Pan Asia Metals well-positioned to advance assets and secure additional ones as it moves into next growth phase

Pan Asia Metals Ltd (ASX:PAM) is well-positioned to advance current assets and secure additional ones as it moves into the next growth phase following a successful listing on the Australian Stock Exchange in October 2020. The company is focused on building a pipeline of battery and critical metals assets, which are at or near the bottom of their peer group cost curves. Pan Asia has a 100% interest in four projects - two tungsten project areas and two lithium project areas - with three of them fitting the company’s strategy of downstream, value-adding development opportunities in low-cost environments proximal to end-market users. Three projects are in southern Thailand - Khao Soon Tungsten Project, Reung Kiet Lithium Project and Bang Now Lithium Project - and the Minter Tungsten Project in Australia.   Minter is seen as a potential source of tungsten concentrate to feed future Southeast Asian-based downstream processing operations. Depending on the results of its drill programs, the company is targeting to have maiden JORC mineral resource estimates at its key tungsten and lithium projects and hopes to start work on scoping studies late in the year. Advantage over many peers The company is specifically focused on Southeast Asia for geological and economic reasons - low-cost operating environment with greater potential to move downstream and value-add in certain circumstances. Pan Asia has an advantage over many of its peers as its projects are located where balance sheet requirements are expected to be much less demanding due to their close proximity to advanced industrial centres in Thailand and Malaysia. These countries offer competitively priced process inputs as well and are low-cost operating environments. Its projects are in the Southeast Asian Tin-Tungsten Belt, which extends from Myanmar in the north through Thailand and Peninsular Malaysia to the Tin Islands in the south. This belt appeals due to the occurrence of a suite of specialty metals associated with granite-related tin, tungsten, lithium, tantalum, niobium, rubidium, caesium, rare earths and other rare metals. It contains some of the largest historical tin-producing districts in the world, specifically in Southern Thailand and much of Peninsula Malaysia, and has experienced very limited modern exploration. Buoyant tungsten market Executive chairman and managing director Paul Lock noted the general buoyancy in the APT market - the reference price for tungsten, adding: “Fastmarkets MB recently reported that the APT price was $25,000-25,500 per tonne, the highest level since 2019. The strong price was attributed to tightness in the scrap and raw materials market and the demand side facing the prospect that several large Chinese and Russian mines are reaching the end of their respective lives. “We believe Khao Soon will be one of the few new tungsten projects with the potential to work in the current price environment,” he said. Pipeline of project opportunities PAM’s business model is to develop its key assets while simultaneously building a pipeline of future project opportunities. Lock said: “PAM’s tungsten and lithium projects potentially offer low opex and capex solutions for two critical metals, with balance sheet requirements expected to be much less demanding as the projects are in low-cost environments and close to the advanced industrial centres of Thailand and Malaysia. “We are also continuing to develop our target generation program, which will see us acquire additional assets that fit our criteria. “Our aim is to build a pipeline of target assets in battery and critical metals, and rare earths (specialty metals) which fit our criteria. The company has conducted due diligence on several projects in Asia and Australia. Simple strategy Lock added: “At Pan Asia our strategy is simple, we aim to secure assets, which have the potential to place future operations at the bottom of the cost curve and which offer the option to extend downstream and value add. “If we achieve this, then our operating margins will naturally be higher, allowing the company to prosper in all price environments. “The company has built a strong reputation in South East Asia and as a result, Pan Asia’s shareholders and stakeholders will benefit as the current assets are developed and new assets are secured.” Khao Soon Tungsten Project Pan Asia’s Khao Soon Tungsten Project is a significant historical producer and modern exploration has discovered potentially world-class, district-scale tungsten mineralisation across numerous prospects – over 10 individual prospects with a combined prospective strike length of around 10 kilometres. The company started its second drilling campaign at Khao Soon just before listing and both drilling programs have intersected robust widths and tungsten trioxide grades associated with strong surface anomalies, from which exploration targets have been estimated. Additional drilling has been undertaken to support mineral resource estimation. The strong results from recent drilling broadly support the exploration target model and its exploration target of 15-29 million tonnes at 0.2% to 0.4% WO3. PAM will use laboratory results to enhance geological interpretations and grade modelling at TPW to update the exploration target. Reung Kiet Lithium Project Its Reung Kiet Lithium Project in southern Thailand is in a region of previous large-scale tin mining. Pan Asia’s exploration discovered lepidolite and muscovite (lithium-rich micas) occurring in pegmatites over a combined strike length of 2.5 kilometres. Rock-chip and trench sampling have generally defined consistent high grades across good widths and initial diamond drilling has also resulted in some encouraging intersections. The company started its second drilling campaign in mid-January 2021, targeting the previously undrilled Bang I Tum (BIT) prospect. It has intersected relatively wide pegmatite dyke swarms in the first two diamond drill holes at Reung Kiet prospect, which forms part of the Reung Kiet Project, with a further six holes planned. The intersections followed an earlier trenching program that returned lithium grades of up to 1.99%. Bang 1 Tum (BIT) prospect Also in March, Pan Asia Metals Ltd intersected pegmatite dyke swarms over substantial widths in all six diamond drill holes completed at BIT prospect within the wider RKLP. Spot hand-held XRF analysis of drill core by the company identified the presence of elevated tin and niobium along with elevated lithium indicator elements, such as rubidium and manganese. Lock said: “Whilst we await results from the lab, we are buoyed by the hhXRF results and visual indications, which support the presence of lepidolite and muscovite and therefore the potential for lithium to be hosted in both. “The presence of elevated tin and niobium, the latter as a proxy for tantalum, is also very encouraging.” There is potential for a rapid transition to mineral resource. Further, a second lithium trend, about 350 metres east of and parallel to the main trend has been identified. The second trend, about 1.5 kilometres in length will require additional anomalies follow-up. Minter Tungsten Project The Minter Tungsten project, within the central portion of the Lachlan Orogen, also known as the Lachlan Fold Belt, includes the broadly defined Wagga Tin Belt in New South Wales. This tin belt hosts numerous granites of particular composition that give rise to tin, tin-tungsten, tungsten and gold mineralisation hosted within the granite intrusions and/or adjacent metasediments, and commonly in quartz veins. The exploration licence covers around 145 square kilometres with recent work suggests that historical drill holes were not drilled in optimal direction to test the mineralisation. PAM’s planned work includes: Full multi-layered data review; Investigation of potential for blind systems above granite; and Additional drilling will aim to delineate an exploration target and/or inferred resource.