Pantoro continues to ramp-up production at Norseman gold project

Pantoro (ASX: PNR) has reported a major upgrade in production as it continues to ramp up operational improvements at its 100% owned Norseman gold project in Western Australia.

The company now holds a 100% interest in the Norseman project after it completed a merger with Tulla Resources in June, the then 50% partner in the gold operation.

Since completing that deal, Pantoro has focused on production and grade improvements and is now seeing the benefits with quarterly output jumping by 27% to 13,168 ounces compared with 10,345 ounces produced during the June 2023 quarter.

The company has also lifted mill feed grades with approximately 5,352 ounces produced during the month of September 2023 and this is tipped to continue to rise as the open pit advances to better mineralised zones.

Grade control progress

At the same time grade control drilling programs at the Scotia south and central area have confirmed the mineral resource.

The increase in mill feed numbers has been supported by both open pit and underground operations.

At the Scotia open pit, a cut back has now progressed beneath the existing open pit voids, exposing the full mineralised corridor within the open pit for the first time. Grades within the Scotia pit continue to improve with increased depth and stripping ratios in Scotia south and Scotia central.

The grade control drilling programs at Scotia south and central have also provided coverage 20 vertical metres below the current mining front.

Notably, drilling has intersected zones of high-grade mineralisation supporting upside in the southern area beneath the old open pit in areas previously inaccessible for drilling.

Grade control drilling was also completed in the North Scotia pit from surface, which has intersected shallower, high-grade material in advance of pre strip of this area commencing.

Further improvements coming

Managing director Paul Cmrlec said grades within the southern area have exceeded model expectations and should positively impact production as the pit advances.

He said the company is also in line to add further to its production numbers with the project’s O2 decline advancing with the first new level in the O2 orebody expected to be developed during the current quarter.

“It is pleasing to see the Norseman gold project continuing to improve with regard to mined grades and production rates,” Mr Cmrlec said.

“The project has a great runway in front of it and all of our employees and contractors continue to work together to maximise outcomes from the mine. The operation is in the best position that it has seen since recommencement of production and we look forward continued improvement to nameplate production levels.”

Open pit work advancing

Elsewhere in the open pits, drill and blast operations which had strongly contributed to delays, have now been advanced to planned levels with good blasted stocks and drilled zones in place.

“Scotia is now the primary production source, with minimal movement from Green Lantern as required to accommodate drill and blast activities,” Mr Cmrlec said.

Underground activity more than OK

Meanwhile, the OK underground mine has continued to perform well with actual developed grades consistently outperforming the mineral resource model in the Star of Erin lode.

Pantoro recently announced a 16% increase in the ore reserve in the Star of Erin lodes following initial development, while it has identified that the O2 lode contains approximately 73% of the planned ounces at OK.

High-grade mineralisation has been found to be generally consistent over an average of 200 metres strike length.

Impressively, mined grades in all areas of the mine continue to support and exceed modelled expectations.

Processing plant providing consistent returns

Elsewhere, despite a number of mechanical failures experienced during the first year of operations, the Norseman processing plant has continued to operate well with throughput consistently meeting expectation.

The processing team continues to optimise operational outcomes with production rates of +140 tonnes per hour achieved, comparing well with the 126 tonne per hour nameplate capacity.

A mine with a golden history

Located in the eastern goldfields of Western Australia, the Norseman project currently has an estimated mineral resource of 4.7 million ounces of gold.

Historically, the project areas have produced over 5.5 million ounces of gold since operations began in 1935, with Norseman considered one of the highest-grade fields within the Yilgarn Craton.

Since its entry to the project in 2019, Pantoro has completed more than 300,000 metres of RC and diamond drilling, defined Ore Reserves of over 970,000 ounces, completed construction of a new 1 million tonnes per annum gold processing plant and recommenced production.