Panther Metals plc will assess the commercial potential of its recently acquired option of Winston tailings in Ontario with its former investee focused on gold tailings recovery, Fulcrum Metals Ltd.
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The project comprises the two deposits of Pick Lake and Winston Lake, the Winston Lake mine site infrastructure and “highly prospective” exploration targets.
Panther noted that from 1988 to 1998, a reported 3.3 million tonnes of ore was mined and processed with an average head grade of 14.6% zinc, 1.0% copper, 32.2g/t silver and 1.4g/t gold.
Previous owner First Quantum Minerals Ltd produced 900 million pounds (Mlbs) or 408 thousand tonnes (kt) of zinc, 54 Mlbs (24 kt) copper, with more than 1.1 Moz silver and 51,168 oz gold at reported recoveries of 93% zinc and 78% copper.
If a deal is agreed, Fulcrum will use non-cyanide extraction and separation technology through its relationship with Extrakt Process Solutions.
Fulcrum‘s own assets are the Teck Hughes and Sylvanite tailings in Kirkland Lake.
Panther said that Winston offered a low-cost, high-impact opportunity to reprocess legacy materials as well as a “shorter pathway to significant cashflow”.
“The infrastructure is well maintained on the brownfield Winston Lake mine site allowing for the potential rapid evaluation and monetisation of the historical mine processing tailings, ” added chief executive Darren Hazelwood.
Fulcrum CEO Ryan Mee said that the potential agreement aligned with the company’s aim to unlock overlooked value and accelerate resource recovery in a responsible way.”
“The collaboration envisages setting out a formal agreement for an initial phase of a partnership which would focus on technical and economic assessments of the tailings material.
“Subject to the results of that evaluation, Panther and Fulcrum would formalise a commercial agreement to advance a tailings pre-processing project.”