Pantera completes Corona acquisition as gold targets move toward drilling

Pantera secures full ownership of Corona

Pantera Minerals Limited (ASX:PFE) has completed its acquisition of the Corona Gold Project, turning a proposed $200,000 entry into a wholly owned 470km² exploration package about 200km east of Kalgoorlie. Completion came on 27 October after all conditions were satisfied, including Ministerial consent for the transfer of exploration licence E28/3555.

“Location of the Corona Gold Project relative to Kalgoorlie, regional mills and BPM Minerals’ Forelands Project.”

The transaction was agreed in late September and completed within roughly a month. Pantera paid $40,000 in cash and issued 10,568,030 shares to the vendors at $0.01514 each, based on the 10-day VWAP before the agreements. A further 396,301 shares went to MinExchange as part-payment of an introduction fee, taking total new shares to 10,964,331 and shares on issue to 504,138,656.

Historical gold anomaly remains largely untested

“Corona prospect – historical aircore drilling showing the 8km gold anomaly along a major structure (maximum Au ppm per hole).”

The geological attraction is an 8km-long gold-in-bedrock aircore anomaly at the Corona prospect. Historical drilling recorded intercepts including 6 metres at 1.50 grams per tonne gold, 11 metres at 0.29g/t and 2 metres at 0.83g/t, but only one reverse-circulation hole has been drilled in the prospect area, approximately 250 metres from the peak anomaly.

That evidence was the basis of the earlier Corona acquisition proposal, which described the project as reconnaissance-stage and noted limited RC follow-up. Pantera says the historical results have not been independently verified through its own drilling or sampling, while comparisons with the Tropicana mine, BPM Minerals’ Beachcomber discovery and the Hercules deposit are regional references rather than evidence of mineralisation at Corona.

UFF sampling will rank the first drill targets

The western part of the project adds a second set of targets. Historical auger sampling produced coherent anomalies above 50 parts per billion gold, peaking at 128ppb and extending for more than 450 metres in one area. None of those targets has been infilled or drill tested, and Pantera says about 30% of the project has not yet been geochemically sampled.

Next comes heritage and access engagement with the Upurli Upurli Nguratja native title holders, followed by close-spaced ultra-fine fraction soil sampling over priority anomalies. Pantera then intends to reinterpret the historical data and rank targets for aircore and RC drilling under approved Programmes of Work. The company says the Corona work will not divert funding or focus from its US critical minerals projects.

Royalty and funding shape the exploration runway

Each vendor retains a 1% gross revenue royalty over its tenement, creating a 2% aggregate royalty across Corona. Pantera can buy back 0.5% of each royalty for $1 million, giving the project a continuing burden if exploration eventually leads to production, although that outcome is far from established at this stage.

Pantera reported approximately $1.7 million in cash at the last quarter end and says a further $2 million is expected from EnergyX in April 2027. The announcement does not provide detailed terms for that future funding. The immediate test is therefore less the acquisition itself than whether heritage access, UFF sampling and subsequent drilling can convert broad historical anomalies into repeatable targets.