Panther Metals PLC (LON: PALM) has completed the first drill hole of its 2026 diamond drilling programme at the Obonga Project in Ontario, Canada, and has now moved the drill rig onto the highly prospective Wishbone volcanogenic massive sulphide (VMS) target.
The completed hole at the Awkward Conduit Target successfully intersected the planned intrusive body at a vertical depth of 401 metres. Core samples are now being processed ahead of laboratory analysis, with results expected in due course.
Attention has now shifted to the Wishbone Prospect, which represents one of the most significant base metals discoveries made on the Obonga Greenstone Belt. The first hole at Wishbone is designed to test mineralisation approximately 500 metres north of previous wide sulphide intersections and forms part of a broader programme targeting extensions to the known VMS system.
Wishbone has already delivered encouraging drilling results in previous campaigns. Panther’s 2021 drilling intersected 27.3 metres of massive sulphide mineralisation in one hole and a further 51 metres of sulphide-dominated mineralisation in a second hole. Follow-up drilling in 2022 returned zinc grades of up to 11.65% zinc within a broader mineralised interval and identified additional massive and semi-massive sulphide zones.
The current programme is guided by magnetic surveys, electromagnetic anomalies and three-dimensional geological modelling. Management believes the target represents a sub-seafloor VMS system similar in style to deposits found in Canada’s historic Sturgeon Lake mining camp, located approximately 75 kilometres away.
Sturgeon Lake hosted multiple producing zinc, copper, lead and silver mines that collectively produced nearly 20 million tonnes of ore, highlighting the potential significance of similar geological systems.
Panther’s exploration model suggests that metal zonation within the Wishbone system could provide vectors toward higher-grade copper and zinc-rich zones. Historical drilling by other operators north and south of the prospect also encountered sulphide mineralisation, further supporting the possibility of a larger mineralised district.
The company believes Wishbone remains largely untested despite being identified as a high-priority target by BHP more than three decades ago. Subsequent geophysical work indicates that historical drilling failed to adequately test the strongest anomalies now being targeted.
With drilling now underway on one of the highest-priority targets within the Obonga Project, investors will be watching closely for assay results that could further demonstrate the scale and economic potential of the emerging VMS system.
Further updates will be provided as the work develops.
A video illustrating the results of the Magnetic Survey inversion modelling and the size and morphology of the Wishbone VMS Target and the relationship with highly anomalous copper in lake sediments is available to view on the Panther Metals PLC YouTube channel at https://youtube.com/shorts/POMgfQuSc44?feature=share1
