Marrakai Gold Project

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PANTHER METALS PLC

(Incorporated in the Isle of Man with company number 009753V)

Marrakai Gold Project

Panther Metals PLC (LSE:PALM) ("Panther" or the "Company"), the company focused on mineral exploration in Canada and Australia, is pleased to announce the completion of its open-file desktop review of the wholly-owned Marrakai Gold Project, situated in the Northern Territory, Australia.  The Northern Territory has produced nearly 464 tonnes (t) or 14.9 million ounces (Moz) of gold (Au), and there are currently over 8,001 documented gold occurrences and a resource inventory of a further 530 t (17 Moz) Au.

Highlights:

·    Geological review highlights potential for further gold mineralisation within the Marrakai Project, with east and west portions of the tenement remaining completely untested.

·    John's Reef Gold Prospect contains visible gold, with high-grade rock chip assays varying from 30 g/t Au to 50.1 g/t Au.

·    Chins Gully Gold Prospect contains visible gold, with up to 50 specks observed in panned concentrates.

·    Historical drilling in the immediate vicinity of John's Reef and Chin's Gully provided near surface results including 2m @ 5.74 g/t and 2m @ 3.46 g/t Au.

·    Project remains significantly underexplored with visible gold located in samples obtained from eastern and western flanks John's Reef and Chin's Gully.

·    Two major exploration targets remain untested, represented by dykes of probable lamprophyric affinity, which can be hosts to gold mineralisation. 

Darren Hazelwood, Chief Executive Officer, commented:

"We are delighted with the results of the detailed data review over the Marrakai Gold Project, which we completed while the tenement remained off-limits as a result of COVID-19 travel restrictions.  The high-grade gold mineralisation identified at surface, along with historic drilling  warrants further extensive ground exploration in the vicinity of the known gold prospects and further to the east and west, which remains underexplored".

"Panther will now continue to focus on sourcing and processing all the available geophysical data over the tenement and surrounds, in an effort to better understand the geophysical signatures associated with the gold mineralisation.  The geophysical interpretation will enable Panther to commence planning of detailed ground exploration programmes.  The supporting electromagnetic and magnetic survey data and corresponding structural interpretations will allow for a greater understanding of the potential controls of gold deposition and assist in exploration targeting". 

Project Details

The Marrakai Gold Project ("the Project") comprises a single granted licence (EL32121) covering an area of 10.1km², located 70km to the southeast of Darwin, Northern Territory.  The Project is well-located near infrastructure and the Toms Gully (15km away) and Rustlers Roost (18km away) deposits, which are owned by China Hanking Holdings Limited (Figure 1).  Toms Gully is a high-grade underground mine containing 1.1Mt @ 8.9 g/t Au (0.3 Moz); operations are expected to recommence from 2020.  Rustlers Roost contains 51Mt @ 1.0 g/t Au (1.6Moz) and is one of the largest gold projects in the region.  The Project is located within the Palaeoproterozoic Pine Creek Orogen ("PCO"), which hosts over 250 gold occurrences and several operating gold mines.

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Figure 1: Regional geological map of the Marrakai and Annaburroo gold projects, showing the distribution of mineral deposits in the vicinity. 

Steve's Hill Prospect, which is located 1km away to the north east of John's Reef Gold Prospect, was first discovered in 1999, following which 500 oz of nuggets were recovered from the area; the largest of which were c. 30 oz and 23 oz (Figure 2).  The mineralisation consists of quartz veins hosted by banded greywacke and siltstones of the Burrell Creek Formation, which are metamorphosed to lower greenschist facies.  Quartz veins in outcrop are typically less than 1m wide and contain variable amounts of pyrolusite. 

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Figure 2: Summary geological map of the Marrakai Project, showing the distribution of historical geochemical samples, key surface sampling and drilling results.  The location of visible gold in samples is also shown.

From 2003 until 2007, Rension Consoldiated Mines NL conducted ground exploration which resulted in the discovery of the Chin's Gully and John's Reef gold prospects.  Steve's Hill (located just outside of the licence), Chins Gully, Johns Reef and Jason's Rise, occur along a topographically low ridge which trends NE-SW across and outside the licence over an area of 7km x 1km.  Coarse gold has been identified in surface outcrop of John's Reef and Chin's Gully area with the subcrop occurring over at least 3km of strike within the licence.  A peak rock-chip grade of 30 and 50.1 g/t Au was recorded from the John's Reef Prospect.  Coarse to fine visible gold (17 to 50 specks of gold) was panned from surface over Chin's Gully with several large gold nugget specimens delineated along the eroded flanks, across which no further work was conducted by Rension Consolidated Mines NL.

Rotary Air Blast ("RAB") drilling undertaken by Renison Consolidated Mines NL, in the area of John's Reef Prospect, identified a deep regolith profile.  Results from no deeper than 6m from surface provided the following best intercepts, some of which were coincident with a saddle reef structure: they included 2m @ 2.22 g/t Au over John's Reef and 2m @ 5.74 g/t Au over Chin's Gully.  The typically wider and higher-grade intercepts in RAB drilling are attributable to saddle reefs along the hinge zone of the same structure.  None of the drilling intercepted transitional or fresh bedrock with all RAB holes terminated within the zone of greatest gold depletion.  Also, significant zones of continuous gold anomalism were interpreted in several drill lines which contained numerous quartz veins.  Despite this no follow-up work was completed.

The major source of the gold seen in the area is likely to be in an area of higher ground in an area of the magnetic disruption towards the east and south of the Chin's Gully prospect.  This corresponds to another NE-SW trending ridge of Burrell Creek Formation before transitioning in to Mt. Bonnie Formation and Gerowie Tuff further to the southeast.  This appears to be an area worthy of further attention due to the proximity of these lower stratigraphic units, which are known to host several major gold deposits in the PCO and are the most prospective formations on the basis of contained gold per square kilometre.

Two major exploration targets of probable lamprophyric affinity remain untested (Figure 3).  Associations between lamprophyres and gold deposits within the PCO and other Proterozoic terranes are widely recorded.  In the vicinity of the Marrakai Project, the lamprophyre-gold association is noted at the Goodall Mine (4.26Mt @ 2.36 g/t Au) and Tom's Gully Gold Mine (produced 115,000 oz gold @ 8.2 g/t), which are both located proximally to the Project.

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Figure 3: Total Magnetic Intensity map of the Marrakai Project, showing key target areas.

Competent Persons Statement

The information in this report that relates to Exploration Results together with any related assessments and interpretations is based on information compiled by Mr. Pedro Kastellorizos, geological consultant to the Company based in Darwin, Northern Territory.  Mr Kastellorizos is a Member of the AusIMM; who has sufficient experience relevant to the styles of mineralisation under consideration and to the activity being reported to qualify as a Competent Person as defined in the 2012 Edition of the Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves.

Mr. Kastellorizos has verified the data disclosed in this release and consents to the inclusion in this release of the matters based on the information in the form and context in which it appears.

Panther Metals PLC:

Darren Hazelwood, Chief Executive Officer:            +44(0) 1462 429 743 and +44(0) 7971 957 685

Mitchell Smith, Chief Operating Officer:        +1(604) 209 6678

Brokers:

SI Capital Limited

Nick Emerson                                                 +44(0) 1438 416 500

Peterhouse Capital Limited

Guy Miller and Duncan Vasey                       +44(0) 20 7469 0930