The time is now for this Panther
“…We’re a micro cap that has got very big ambitions. You’re looking at the start of a very serious business here with Panther…”
Not just one, but two stunning RNS announcements out this morning for Panther Metals.
Darren Hazelwood reads a lot and he’s worked out the one thing in common the big mining companies have is a decentralised structure.
He’s the chief executive of UK junior mining explorer Panther Metals and he puts the success of Newmont, Teck Resources and Glencore down to a simple strategy of ‘they bought in bits, they disposed of bits and kept the bits they like.’
April’s disposal of Panther’s Big Bear property and purchase of Manitou Lakes don’t come into the ‘bits’ category. Hazelwood describes the deals as transformational.
“They’ve opened us up to a broader suite of properties and prospectivity on the Schreiber-Hemlo greenstone belt and further afield. And they’ve enabled us to enter into the Manitou Lakes area at the very moment that some very serious players have just done a big deal to get in there to start doing exactly the type of work that we’re going to be doing.”
Hazelwood and the board have been looking at Manitou Lakes for some time, but didn’t have the capacity or opportunity to entertain it until Fulcrum Metals agreed to take on Big Bear. The idea is Fulcrum seeks a listing in London by the end of October and Panther gets 20% of the overall business,£200,000 and 2% of the Net Smelter Return (NSR). Failure to list and Fulcrum forfeits Big Bear and €50,000 to Panther.
Fulcrum and forfeiture is unlikely according to Hazelwood particularly as Fulcrum has the mining legend Jim Franklin as an advisor who is “almost a god like figure in exploration particularly round VMS’s.”
With Big Bear packed off to Fulcrum, Panther can concentrate on its own VMS – Volcanogenic Massive Sulphide deposit opportunity at Obonga which is the company’s primary focus.
Panther is putting in multiple drill permit applications across the Obonga greenstone belt with drilling at Awkward and Wishbone. “There’s enough to be getting on with at Obonga,” says Hazelwood, “hence the decentralised structure and why it’s working so well for us and why it will work so well for its shareholders. You’re looking at the start of a very serious business.”
The cliché ‘the time is now’ doesn’t sound so cheesey because March saw Manitou Gold divesting its 100% interest in Dryden properties to Dryden Gold. That was a multi million dollar deal and Hazelwood says with Panther’s Manitou Lake transaction “we’re right on top of them.” That statement can be interpreted many ways.
Hazelwood knows the deals Panther has made this month had to be ‘now’ before they became unaffordable as mining becomes trendy again.
“Just about every single dynamic, every single metric within the sector is showing that exploration, the supply dynamics of the commodities market and exploration as a result is going to come back into fashion across the wider investing community.”
“We’re going to have interests in 20 properties,” says Hazelwood who is proud that April’s deals were done without the issuance of stock. “We don’t just issue stock willy nilly. This isn’t confetti. This is people’s investments. This is my investments. And I intend to make a lot of money out of Panther Metals personally and I’m hoping within that journey so will my investors.”
Now that is a cliché, but a pleasant one if it all comes good.
Listen to Darren explain to Sarah Lowther how the decentralised business model will create a major exploration company and what events would lead to the return of Big Bear into the company portfolio.
Read the company’s corporate presentation
Watch Proactive Research analyst Christopher Eccleston talk about #PALM with Katie Pilbeam
Read Proactive Research’s note on Panther
Follow the company on Twitter @PantherMetals
The author was remunerated but does not hold shares in the company
