Panoro Minerals confirmed copper-gold-silver mineralization runs continuously from surface to 1,100 meters deep at its Cotabambas project in Peru, extending the known high-grade zone another 300 meters straight down. The company’s own CEO said the scale of what they’re finding caught him by surprise. The step-out holes still haven’t found where the high grade actually ends.
Panoro Confirms High-Grade Continuity to 1,100 Meters at Cotabambas
Panoro Minerals Ltd. (TSXV: PML; BVL: PML; FSE: PZM; OTCQB: POROF) reported assay results on September 6 from drill holes CB-229 and CB-230 at its 100%-owned Cotabambas copper-gold-silver project in southern Peru. CB-230 intersected 808.15 meters of hypogene mineralization from 296.35 to 1,104.50 meters downhole, averaging 0.22% copper, 0.10 g/t gold and 1.53 g/t silver, including a higher-grade zone of 156.50 meters at 0.38% copper, 0.22 g/t gold and 2.95 g/t silver, and within that, 48.10 meters at 0.57% copper, 0.25 g/t gold and 4.08 g/t silver. CB-229, drilled 200 meters to the south, cut 303.30 meters of mineralization including a 69.90-meter interval at 0.27% copper and 0.32 g/t gold.
Combined with a previously reported hole, CB-228, which had intersected more than 850 meters of continuous mineralization to about 850 meters depth, the three holes now confirm high-grade continuity along 600 meters of strike and, with CB-230’s result, to 1,100 meters vertically, with the zone still open at depth. CB-230 also intersected roughly 34 meters of endoskarn-type mineralization for the first time at Cotabambas, a geological setting the company says could point to a much larger, higher-grade skarn zone nearby, similar to those found at the nearby Las Bambas, Antapaccay, and Constancia mines. CEO Luquman Shaheen said the results left him surprised at how much the high-grade component of the resource is set to grow, and that the current step-out program has not yet found the zone’s outer limits.
A Resource That Keeps Getting Bigger Than Planned
Cotabambas already carries a substantial resource base to build from. The project hosts Indicated Mineral Resources of 507.3 million tonnes grading 0.33% copper, 0.20 g/t gold and 2.42 g/t silver, plus Inferred Mineral Resources of 496.0 million tonnes grading 0.27% copper, 0.17 g/t gold and 2.53 g/t silver. Within that broader resource sits a higher-grade component of 129.0 million tonnes Indicated at 0.70% copper, 0.44 g/t gold and 4.12 g/t silver, plus 93.1 million tonnes Inferred at 0.59% copper, 0.41 g/t gold and 5.31 g/t silver, and the company says that 129-million-tonne high-grade component alone is already sufficient to support its mine design. The copper-equivalent figures in this release are calculated using metal prices of US$6.56 per pound copper, US$4,414 per ounce gold, US$65.61 per ounce silver, and US$42.01 per pound molybdenum, well above long-term consensus price decks used in most feasibility-level studies.
Peru carries the permitting, community-relations, and broader operating-environment risk that applies to any exploration or development project there. Panoro has been building local relationships alongside the drilling: the company completed a community agreement with Guaclle, near the project, in June. A new battery of three step-out holes, CB-231, CB-232, and CB-233, has already begun testing the high-grade zone’s limits another 200 meters north and 200 meters deeper than the holes reported this week.
The Next Step-Out Battery, Skarn Target #7, and an Updated Resource Definition to Watch
Panoro hosted a conference call on September 8 to discuss the results in more detail. The company’s next step-out holes, CB-231 through CB-233, are testing the high-grade zone 200 meters north of CB-230 and 200 meters below the current holes, and infill drilling is being added around the highest-grade areas to better define orientation for mine planning. Drilling is also planned at Target #7, roughly 4 kilometers west, to test for a larger massive skarn zone connected to the porphyry system encountered in CB-230. No date has been given for an updated resource estimate incorporating this year’s results.
Sources
Editorial Disclosure
This article is based entirely on publicly available information. The original press release could not be located directly on Newsfile Corp’s own site at the time of writing; the version cited is a full-text reproduction on Junior Mining Network with the original Newsfile dateline (“Vancouver, British Columbia–(Newsfile Corp. – September 6, 2026)”) visible within the reproduced text. The only security discussed is Panoro Minerals Ltd. (TSXV: PML; BVL: PML; FSE: PZM; OTCQB: POROF). aktiego.com has not received any compensation from Panoro Minerals, its management, investor relations representatives, or any third party. No staff member or principal of aktiego.com holds a position in this security at the time of publication. Panoro’s market capitalization was approximately C$590 million at the time of this article, above this beat’s usual small/micro-cap priority threshold; it is included this week because it was judged the strongest available story with a genuinely small-cap profile relative to the other major copper stories reported the same week. The company remains pre-revenue and exploration-stage. The copper-equivalent (CuEq) figures cited in this article are calculated by the company using metal price assumptions of US$6.56/lb copper, US$4,414/oz gold, US$65.61/oz silver, and US$42.01/lb molybdenum, which are materially above long-term consensus prices typically used in feasibility-level economic studies; CuEq figures at more conservative price assumptions would be lower. Indicated and Inferred Mineral Resources cited in this article are not Mineral Reserves and have not been demonstrated to have economic viability; Inferred Resources in particular carry a higher level of geological uncertainty and are not assured to convert to a higher-confidence category. The qualified person named in the underlying release, Luis Vela, P.Geo., is Panoro’s own Vice President, Exploration, a related-party relationship worth noting. Panoro’s projects are located in Peru, which the company’s own risk disclosures identify as carrying political, economic, and regulatory risk, along with uncertainty around permitting, licensing, and community relations. Statements regarding future step-out drilling, resource updates, and mine planning are forward-looking and not guaranteed; actual results could differ materially due to exploration, financing, permitting, and market risks described in the company’s continuous-disclosure filings.
This is a speculative investment carrying significant risk including potential total loss of capital. Coverage on aktiego.com is provided for informational and educational purposes only. aktiego.com is not a registered investment advisor. Nothing in this article constitutes financial, investment, or professional advice. Readers are encouraged to conduct their own due diligence and consult a qualified financial advisor before making any investment decisions. For more information, please see our full DISCLAIMER.
