Panther Metals (ASX:PNT) has sold its Mikado gold tenements to Brightstar Resources for cash while keeping its Burtville East gold asset and a wider Laverton portfolio, a move the company frames as funding exploration without raising equity.

The Mikado sale

On 15 September 2026 Panther announced a binding tenement sale agreement with Brightstar Resources (ASX:BTR), through its Subsidiary Laverton Processing Pty Ltd. Brightstar will pay $350,000 in cash at completion for five exploration licences making up the Mikado Gold Project. According to a summary of the announcement, the chief executive described the proceeds as non-dilutive funding from ground of greater strategic value to Brightstar because of its location around Brightstar’s developing Laverton operations. That is management’s characterisation.

A possible milling link

Alongside the sale, the parties signed a separate non-binding heads of agreement for a potential toll-milling arrangement at Burtville East. Under the outline, Brightstar would fund development and processing, with net proceeds split 50:50 after cost recovery. Non-binding terms may never become a contract, and no Mining approval has been granted.

What Panther keeps

Panther says it retains five Laverton gold projects, including Burtville East, and two gold projects in the Northern Territory. A company updates summary also refers to the sale of the Annaburroo Lease in the Northern Territory and to interpretation work identifying eight nickel-copper targets at the Red Flag.

Resources

Burtville East has an updated mineral resource estimate of 110,900 tonnes at 2.79 grams per tonne gold, or roughly 10,000 ounces, according to the half-year report. The company is advancing plans for a bulk metallurgical sampling programme and has a mining lease application in progress. The Coglia nickel-cobalt project, which underwent a strategic review during the half, has a much larger estimated resource of 102.9 million tonnes at 0.60 per cent nickel, containing 614,200 tonnes of nickel and 37,700 tonnes of cobalt in laterite and ultramafic-hosted mineralisation. These are estimates; they are not reserves, and neither is in production.

Financials

Panther reported on 11 September 2026 a net loss of $385,851 for the half-year to 30 June 2026, compared with $350,190 a year earlier, according to company updates’s summary. Directors Daniel Tuffin, Dr Kerim Sener and Ranko Matic were in place throughout.

Risks and milestones

Risks include limited cash, dependence on the Brightstar deal completing, the non-binding status of the milling proposal, and the small scale of the Burtville East estimate. Milestones mentioned by the company are progress on the mining lease application and the bulk sampling plan; no confirmed dates were found.