Panther Metals all set to drill Dotted Lake, with success likely to spur progress on several fronts

It’s all systems go at Dotted Lake, the gold and base metals prospect in Ontario which is currently the main focus of Panther Metals (PALM) Follow | PALM.

Drill rig personnel are currently mobilizing to site, aiming to prepare drill pads and to carry out other access preparation work. 

That shouldn’t take too long, as Dotted Lake is located in a prime position in established Ontario mining country, just a few kilometres north of Barrick’s famous Hemlo gold mine, and a few kilometres south of Manitouwadge, a town founded on the back of a famous copper and zinc deposit in the 1950s.

So far, so good. The location within Ontario is right, and Ontario itself is often rated as one of the top mining destinations in the world.

What’s more, Panther knows its way around pretty well now. It’s been working up this ground for some years, and as chief executive Darren Hazelwood says: “the only thing left to do is drill.”

It’s not easy to raise funds for drilling in the current market, though, with equity prices through the floor. Panther doesn’t rate too badly on that score – its shares are fractionally higher than where they were a year ago, although down from earlier highs hit during the mini-boom we witnessed during Covid. 

Still, Hazelwood is taking no chances with dilution.

Earlier in October, to fund the imminent work at Dotted Lake, he sold down the company’s shareholding in Panther Metals Australia, an equity stake that netted more than £200,000 clear. Panther Metals Australia, for its part, had been diluting shareholders, and Hazelwood is quick to point out that the London-listed Panther, while it shared a name with its Australian counterpart, had no sort of control over it.

The exit seemed sensible, and timely, and the market took it as such – the shares ticked up by more than 10% following the news, and are currently holding steady at a mid-price of 92.5p, notwithstanding that the spread is quite large.

But it all sets Panther up nicely for a serious drill campaign. There’s been no dip in share price to recover from, since there’s been no equity fundraising, so investors are able, without fear or trepidation. to look forward to continued upward momentum.

But just exactly what is it that’s on offer at Dotted Lake?

Success, to Hazelwood, would look like a repeat of the success of near neighbour GT Resources, which drilled its Tyko project and returned nickel, copper and PGM results so good that Glencore immediately took a major stake in the company. 

Already, Dotted Lake looks a good prospect in that context.

“The quality of our soil sampling exceeds anything that GT reported,” says Hazelwood. And there are whispers that not only Glencore, but other big leaguers in the mining world are keeping a close eye on further developments in the area, not excluding Panther and Dotted Lake.

But first the company has to get on and produce some meaningful results.

The plan is to put in six diamond drillholes at Dotted Lake during the current programme, four of which have already been sited, with the other two to follow on, depending on the results of the first four. There’ll be an XRF machine on site to guide the decision-making process, and it seems quite likely that Panther Metals representatives won’t be the only ones looking over the core.

The plan is to get the drilling underway by early November, and to release the results as fast as the assay lab turnarounds will allow. Exactly how long that will be is difficult to say, but if the scouts for the majors start to get involved, it may be that we get an inkling as to success or failure pretty quickly.

Meanwhile, in the background, work continues on Panther’s other Ontario project, Obonga. The thinking is that drilling here will get underway sometime next February, with the potential upside that’s on offer more than likely to keep the market interested in the event of any assay lab delays at Dotted Lake. 

At Obonga, Panther has already identified two volcanic massive sulphide systems, which is something in itself. 

“It’s big,” says Hazelwood. “Wishbone, the license which contains Obonga, is 10 kilometres by two kilometres wide. And there’s anomalous copper of a high grade all over it.”

Is it too much to hope for a double success from Panther Metals – from drilling both at Dotted Lake and at Obonga? 

Why not? 

Investors in junior mining are due some luck. And those who’ve kept faith with Panther, as Hazelwood has ducked and weaved to avoid dilution and to keep activity levels comparatively high are no less deserving than any other.

Hazelwood knows it too.

“I want to have a business that will reward those that came in at the beginning,” he says. “I came in at 50p. And all this is about making money. I want everybody to have the chance to do that.”

And as to future funding, Panther has many tools in its toolbox. 

Drilling success might generate a significant upward move in the share price, which would make everything look easier. Either way, success would enable Hazelwood to address the Canadian market with more confidence and gusto, since the market there is quite happy to reward discovery. 

There’s also the possibility of further asset sales, and the potential for the company to take advantage, via its 100% Canadian subsidiary, of the tax breaks available under the flow-through rules. 

So, there’s a lot that could happen, and we won’t have long to wait to find out what the first instalments of the story have in store.