Pan American Energy plans winter drilling at Tharsis

Executive Summary

• Pan American Energy Corp. announced a planned winter diamond drilling program at its optioned Tharsis project in the Northwest Territories.
• The program aims to provide the first direct subsurface test of a principal intrusive centre interpreted from geophysics and evaluate the correlation between magnetic signatures and carbonatite bodies associated with rare earth elements (REE) and niobium (Nb).
• The drilling is part of a broader exploration strategy integrating regional, ground, and high-resolution UAV magnetic data to refine the geological model and guide future exploration targeting.

Key Details

• Project Location: Tharsis project, Northwest Territories, Canada.
• Project Geology: The project covers the Squalus Lake alkaline complex, a Proterozoic, multiphase alkaline intrusive complex.
• Exploration Focus: Evaluating carbonatite-related exploration targets for rare earth elements (REEs) and niobium (Nb).
• Drilling Objective: To test priority targets developed from multiple seasons of work, specifically testing the first direct subsurface of a principal intrusive centre and evaluating if magnetic signatures correlate with carbonatite bodies and potential mineralization at depth.
• Data Integration: The targeting framework integrates regional and ground magnetic data sets with high-resolution UAV magnetic data, interpreting an outer magnetic-high ring and internal magnetic-low centres as separate intrusive phases.
• Strategic Goal: To collect core-based geological, structural, and analytical information to refine the geological model and support follow-up exploration targeting.
• Company Interest: Pan American holds an option agreement with Northern Critical Minerals Corp. to acquire up to a 100-per-cent interest in the Tharsis REE project.

Notable Quotes

• "This planned drill program is an important step in advancing Tharsis from surface-based interpretation to direct subsurface information," said Adrian Lamoureux, chief executive officer of Pan American. "Our objective is to test priority targets developed from multiple seasons of work and to generate the geological and analytical data needed to refine the evolving model and guide next steps in a disciplined way."