Great Panther Mining Limited, a growing gold and silver producer focused on the Americas, announces results from Phase 2 of the 2021 resource replacement and expansion drilling program and regional exploration results from the Company’s wholly-owned Tucano Gold Mine (“Tucano”) in Brazil. Tucano comprises a 7-kilometre-long trend of gold deposits hosted within a large tenement package controlled by Great Panther covering approximately 2,000 km2 of the Vila Nova Greenstone Belt.
“One of the primary objectives of our exploration program at Tucano this year is to extend the open pit mine life, and I am pleased to report that our intention is to bring TAP C back into production in 2022 as the drilling has demonstrated continuity of mineralization at depth below the current pit floor,” commented Rob Henderson, Great Panther’s President & CEO.
“The other main objectives at Tucano this year include extending the high-grade zones underground and defining the regional potential of our district-scale land package,” continued Mr. Henderson. “Initial results from our regional exploration program are very promising as they confirm the potential surrounding Tucano and our ability to generate new quality targets through focused, systematic exploration. Drilling of new targets is planned for the fourth quarter of this year. Our immediate focus is making new discoveries within a 20 km radius of the mine. However, we believe that the greenstone belt has significant exploration upside, and our long-term objective is to make a major new discovery within our extensive tenement package.”
Resource Replacement and Expansion Drilling
The Company continues to focus on resource definition along the 7-kilometer-long mine sequence. Last year the focus was on the Taperaba (“TAP AB”) pit where the Company successfully upgraded inferred resources to Measured & Indicated (“M&I”) status and, as a result, significantly increased the open pit reserves at TAP AB. This year the focus has been on TAP C, situated between the TAP AB and Urucum pits that are the current focus of production at Tucano. The definition of new resources at TAP C will give Tucano additional operational flexibility with new production fronts from shallow pits close to the plant (see Figure 1).
Highlights and significant intersections from drilling at TAP C are summarized below and are expected to be applied to an updated Mineral Reserve and Mineral Resource (“MRMR”) estimation for Tucano later this year.
Highlights from the 2021 TAP C drill program1 2:
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1 Widths are drillhole intercept widths. |
2 Drill holes 21TACDD001-21TACDD007 announced in a news release dated April 7, 2021. Note: Minor differences reflect a change in open pit cut-off being employed to 0.3 g/t gold compared to 0.4 g/t in April. |
The drilling focused on defining M&I resources down to 70 m below the pit surface. Wireframes for the mineralization have been prepared and block models are being generated for resource estimation and categorization.
Table 1: Significant gold assay results for 2021 TAP C drilling |
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Drill hole |
Interval |
From |
To |
Est. true width |
Grade |
21TACDD001 |
10.4 |
83.0 |
93.4 |
5.2 |
0.60 |
21TACDD001 |
6.8 |
99.0 |
105.8 |
3.4 |
0.99 |
21TACDD001 |
4.0 |
130.0 |
134.0 |
2.0 |
13.65 |
21TACDD002 |
9.3 |
79.3 |
88.6 |
5.0 |
0.55 |
21TACDD002 |
6.9 |
129.6 |
136.5 |
3.7 |
1.20 |
21TACDD002 |
6.3 |
145.7 |
152.0 |
3.3 |
3.99 |
including |
1.0 |
150.0 |
151.0 |
0.5 |
19.21 |
21TACDD003 |
12.0 |
104.3 |
116.2 |
6.9 |
1.39 |
including |
2.0 |
111.0 |
113.0 |
1.1 |
4.61 |
21TACDD004 |
5.6 |
199.5 |
205.0 |
3.2 |
0.93 |
21TACDD006 |
6.0 |
18.0 |
24.0 |
3.4 |
0.76 |
21TACDD006 |
5.0 |
101.0 |
106.0 |
2.9 |
1.30 |
including |
1.0 |
104.0 |
105.0 |
0.6 |
4.67 |
21TACDD006 |
4.0 |
168.0 |
172.0 |
2.3 |
0.87 |
21TACDD007 |
8.0 |
75.0 |
83.0 |
4.4 |
1.03 |
21TACDD008 |
3.1 |
38.0 |
41.1 |
1.8 |
2.60 |
21TACDD010 |
2.3 |
136.0 |
138.3 |
1.3 |
2.55 |
21TACDD011 |
7.1 |
185.1 |
192.2 |
4.0 |
1.45 |
21TACDD012 |
10.0 |
117.0 |
127.0 |
5.7 |
1.20 |
21TACDD013 |
4.5 |
70.0 |
74.5 |
2.6 |
1.65 |
21TACDD022 |
6.6 |
124.0 |
130.6 |
3.8 |
2.77 |
including |
1.2 |
125.2 |
126.4 |
0.7 |
8.90 |
21TACDD023 |
8.6 |
26.0 |
34.5 |
4.3 |
4.93 |
including |
1.7 |
29.4 |
31.1 |
0.8 |
13.93 |
21TACDD027 |
6.0 |
0.0 |
6.0 |
2.7 |
0.78 |
21TACDD028 |
12.7 |
186.3 |
199.0 |
5.4 |
2.85 |
including |
4.0 |
190.0 |
194.0 |
1.7 |
5.36 |
21TACDD029 |
15.0 |
52.0 |
67.0 |
3.9 |
0.51 |
21TACDD029 |
8.0 |
88.0 |
96.0 |
2.1 |
0.89 |
21TACDD029 |
24.6 |
100.0 |
124.6 |
6.4 |
1.64 |
21TACDD029 |
38.0 |
167.0 |
205.0 |
9.8 |
2.48 |
including |
3.0 |
167.0 |
170.0 |
0.8 |
8.74 |
including |
21.0 |
167.0 |
188.0 |
5.4 |
4.05 |
21TACDD030 |
4.0 |
36.0 |
40.0 |
1.8 |
2.18 |
21TACDD030 |
9.0 |
45.0 |
54.0 |
4.1 |
7.78 |
including |
1.0 |
51.0 |
52.0 |
0.5 |
63.19 |
Notes:
|
The full table of drill results can be found at https://www.greatpanther.com/_resources/pdf/20210907-GPR-News-Release-Full-Table-of-Results.pdf.
Regional Exploration
This year the Company initiated an extensive regional soil sampling and mapping program over high priority exploration corridors defined last year. The regional exploration program ties into the current resource definition drilling along the mine sequence by focusing on the identification and fast-tracking of gold targets within a 20 km radius of the mine that may be exploited by open pit mining and processed by the Tucano plant. The Company’s goal is to define new resources that may be mined to complement the current ore reserves along the mine sequence. This ambitious program includes over 500-line-kilometres of soil sampling followed by drill testing starting in the fourth quarter of 2021 (“Q4 2021”).
Multi-element soil geochemistry received for the first regional grid, Mutum, indicates a continuous 3.8-kilometre-long elevated gold trend. The structural and lithologic setting together with indications of intrusive activity, interpreted from the multi-element geochemistry and aerogeophysics, increase the priority of this trend. They reflect positive features commonly found associated with gold deposits. The Mutum trend is the first of eight high-priority exploration corridors being evaluated with multi-element soil geochemistry this year and is situated just 15 km northeast of the Tucano mine (see Figure 2). The gold trend is being mapped in detail and will be covered by ground magnetics and prioritized for drilling in Q4 2021.
To date, in addition to Mutum, the following prospective, regional exploration corridors have been covered by regional multi-element soil sampling grids: Mutum-Joseph, Lona Amarela, Eastern Mine Sequence, Janaina, Timbo and Jornal. Sampling has been initiated on the Village Antonio grid. Sample results from these grids will be received over the next four to six months. Results will be integrated and anomalies prioritized for inclusion in the regional fast-track drilling budget for 2022.
Technical Disclosure and Qualified Persons
On behalf of Great Panther, Nicholas Winer, Fellow AusIMM and Vice President of Exploration supervised the preparation of data for inclusion in this news release and approved this news release. Mr. Winer is a non-independent Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 – Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects (“NI 43-101”).
Mr. Winer reviewed the Tucano QA/QC program. The QA/QC program for drill core includes the regular insertion of blanks, standards, and duplicates into sample batches, diligent monitoring of assay results, and necessary remedial actions. Resource drilling samples are first assayed at the Tucano onsite laboratory. All intervals with anomalous gold are submitted and re-analyzed by the Certified SGS Geosol laboratory in Belo Horizonte by 50 g fire-assay. All SGS Geosol assays, after diligent monitoring of QA/QC and necessary remedial actions, supersede the Tucano assay results in the database for MRMR grade estimation. QA/QC monitoring of the SGS laboratory also includes inter-laboratory checks on five percent of samples with the Certified, ALS laboratory in Belo Horizonte. In addition to the data verification methodology described above, personal inspections of the Tucano property have also been completed.
ABOUT GREAT PANTHER
Great Panther is a growing gold and silver producer focused on the Americas. The Company owns a diversified portfolio of assets in Brazil, Mexico and Peru that includes three operating gold and silver mines, four exploration projects, and an advanced development project. Great Panther is actively exploring large land packages in highly prospective districts and is pursuing acquisition opportunities to complement its existing portfolio. Great Panther trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange trading under the symbol GPR, and on the NYSE American under the symbol GPL.