Overview

Mine Type	Underground
Status	Care and Maintenance
Commodities	Gold
Mining Method	Longhole stoping
Production Start	...
Snapshot	The Halls Creek Project includes the Nicolsons Mine, (45 km south west of Halls Creek) and a pipeline of exploration and development prospects located east of Halls Creek in the Kimberley Region of Western Australia. Halls Creek continued to produce gold throughout the 2023, however operations were placed on care and maintenance in June 2023 as the much larger Norseman project has come on line. Pantoro announced the identification of a large PGE bearing system at Halls Creek in late 2021. Results to date clearly demonstrate that the Lamboo PGE-Nickel discovery is of a significant size and potential. Pantoro will continue with both drilling and mineralogical studies during the next year with a view to demonstrate the commercial viability of the project. Pantoro is continuing to advance negotiations with multiple parties for divestment of the Halls Creek asset.

Deposit type

• Orogenic
• Vein / narrow vein

Summary:

Gold mineralization in the Nicolson’s Find area is structurally controlled within the 400 m wide NNE trending dextral strike slip Nicolson’s Find Shear Zone (NFSZ) and is hosted within folded and metamorphosed turbiditic greywackes, felsic volcaniclastics, mafic volcanics and laminated siltstones and mudstones. This zone forms part of a regional NE-trending strike slip fault system developed across the Halls Creek Orogen (HCO).

The NFSZ comprises a NNE-trending anastomosing system of brittle-ductile shears, characterised by a predominantly dextral sense of movement. The principal shear structures trend NNE to N-S and are linked by NW, and to a lesser extent, by NE shears. Individual shears extend up to 500m along strike and overprint the earlier folding and penetrative cleavage of the HCO.

The overall geometry of the system is characterized by right step-overs and bends/jogs in the shear traces, reflecting refraction of the shears about the granite contact. Within this system, the NW- striking shears are interpreted as compressional structures and the NE striking shears formed within extensional windows. Mineralization is primarily focussed along NNE trending anastomosing systems of NNE-SSW, NW-SE and NE-SW oriented shears and splays. The NNE shears dip moderately to the east, while the NW set dips moderately to steeply to the NE. Both sets display variations in dip, with flattening and steepening which result in a complex pattern of shear intersections.

Mineralisation is strongly correlated with discontinuous quartz veining and with Fe-Si-K alteration halos developed in the wall rocks to the veins. The NE shears are associated with broad zones of silicification and thicker quartz veining (typically white, massive quartz with less fracturing and brecciation); however, these are typically poorly mineralized. The NW-trending shears are mineralized, with the lodes most likely related to high fluid pressures with over-pressuring and failure leading to vein formation. Although the NE structures formed within the same shear system, the quartz veining is of a different generation to the mineralized veins.

Individual shears within the system display an increase in strain towards their centres and comprise an anastomosing shear fabric reminiscent of the pattern on a larger scale.

Mining Methods

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Comminution

Crushers and Mills

Processing

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Production

Commodity	Units	2023	2022	2021	2020	2019
Gold	oz	....	....	....	....	43,018

Operational metrics

Metrics	2023	2022	2021	2020	2019
Ore tonnes mined	....	....	....	....	249,486 t
Tonnes processed	....	....	....	....	213,845 t

Personnel

Job Title	Name	Profile	Ref. Date
.......................	.......................		Dec 1, 2023
.......................	.......................		Dec 1, 2023