Future Metals NL (ASX:FME, AIM:FME) is preparing to kick-off a diamond drilling program seeking nickel-copper-platinum group elements (PGE) sulphide accumulations at the 100%-owned Panton PGM-Nickel Project in northern Western Australia.
A diamond drill rig has arrived at the site with initial drill targets identified from historical drilling and a ground-based EM survey.
Clearance obtained
The company has completed a detailed archaeological and ethnographic heritage survey over areas requiring new access tracks and pads.
It has also obtained clearance from the Traditional Owners of the lands where Panton is situated, the Malarngowem people.
Initial pad clearing has been completed in anticipation of the drill rig’s arrival with the program expected to start in the coming days.
High-quality targets
FME’s managing director and CEO Jardee Kininmonth said: “There has been a tremendous effort by the team to pull together this latest exploration program following the completion of our detailed exploration review which highlighted Panton’s prospectivity for making a nickel-copper-PGE sulphide discovery.
"A number of high-quality targets have already been generated from the review of historical data and the ground EM survey currently underway, with the diamond drill rig set to start testing these in the coming days.
“Additional targets are expected over the coming weeks on the back of the EM survey team covering the entire basal contact and the Keel Zone, as well as from the completion of the gravity and magnetics modelling.”
About Panton Project
The Panton Project is 60 kilometres north of the town of Halls Creek in the eastern Kimberley region of Western Australia, a tier one mining jurisdiction.
The project is on three granted mining licences and just 1-kilometre off the Great North Highway which accesses the Port of Wyndham.
It hosts an independent JORC 2012-compliant resource of 129 million tonnes at 1.20 g/t PGM3E, 0.19% nickel, 0.04% copper and 154ppm cobalt (1.66 g/t palladium-equivalent) for contained metal of 5 million ounces PGM3E, 239,000 tonnes nickel, 48,000 tonnes copper and 20,000 tonnes cobalt or 6.9 million ounces palladium equivalent.
This resource includes a high-grade reef of 25 million tonnes at 3.57 g/t PGM3E, 0.24% nickel, 0.07% copper and 192ppm cobalt (3.86 g/t palladium-equivalent) for contained metal of 2.9 million ounces PGM3E, 60,000 tonnes nickel, 18,000 tonnes copper and 5,000 tonnes cobalt (3.2 million ounces palladium-equivalent).
Target (NYSE:TGT) generation
Several targets have been generated from both the initial ground-based EM surveys and historical drilling where high-grade base metals and sulphur have been intercepted previously.
An EM survey is now progressing across the entire Lower Zone to identify any strong conductors across the basal contact and in the Keel Zone.
Data from the gravity survey completed at the end of September 2022 is being modelled in combination with the existing aeromagnetic data to produce a 3D model and assist with structural interpretations at depth.
This work will inform the company’s understanding of the sub-surface architecture at Panton, aiding in generating additional drill targets.
Drilling is expected to run until late December 2022, weather permitting.
About PGMs
PGMs are a group of six precious metals - platinum, palladium, iridium, osmium, rhodium and ruthenium.
Exceptionally rare, they have similar physical and chemical properties and tend to occur, in varying proportions, together in the same geological deposit.
The usefulness of PGMs is determined by their unique and specific shared chemical and physical properties.