PANORAMIC
Nickel miner with gold and platinum aspirations
Leading Australian nickel miner, Panoramic
Resources Ltd, has embarked upon a major
expansion program designed to diversify its
income stream, adding gold and platinum group
metals (PGMs) to its nickel business within the
next two to four years.
Panoramic announced a group production
record of 19,791 tonnes of nickel contained,
exceeding their production guidance of 19,400
to 19,600 tonnes of nickel in FY2012.
In early 2011, Panoramic acquired the Gidgee
gold project located near Wiluna, Western
Australia for $15.5 million. More recently,
Panoramic added to their gold portfolio in WA by
acquiring the high-grade Wilsons project located
within 14 kilometres of the Gidgee project and a
70%
interest in the Mt Henry gold project from
Matsa Resources. Gidgee and Mt Henry have
combined resources of over 2 million ounces of
gold and make Panoramic a major player in gold
in Western Australia.
PETER HAROLD
MANAGING DIRECTOR
PANORAMIC RESOURCES LTD
Gidgee open pits – aerial view
Panoramic’s Managing Director, Peter Harold,
believes the purchase of the high-grade Wilsons
project places Panoramic one step closer to gold
production at Gidgee.
“
Based on the upgraded Gidgee resources,
a recently completed scoping study, positive
exploration results and the acquisition of
Wilsons, Panoramic has built a significant gold
resource at Gidgee totalling 1.05 million ounces
of gold. The scoping study revealed an estimated
gold production of 606,000 ounces over an initial
seven year period at a sustainable production
profile targeting 80,000 to 90,000 ounces per
annum. We anticipate the potential restart of
mining and ore processing at Gidgee could be as
early as mid-2014.
“
The company successfully acquired the
assets of Magma Metals Ltd via an off-market
takeover offer of one Panoramic share for every
seven Magma shares. The acquisition of Magma
is consistent with Panoramic’s stated objective
of acquiring base and precious metal resources
and exploration projects which they believe
could develop into profitable mining operations
in the future. Magma’s assets fit this criteria
and Panoramic believes it has the necessary
expertise to develop Magma’s Thunder Bay
North PGM project in Canada and to test
Magma’s early stage gold exploration properties
in Western Australia,” commented Mr Harold.
With Panoramic’s ambitions to build on its
PGM resource base, Panoramic acquired the
Panton PGM project in May 2012 together with
the rights to use the Panton Process (a patented
metallurgical process) from Platinum Australia
Ltd. Panton has a significant PGM resource
containing 1.0 million ounces of platinum and
1.1
million ounces of palladium.
The project is located 60 kilometres north
of the company’s Savannah nickel mine in the
Kimberley region of WA which could provide
potential operating synergies for both projects.
The Panton project has significant exploration
potential at depth and along strike. Panoramic
believes PGMs have strong fundamentals, with
the majority of analysts forecasting PGM prices
to increase over the short to medium term.
“
The Panton, Mt Henry and Magma
acquisitions together with the Gidgee gold
project are in line with our publicly stated goal of
becoming a diversified mining house producing
a combination of base metals, gold and PGMs,”
said Mr Harold.
“
Having these quality projects in Australia
and Canada in our pipeline, we are well
positioned to achieve the ultimate goal of
becoming a global diversified mining house and
ASX/S&P Top 100 Company.”
With the company’s solid cash position,
minimal debt, experienced team and a diversified
commodity portfolio, they are well on the road
to achieving their aim of becoming a major
mining house.
MINESITE 2012
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