Panther Metals (PALM) has opened a Bitcoin Treasury account in order to help finance the purchase of the Pick Lake deposit, a constituent of the Winston project, in Ontario.
Pick Lake hosts approximately 85% of the 2.34 million tonnes of mineral resources on the Winston project.
The Bitcoin Treasury account is held with leading Bitcoin services provider CoinCorner Ltd, based in the Isle of Man.
At the same time, Evoke Solutions a UK-based Bitcoin consultancy has been appointed to advise Panther on the operational setup, security protocols, and governance structures for its Bitcoin Treasury.
Panther plans to purchase £4 million of Bitcoin to hold in its Bitcoin Treasury. The Bitcoin Treasury will be funded by two sources, conversion monies from existing warrants and the balance raised via the capital markets.
Upon completion of the capital raise, Panther plans to utilise a loan facility secured on its Bitcoin holdings, to finance the Pick Lake purchase fee.
This strategic financing approach enables Panther to unlock liquidity from the Bitcoin Treasury by using a portion of that holding as collateral for a Bitcoin-secured loan of approximately £1.3 million. This allows the company to complete the Pick Lake acquisition whilst retaining its total exposure to Bitcoin.
Looking forward, Panther will seek to increase the Bitcoin Treasury, utilising a similar funding structure, prior to further increasing its fiat-priced commodity holdings. At this stage however, the company has no plans to access any additional capital against current or future Bitcoin holdings.
Panther is uniquely positioned to adopt this strategy due to the combination of its listing on the main market of the London Stock Exchange with the digital currency regulatory advantages of being domiciled in the Isle of Man. Panther is also starting the process to gain an OTC Markets listing.
A 2021 feasibility study gave the Winston project a net present value of C$175.8 million pre-tax, assuming zinc priced at US$2,700 per tonne, copper at US$7,300, gold at US$1,635 per ounce and silver at US$21.
"Panther Metals is taking a bold step forward by combining the strength of traditional hard assets with the strategic benefits of digital finance,” said Darren Hazelwood, chief executive of Panther Metals.
“By establishing the Bitcoin Treasury, we're not only diversifying our funding strategy - we're positioning the company to access faster, more flexible capital, while protecting long-term shareholder value. This hybrid approach allows us to leverage Bitcoin to fund high-quality mineral projects like Pick Lake whilst being less dilutive to our shareholder base, due to the more attractive terms being offered by the digital space. It's a model that aligns Panther with the future of finance - where digital assets can be used as productive capital, not just passive holdings. In today's inflationary environment and volatile capital markets, Bitcoin provides a unique hedge against fiat currency risk. Combined with our focus on critical minerals - the building blocks of the green and digital economies - we're creating a powerful platform for growth, resilience, and value creation.”
View from Vox
Participants in the junior mining space have been saying for years that the financing model is broken. Has Panther found a new way forward? It just might have done. After all, whilst the company's core business will remain focused on building real world critical mineral commodity-based assets that are valued in fiat currencies, adding a bitcoin dimension will allow Panther to become a dominant player in bridging the gap between the fiat system and decentralised digital cryptocurrency.