It's been just over a year since the company listed at a 10.9m valuation based on the IPO raise of 5m at 20c. The company finished 2022 at 20c with a market cap of 10.9m having spent approximately 4m. During the year, the company completed a relatively aggressive work plan, that was in general in line with the planned activities listed in their prospectus.
They completed:6000m of RC (planned 6000m) at Coglia and presented the market with a 70Mt maiden Ni-Co resource (0.7% Ni, 460ppm Co)
2500m of RC (planned 2500m) at Eight Foot Well, but results were disappointing and the project was placed in a strategic review
1252m of RC (planned 2000m) and 147m of DD at Burtville with positive gold results.
160m of DD (planned 1200m...!) at Ironstone - we're still awaiting assays here (aka, probably another disappointing project)
They did not complete:3000m planned at Mt Goose - It would have been nice to have seen some of the 8ft well budget applied to Mt Goose
A capital raise - This was blamed on poor market conditions, however, it's disappointing to see the team not get this over the line.
Soils at Merolia and Redflag
AMAG/EM at Red Flag - Likely as a result of unfavourable results at 8ft.
Any drilling at 40 Mile or Comet Well - Likely due to having to scale the budget back due to failure to raise capital in September.
The nickel market has been struggling since the company IPO'ed which hasn't been conducive to their efforts. But Panther should have some degree of protection due to the gold component of the asset base.
According to their prospectus plans and half-year operational update, we should be expecting some further drilling to occur at the Merolia and Coglia projects this quarter. I'd like to see Merolia prioritised over Coglia simply because gold is moving and nickel isn't. We should know in a week or two the cash at year-end, but I suspect it'll be around the 1m mark. So capital management is going to be key until the company can successfully raise some more cash. Unfortunately, the story has become a little vanilla, the volume has dropped to effectively zero and the company has not added any market capitalisation since listing despite working through 4m.
I suspect the quiescence lately is due to a capital raise being planned and sadly it's almost a sure thing the capital raise will be at the same price as the IPO price. However once that is out of the way, they can outline a clear strategy to begin to generate some lasting value here.
The company has some assets with some interesting potential, but they are lacking effective marketing and promotion, and enthusiasm. Hopefully, 2023 sees them do something other than relying on the nickel and gold prices to move their needle...
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