Panoramic sells $12m Panton stake

Nickel miner Panoramic Resources has agreed to sell 80 per cent of Panton Sill, the operator of a metals project in the East Kimberley.

The Panton platinum group of metals (PGM) project is situated 60 kilometres north of Halls Creek.

Panton has a resource of 14.32 million tonnes at a grading of 2.19 grams per tonne of platinum, 2.39g/t palladium, and 0.31g/t gold on granted mining leases close to Panoramic’s halted Savannah nickel mine.

The sale proceeds will go towards restart efforts at Savannah, Panoramic said.

The company flagged its intention to sell a portion of its non-core Panton asset in October.

Panoramic today announced it had signed an agreement with Great Northern Palladium Pty Ltd, which will pay $12 million in cash for an 80 per cent stake in Panton Sill.

That includes a $200,000 deposit from family office investor Dubai 2020, a shareholder in Great Northern.

The sale is expected to occur on or around December 18.

Great Northern, registered in Victoria, can acquire the remaining 20 per cent of shares in Panton for a further cash payment of $3 million within six months.

If it does not exercise this option, Great Northern will form a joint venture with Panoramic, which will be free carried until a decision to mine.

Panoramic said it would use the sale proceeds to progress the restart of its Savannah operations, which were paused earlier this year.

The company also withdrew its production and cost guidance, citing operational uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and further funding required for Savannah.

Today, Panoramic said it was continuing discussions with offtake partners to secure a prepayment facility of up to $US30 million, and was in a good position to restart Savannah operations mid-next year; though, no formal decision has been made.

Panoramic had $26.7 million in cash at September 30, with no debt.