Greenwood Analysts on El Pantano (some comments away from Pepas!)7 Sep 2025 14:33
"early stage, blue-sky thinking"
El Pantano is an early-stage gold/silver exploration project in Santa Cruz province, southern Argentina comprising 550km2 of contiguous licences in the prolific Deseado Massif region situated between two high-grade tier 1 deposits roughly 45km from Anglo Gold's Cerro Vanguardia mining camp and on trend from Newmont Mining’s 15 Moz Cerro Negro deposit (Fig 17). Cerro Vanguardia has been in operation for over 25 years and produced 178koz Au last year from the 1.2Mtpa plant. Production levels were previously much higher (280koz) when the head-grade was 6.5-7.5g/t Au. Newmont’s Cerro Negro mine has been in operation in some form since 1911 and produced 238koz last year.
Low-cost entry & pathway to 100% -
Orosur has already earned a 51% interest in El Pantano and can earn 100% by spending an additional US$2m by February 2027 as part of a JV agreement with private Argentinean company DESEADO DORADO S.A.S which will retain a 2% NSR. The 100% mark will be easily achieved given the upcoming drill programme. Ongoing holding and in-country fixed costs are minimal.
Early-stage blue sky -
El Pantano is most completely dominated by Jurassic volcanic rocks that are known to be the primary host of gold and silver mineralisation across the Massif. Erosional windows through the younger basalt cover have exposed extensive areas of prospective volcanics. Orosur has been carrying out regional exploration at El Pantano for several years, including geological mapping, geochemical sampling, ground magnetics and induced polarisation geophysical surveys. This work has identified a major, 20km long SE-NW rift system with major epithermal activity along it entire length of the type that has led to the development of major gold and silver deposits in the region.
Drilling soon -
Drill permits were obtained late in 2024, and Orosur plans to commence a maiden drill programme in mid-October 2025 comprising 3,000m (10-14 diamond holes) targeting geological structures and geochemical/geophysical anomalies identified from previous work. El Pantano is in a remote area and logistics has required substantial planning.