Panther Metals (PALM) has commenced the formal application process for the Recovery of Minerals Permit process which is part of a series of workstreams to quantify, evaluate and permit the high-grade gold, gallium, silver, zinc, copper and cobalt located within the historic Winston Lake Mine tailings storage facility.
Panther has held a Pre-Submission Meeting with the Ministry and will now be assigned a dedicated single point of contact to support an efficient pathway through the regulatory process.
The Pre-Submission Meeting is the first in a series of four stages leading to the decision to issue the Recovery Permit. A Recovery Permit allows its holder to recover minerals from tailings or other mine waste materials.
The existence of an active mine closure plan for Winston should facilitate the Recovery Permit application process, as the associated ongoing monitoring and environmental studies will feed into and help streamline the required assessment reports.
Existing onsite infrastructure will support the Recovery Permit business case and will greatly assist the development of the tailings reprocessing opportunity, including:
This infrastructure includes connected power, with 115kv supply powerline and transformer, prepared and level construction ground at the site of the former Winston processing plant, and all-weather access road, directly connected to the trans-Canada highway and railroad sidings, and a freshwater dam and surface water infrastructure.
There is also an active water treatment plant, a site office, and security fencing.
The project is a less than 200 kilometre drive from Thunder Bay, a major centre of engineering service providers and a major transport hub.
The Recovery Permit application is one of four concurrent workstreams, announced 8 August 2025, which are currently progressing in parallel as Panther advances towards commencing a systematic drilling programme across the tailings storage facility during September 2025.
This grid drill sampling programme will support a series of metallurgical testwork and reprocessing optimisation studies as well as the definition of a compliant resource estimate for the tailings deposit.
"The application for the Recovery of Minerals Permit is one of four parallel and interconnected workstreams designed to fast-track the assessment and build a robust economic case to reprocess and extract value from the historical Winston Lake Mine tailings storage facility,” said Darren Hazelwood, Panther’s chief executive.
“As an integral part of the permit application and reprocessing evaluation process, preparations are currently underway for an upcoming tailings drill sampling programme which will provide the necessary sample material and data for the planned metallurgical testwork and a mineral resource estimate. Further details of this exciting programme will be provided soon, as the various parameters are finalised. It is positive to note that during August, a total of 1,067,764 warrants expired unexercised, reducing the potential for shareholder dilution within the Company's tightly controlled capital structure."
View from Vox
Panther has wasted little time since signing the deal for Winston earlier this summer. Much progress has already been made, and much potential revealed. Now, we are about to get some real meat on the bone. Systematic drilling is planned, the results of which will be fascinating to see. And permitting for extraction is underway - the real nub of the matter. It's a big project, and it's already proving transformative for Panther.