PFE: Flagship shifting focus from iron ore to copper/gold

Our junior exploration investment Pantera Minerals (ASX: PFE) today provided an update on its flagship Yampi Project in the Northern Territory.

Analysis of results from 60 half core samples derived from 3 diamond drill holes last year returned only modest grades and widths of hematite (iron ore) - the initial focus of the drilling campaign.

This is disappointing, as our initial interest in investing in PFE was the hematite potential at Yampi - the project is located down the road from Mt Gibson’s high grade Koolan Island iron ore mine, and drilling was following up promising high-grade hematite rock chip samples. Our #1 Objective for PFE to deliver this year was based on this:

Whilst the iron ore grades have not impressed, somewhat interesting is that several pathfinder elements for porphyry copper-gold mineralisation were encountered - this is of note given Yampi’s proximity to Dreadnought Resources’s Orion Copper Project, with structures that extend well within PFE’s tenements.

The results have warranted PFE to greenlight an aeromagnetic and radiometric survey in May over the majority of Yampi - this will help narrow down where to focus the next exploration campaign to hunt for a possible copper/ gold porphyry.

Our focus now turns to upcoming drilling campaigns at PFE’s Hellcat and manganese projects, expected in the next quarter. More details on these projects can be found in our PFE Investment Memo.