Panthera Resources (LON:PAT), the gold exploration and development company with key assets in India and West Africa, has today announced its unaudited interim results for the half year ended 30 September 2019.
Highlights
· Earnings for the reporting period was a loss of $659,348 or $0.01 per share. This was an improvement on the previous corresponding period loss of $1,106,883 or $0.02 per share. The improvement resulted from efforts to reduce the company’s overall cost base and lower levels of expensed exploration expenditures.
· Government of Rajasthan (GoR) finally filed its response to Metal Mining India Pvt Ltd’s (MMI’s) writ petition. The rejoinder has now been filed on behalf of MMI and all documents therefore lodged with the Hon’ble High Court of Rajasthan (Court) and the case is now ready for a final hearing.
· MMI was granted an interim stay order by the Court, which fully protects our rights to the project area.
· The Labola Project in Burkina Faso was acquired. Labola hosts evidence of mineralisation over at least 7km of mineralised structures known to extend for 9km strike and hosts a previously identified resource which was estimated at approximately 600,000 ounces of contained gold averaging (approximately) 1.2g/t Au.
· The final instalment of the first tranche of Galactic Gold Pvt Ltd’s (Galaxy) investment in Indo Gold Pty. Ltd (IGL) was received and Galaxy now holds a 5% interest in IGL, resulting in Panthera holding an effective 66.5% stake in the Bhukia Joint Venture Project (Bhukia).
· Tranche 3 of the Republic Investment Management (Republic) financing agreement was restructured to bring forward £500,000 at £0.10 per share and align pricing for the remainder of the tranche with the market prevailing at the time.
· Following up on the gold mineralised drill intercepts that were returned from drilling at the Naton project in Burkina Faso, further work (mostly soil geochemistry and mapping) has outlined and better defined extensions to this mineralization and added further high-quality drill targets.
· The company’s corporate restructuring has been completed and subsidiaries formed in Mali and Burkina Faso now hold the exploration assets in-country.
Activities during the Reporting Period
The key focus of Panthera’s operating activities during the reporting period was to:
(i) Progress the permitting of the Bhukia joint venture property in Rajasthan, India through the Court and through parallel negotiations with the GoR;
(ii) Continue to build a highly attractive portfolio of West African gold exploration properties, some with clearly identified drill targets;
(iii) Seek and successfully identify a strategic partner (or partners) to advance the Company’s West African gold exploration initiatives; and
(iv) Optimise the Company’s investment in Anglo Saxony Mining.
To this end the Company met with good success:
Bhukia Project (67%), India
· Panthera is targeting a 6.0Moz+ AU resource at Bhukia, where it currently has a JORC (2012) compliant inferred resource of 1.74Moz on a 100% basis (1.16Moz on a 67% attributable basis), defined over only approximately 10% of an extensive gold in soil geochemical anomaly.
· During the previous reporting period, MMI’s Bhukia PLA was rejected. On 6 September 2018 a substantive writ petition was filed with the Court on MMI’s behalf. The GoR filed its reply 14 months later in November of 2019. With the recent filing of MMI’s rejoinder to the reply, all pleadings are now lodged with the court and the matter is ready for the Court to decide. Unfortunately, given the overtaxed and generally inefficient nature of the Court, we cannot predict with any certainty when our case will be adjudicated.
· The Company’s operations in India have benefitted from input and assistance from Galaxy and it’s affiliates since the inception of the investment and cooperation agreement. Even as events have unfolded in the Court, communication with newly elected and appointed politicians and bureaucrats have improved and, while at an early stage, an increasingly constructive dialogue is underway.
West African Gold Exploration Initiative
· During the reporting period the West African assets were restructured to be held in subsidiary companies in Mali and Burkina Faso.
· In an exciting addition to Panthera’s West African gold portfolio, a decision was made to move to a full Option to Purchase agreement following its successful due diligence investigation of the Labola Project in Burkina Faso.
· Labola hosts drill defined mineralisation intermittently over at least 7km of the known 9km strike and previously identified resource estimates of approximately 600,000 ounces of contained gold averaging (approximately) 1.2g/t Au.
· The agreement allows for up to five years of exploration and Panthera may obtain a 100% interest in the project by payment of US$1,000,000 to the vendor at any time within this five-year period. An additional payment of US$1,000,000 will become due if a JORC compliant resource exceeding 1,000,000 ounces of contained gold is defined and a 1% net smelter royalty capped at US$2M will be payable from production.
· This is the first time this package of properties has been consolidated under one ownership and it represents an excellent opportunity to integrate the significant amount of previous drilling and optimise the resource potential of the project.
· Significant potential for higher grade mineralisation can also be seen based on previous drill results:
o 2m @ 130.6g/t Au from 66m
o 11m @ 8.2g/t Au from 147m
o 6.5m @ 7.26g/t Au from 318m.
Galaxy Partnership Tranche 1 Investment Concluded
· During the reporting period Galaxy completed the first of its two planned investment tranches in IGL. These two tranches, totalling US$1.25m, will entitle Galaxy to a 10% holding in IGL.
· Galaxy has agreed to purchase two 5% stakes in IGL in two stages:
o Stage 1 (5%) – US$500,000 was completed in two investments of $250,000 each, with the last $250,000 payment received in May 2019.
o Stage 2 (5%) – US$750,000 is scheduled to be made prior to the re-commencement of exploration (now expected in the first half of 2020).
Republic Investment Management (“Republic”) Tranche 3 Investment Restructured
In a prudent move to provide near term liquidity in response to delays to the permitting of the Company’s Bhukia JV in India, Panthera’s binding investment agreement with Republic was successfully restructured. The Tranche 3 payment previously consisted of A$2.67m at A$0.65 per share and was due at the time the Bhukia PL is granted and the necessary environmental and forestry permits for drilling are obtained. The Tranche 3 capital injection was restructured and split into two separate investment tranches. Tranche 3A, provided proceeds of £500,000 at 10 pence per share during the reporting period. The payment timing for Tranche 3B will be made (as previously agreed) upon receipt of approvals to recommence exploration at the Bhukia JV project in India. Tranche 3B is now to be priced at a 15% discount to the 20 day VWAP at that time.
Management indicate that on current expenditure levels, all current cash held will be used within the next 12 months. The group’s ability to continue as a going concern is dependent upon raising additional capital. A key factor affecting this is the granting of the PL and necessary environmental and forestry permits which triggers an additional US$750,000 from Galaxy and £1m from RIM. The Company will keep the market updated on progress with the PL grant and its funding requirements.
Geoff Stanley, Chief Executive Officer of Panthera Resources, commented:
“During this period Panthera has made excellent progress on multiple fronts, including strengthening our legal case for grant of the Bhukia PL, the acquisition of an excellent property package with strong indications of gold mineralization in Burkina Faso and completion of several financings that provide low dilution to shareholders by leveraging the underlying value of the Company’s asset base.
With all legal pleadings now submitted with the Court in Rajasthan, MMI’s case is ready to be decided. The strength of the joint venture’s case is apparent, which we expect will allow a fruitful negotiation to commence with the GoR regarding grant of the long-awaited PL.
We are looking forward to reporting substantial additional progress in 2020. Areas of focus will remain advancing the permitting process in India to allow exploration to recommence at Bhukia, adding to our already successful West African exploration efforts and nurturing the ASM investment”
