Pantera Minerals Secures 470km² WA Gold Project for $200K
Key Takeaways
- Pantera Minerals has secured 100% of the Corona Gold Project (158 blocks, ~470km²) in the Albany Fraser Orogen for total consideration of just $200,000, with 80% of that paid in Pantera shares rather than cash.
- Corona sits along the same structural corridor as the Tier-1 Tropicana gold mine (7.89Moz at 2.08g/t Au), approximately 200km along strike to the northeast, and 10–25km from BPM Minerals' Beachcomber discovery.
- The project carries two untested target types: an 8km continuous gold-in-bedrock aircore anomaly in the east, and western auger anomalies peaking at 128ppb Au — above the 74ppb level beneath which BPM's Beachcomber deposit was identified.
- Vendors receive a 1% gross revenue royalty each (2% aggregate), but Pantera holds a fixed-price buyback right at $1,000,000 per vendor to reduce each royalty to 0.5%.
- Completion is expected in October 2026, with the first exploration sequence focused on UFF soil sampling over priority anomalies before ranking targets for aircore and RC drilling.
Pantera secures low-cost entry into 470km² WA gold project
Pantera Minerals (ASX: PFE) has entered into binding agreements to acquire a 100% interest in the Corona Gold Project, comprising granted Exploration Licences E28/3555 and E28/3556 (158 blocks, ~470km²) in the Albany Fraser Orogen of Western Australia, approximately 200km east of Kalgoorlie.
The structure is designed to preserve capital for exploration. Total consideration is $200,000 ($40,000 cash plus $160,000 in Pantera shares), with 80% of the consideration paid in shares rather than cash. 10,596,026 Consideration Shares are issued to each vendor at a deemed price of $0.0151 per share (10-day VWAP) and will be subject to a 12-month voluntary escrow.
Each vendor receives a 1% gross revenue royalty over its respective tenement (2% in aggregate across the Project). Pantera holds the right to buy back 0.5% of each royalty at any time for a fixed cash payment of $1,000,000 per vendor, reducing each royalty to 0.5%. Completion is expected in October 2026, subject to customary conditions precedent including a 21-day due diligence window.
Barnaby Egerton-Warburton, Executive Chairman and CEO
“While our primary focus is the U.S. when a project like Corona becomes available that is cheap, with real targets already defined and a clear path to drilling – we will take it. Eighty percent of the consideration is in Pantera shares, the royalty carries a fixed-price buyback, and our first-year spend goes into soils and drilling rather than the purchase price…”
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What makes the Albany Fraser Orogen significant for gold investors
The Albany Fraser Orogen is a major geological province along the south-eastern margin of Western Australia’s Archean Yilgarn Craton. It is a belt of ancient, reworked rocks that have been intensely deformed by faulting and heat over billions of years, creating the structural plumbing that concentrates gold deposits. For investors, the key insight is location: the Orogen hosts some of Australia’s largest gold systems, and the structural corridors that connect them are where explorers look first.
A corridor that hosts world-class gold
Corona sits within the same structural corridor as the Tier-1 Tropicana gold mine, which contains a resource of 7.89 million ounces at 2.08g/t Au approximately 200km along strike to the northeast. “Along strike” simply means following the same linear geological trend, much like following a road in the same direction — the same structures and rock packages that host one deposit can continue for hundreds of kilometres and host others.
Immediately along strike, BPM Minerals’ Forelands Project hosts the Beachcomber discovery, located 10–25km from Corona’s boundary. BPM’s results are third-party data included here for regional context only and are not necessarily indicative of mineralisation at the Corona Gold Project.
Barnaby Egerton-Warburton, Executive Chairman and CEO
“BPM has shown, just 25 kilometres along strike, that tight-spaced ultra-fine fraction soils over historical auger anomalies followed by RC drilling works in this part of the Albany Fraser. Their Beachcomber deposit sits under a single 105ppb soil point. Corona carries multiple auger points above that level on wider-spaced lines…”
BPM’s Beachcomber — the regional discovery rerating the district
BPM secured its option over the Forelands Project in July 2025 and executed a heritage agreement in September 2025. December 2025 drilling at Beachcomber returned the following results, which are third-party data included for regional context only and are not necessarily indicative of mineralisation at Corona:
- 9m @ 7.77g/t Au from 75m (including 2m @ 21.73g/t Au)
- 6m @ 6.72g/t Au from 28m
- 3m @ 65.8g/t Au from 25m (first-pass RC, June 2026)
- 1m @ 85.61g/t Au from 91m (June 2026)
Beachcomber was identified beneath a 74ppb Au auger anomaly, a benchmark figure relevant to assessing the tenor of Corona’s own auger anomalies.
Two drill-ready target areas with defined anomalies
Corona carries two distinct, untested target types — one based on a continuous gold-in-bedrock aircore anomaly in the east, and another based on high-tenor auger anomalies in the west. Neither has been tested with modern methods.
The 8km Corona aircore gold anomaly
The eastern project area (E28/3556) hosts an approximately 8km-long, continuous gold-in-bedrock aircore anomaly aligned along a major interpreted structure. Historical drilling by Quadrio Resources and Kamax Resources, principally targeting paleochannel gold, intersected bedrock mineralisation at the base of multiple holes. All intercepts below are down-hole widths; true widths are not known.
- 6m @ 1.50g/t Au from 66m (including 2m @ 2.55g/t Au from 69m) — 07CUAC089
- 11m @ 0.29g/t Au from 93m — 10CUAC704
- 2m @ 0.83g/t Au from 104m to end of hole (open at depth) — CNA009
- 4m @ 0.42g/t Au from 62m — 07CUAC118
Critically, only one RC hole has ever been drilled within the immediate prospect area, approximately 250m from the peak anomaly. The bedrock target is effectively untested by modern methods.
Untested high-tenor auger anomalies in the western project area
First-pass auger sampling by FMG Resources across E28/3555 used nominal 800m x 100m and 400m x 100m grids and defined multiple coherent >50ppb Au anomalies, peaking at 128ppb Au. None of these anomalies has been subsequently infilled or drill-tested. Peak values include:
- 128ppb, 87ppb, and 79ppb Au (consecutive samples on 400m x 100m grid)
- 118ppb and 52ppb Au (consecutive samples on 800m x 100m grid)
- >450m of strike >50ppb Au; >1km of strike >25ppb Au
For regional context, BPM’s Beachcomber discovery was identified beneath a 74ppb Au auger anomaly — these are third-party results not indicative of mineralisation at Corona. Approximately 30% of the Project area has never been geochemically sampled.
| Target | Location | Key Anomaly | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Corona Aircore Trend | Eastern area (E28/3556) | 8km gold-in-bedrock anomaly; best result: 6m @ 1.50g/t Au | One historical RC hole drilled ~250m from peak anomaly; untested by modern methods |
| Western Auger Anomalies | Western area (E28/3555) | Peak 128ppb Au; multiple coherent >50ppb anomalies on wide-spaced lines | No infill sampling or drill testing completed |
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Planned exploration programme and what comes next
Following satisfaction of conditions precedent, Pantera’s intended sequence for the Corona Gold Project is:
- Complete due diligence and satisfy remaining conditions precedent to completion
- Commence heritage and access agreement discussions with the Upurli Upurli Nguratja native title holders
- Compile and validate all historical exploration data; reinterpret the Fugro high-resolution aeromagnetics
- Undertake targeted, close-spaced ultra-fine fraction (UFF) soil sampling over priority western auger anomalies and selected areas along the 8km Corona trend (UFF soil sampling is a technique that extracts the finest particle fraction from soil samples, which is particularly sensitive for detecting gold in deeply weathered terrain)
- Rank targets and lodge Programmes of Work for aircore and RC drilling
- Report results to the market as they are received, validated, and interpreted
The acquisition complements rather than competes with Pantera’s U.S. critical minerals portfolio, including the Gillham antimony-silver project in Arkansas where maiden drilling is underway. The deal structure keeps the first year’s expenditure directed at soils and drilling, not the purchase price.
The Gillham antimony-silver project returned assay grades of 19.2% antimony ahead of maiden drilling, underlining the commodity breadth Pantera is building across its U.S. portfolio alongside the new WA gold acquisition.
Investors can hear directly from management on the Corona acquisition and its exploration potential at the JMM Gold Forum on Wednesday, 30 September 2026 at 10:30am AEST, where Executive Chairman and CEO Barnaby Egerton-Warburton is presenting. Registration is available at https://janemorganmanagementau.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_jSfPc06FSmqxQVpwYQaiGA.
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