Norseman gold gearing up for growth

Pantoro (ASX: PNR) has announced an 85,000m growth drilling program for FY25 at the Norseman goldfield in WA, in what promises to be an impactful year for the miner.

The $25m program aims to develop four key areas to establish a third underground mine or substantially increase the size of the Scotia and OK mines during FY26.

The growth program includes combined diamond and reverse circulation (RC) drilling over its existing mines, Southern mainfield, Central mainfield and Polar Bear Peninsula. Additionally, Pantoro will conduct detailed magnetic surveys in Lake Cowan to identify future exploration targets.

The Australian Mining Review speaks with Pantoro managing director Paul Cmrlec about the 2025 growth program.

“This is a very exciting period in the development of the Norseman goldfield,” he said.

“In the last 12 months we have had a good run up and are now at planned operational levels.

“The site is generating strong cashflow and we see that continuing into the future.

“There are dozens of resource development opportunities that will in time contribute to production.

“The immediate target areas selected for rapid advancement during the coming year all present high-grade opportunities that can be advanced to production status in the medium term.”

Ongoing operations

Pantoro has made sweeping changes to restart the gold operations at Norseman, including the addition of a 1mtpa processing plant.

Mr Cmrlec says the processing plant is readily expandable.

“The processing plant had a nameplate of 1mtpa and we are running that at 1.2mtpa with no reduction in recovery,” he said.

“We have very good low-cost ability to increase that by a further 20% without making any major changes to the process plant.

“We will be disciplined in our growth activities and ensure that every dollar spent is well considered and positively contributing to our goal of filling the processing plant with 5 – 6 g/t ore in the shortest possible time.

“We are confident that Norseman can ultimately be a +200,000ozpa producer utilising the extensive infrastructure already in place.”

Pantoro’s Scotia underground mine has advanced ahead of schedule and remains on track to provide first ore from development and production in Q1 FY25 with steady state production expected by Q3 FY25.

Open pit mining at Princess Royal is planned to commence in Q3 FY25 and will continue for about one year before mining at Gladstone Everlasting commences.

FY25 production is expected to be 100,000oz ±10% with all in sustaining cost of about $1,900poz ±10%.

Target area: existing mines

The Scotia underground mining centre will be expanded with down dip and strike extensions to the Central and Southern orebodies and delineation of additional ore zones.

Pantoro has identified mineralisation over +500m strike length in the Eastern lode which will be targeted from underground.

The Panda lode, immediately west of the Scotia main lodes, was also discovered during the first phase of drilling prior to the construction of the processing plant.

The Panda lode has returned strong widths and grade in drilling from surface, with a strike of up to 500m.

Additional opportunities for high grade feed at Scotia which are not currently planned to be tested during FY25, but which will remain as future priority targets include the Green Lantern high grade zones, Scotia northern extensions and Free Gift down dip.

Pantoro will also extend the OK ore bodies through deeper development of the Star of Erin and O2 lodes. Exploration drilling at OK will commence in additional high-potential areas.

Target area: Southern mainfield

Pantoro has already completed about 16,500m of drilling into Southern mainfield targets and identified zones for further definition.

Drilling at the Butterfly area will be the first priority surface drilling program during FY25 due to its proximity to known ore zones.

The Viking decline has been identified as a good access opportunity for Butterfly.

Target area: Central mainfield

The central portion of the Norseman main field will be re-accessed via the Bullen decline to build a large ore reserve, providing increased long-term ore feed for operations.

A dedicated project team will identify the best targets, incremental mining opportunities and complete an initial mine plan.

This phase will take about four months to complete prior to commencing rehabilitation of the Bullen decline.

Target area: Polar Bear Peninsula

Pantoro plans to target the Polar Bear Peninsula, one of the few off-salt lake areas which have not seen an extensive large scale mining history despite several historical high-grade operations.

Of particular interest in the area is the Hinemoa mine purchased by Pantoro in 2022. Existing high-grade drill intersections beneath the Hinemoa mine indicate potential for an additional underground mine. Access to ore at Hinemoa has been historically achieved by both shaft and underground adits.