting with stepping out to the north of CS23-RC077.
The three northernmost holes at the Far East target appear to have found a significant zone of mineralisation albeit low grade. Significant intersections included hole CS23-RC066 32-60 metres, 28 metres @ 0.56g/t.
Although the intersections are low grade, historical drilling by High River Gold intersected several high-grade intercepts nearby and grab samples by DFR in 2022 returned grades up to 9.3g/t in quartz veins being exploited by artisanal miners. The mineralisation appears to be open north of CS23-RC066 and the current artisanal workings appear to extend between 250 metres to 450 metres further north of CS23-RC066.
TT13 Target
The TT-13 target was tested by DFR with a first-pass drilling programme of 9 holes in July 2022. A 1,800 metre strike length of intermittent mineralisation has been delineated from field mapping and drone surveys. The zone is characterised by almost continuous artisanal workings at the surface. The 2022 drilling here delineated a 300-metre strike length with significant mineralisation in three holes for example CS22-RC029 27-36m, 9 metres @ 1.0g/t plus 56-66m, 10 metres @ 1.81g/t. The current campaign targeted the northerly and southerly extensions of the zone. Mineralisation is sporadic but several holes intersected significant mineralisation which extends the zone. For example, hole CS23-RC098, collared 370 metres north of CS22-RC029, returned 8 metres @ 1.21g/t (30-38 metres) plus 4 metres @ 1.81g/t (63-67 metres).
TT-13 West target
In the first pass drilling at the newly delineated TT-13 West target five easterly inclined holes targeted a vertical shear zone in a new orpaillage area 800 metres west of the TT13 target. The artisans are targeting an array of thin, reportedly high-grade, quartz veins in metasediment but the mineralisation intersected has been sporadic. The highest grade intersected in the drilling was CS23-RC086, 61-62 metres downhole, 1 metre @11.6g/t gold. The broadest intercept was in CS23-RC088 63-78 metres, 15 metres @ 0.88g/t.
Western Zone SW-Extension and Dara North targets
Drilling at the Dara North and the Southwestern Extension of the Western Zone was targeted primarily at combined resistivity/chargeability geophysics anomalies and at each target significant mineralisation was only intersected over sub-mineable widths. At Dara North, a pervasive linear zone of artisanal mining confirms the northerly extension of Western Zone mineralisation from the main Daramandougou artisanal area. However, the mineralised zone appears to be thin and sporadic within the 750 metres of strike length tested.
Bassala Project (Mali)
The Bassala project is located within the highly gold-endowed Birimian volcano-sedimentary belt in southwestern Mali, approximately 200km south of the capital city Bamako.
The belt hosts the Kalana (Endeavour Mining, 4Moz) and Kodieran (Wassoul’or, 2Moz) gold mines, both within a few kilometres of the Bassala project. The adjacent belt to the west is also well endowed with gold and hosts the Siguiri (AngloGold Ashanti (“AngloGold”), 17Moz), Tri-K (Avocet Mining, 3Moz), Kobada (African Gold Group, 3Moz), and Yanfolila (Hummingbird Resources, 2Moz) gold mines.
In June 2022 and July 2022, the Company completed a 5931 metre drilling programme to follow up results of earlier drilling across the Bassala North, Bassala Central and Bassala South Sectors, with five significant prospects defined from initial and follow-up geochemical drilling campaigns. The most significant prospect is the Tabakorole Prospect which has a 2km strike length within which drilling has identified wide zones of mineralisation. Drill assay results (based on 5m composite sampling) from the 2022 campaigns include:
– 5 metres at 5.60 g/t Au from 40m
– 5 metres at 4.68 g/t Au from 10m
– 5 metres at 3.73 g/t Au from 35m.
Recent field work at Bassala in 2023 has identified the location of new artisanal gold diggings that highlight several zones of potential mineralisation that had not previously been drill tested by the Company. The Company intends to complete geological mapping and sampling of these new zones ahead of planning for further drilling.
Bido (Burkina Faso)
The Bido permit in Burkina Faso is located on the Koudougou quadrangle some 125km WSW of the capital Ouagadougou. The tenement lies within the Boromo greenstone belt which also hosts the Poura gold deposit (1 to 2 Moz), situated about 50 km to the SSW of the area, as well as numerous gold occurrences.
In 2022, the Company completed an IP geophysical survey and expanded its geological mapping and outcrop rock sampling, with 28 strong IP anomalies identified. Rock sample results identified several outcropping mineralised vein systems coincident with the strong IP anomalies, best results from grab sampling being:
– 42.2g/t Au
– 20.0g/t Au
– 13.6g/t Au
– 13.4g/t Au
– 10.9g/t Au
In 2023, the Company completed a geophysical programme of IP gradient array (for a total of 82 km lines) and IP pole-dipole array lines (6.4 km). The work is focusing on three prospects (Figure 2) on the Kwademen Zone (Kwademen, Kwademen-East and Kwademen-South).
The Company has also acquired analog historical data from the archives of the library of the Ministry of Mines in Ouagadougou and has commenced converting the database to a digital format to intergrate with the Company’s data. The historical works performed on the Kwademen area included mapping, trenching, soil sampling, drilling, and geophysics (EM). The results of these programs have highlighted the presence of gold and base metals occurrences.
Kalaka Project (Mali)
The Kalaka Project is located in southeast Mali, between Morila and Syama gold mines and is approximately 260 km southeast of Bamako. It lies approximately 80 km south of the Morila gold mine (8m oz) and 85 km northwest of Resolute’s Syama gold mine (6m oz) and is situated adjacent and to the east of the regional Banifin Shear Zone.
Panthera and DFR Gold Inc (DFR) each have 40% interest in Kalaka held through their interest in Maniger Ltd. The remaining 20% interest is owned by a local partner, Golden Spear Mali SARL. Panthera is the operator of the project.
During the September 2023 period the Company completed eight reverse circulation drill holes for 705 metres advance at the K1A Prospect at the Kalaka Project in Mali with drill assay results (based on 2m sampling intervals) including:
– 76 metres at 0.53 g/t Au (includes 10 metres at 1.16 g/t Au) in hole KRC_23_005
– 34 metres at 0.50 g/t Au in hole KRC_23_006
– 85 metres at 0.52 g/t Au in hole KRC_23_007 (includes 12 metres at 1.62 g/t Au to End of the hole)
The programme was interrupted due to heavy rain and accordingly, the proposed northern exploration holes were untested.
Events Post Balance Date
In December 2023, the Company completed an equity capital raising of £935,000.
Based on current expenditure levels, it is anticipated that all funds will be used within the next 6 months. The Group’s ability to continue as a going concern is dependent upon raising additional capital.
