PanAust (PNA)

Shares / Stock Code

PNA

Stock Exchange / Sharemarket

ax

PanAust (PNA) is mineral exploration and mining company also included in the S&P/ASX 200 Index. Its principal operations and activities incorporate the development of mines, mining of gold, evaluation of precious and base metal projects and mineral exploration. PNA listed on the Australian Stock Exchange on January 15, 1987. The Company’s head office is based in Brisbane. PNA’s mining and mineral assets are located in Laos and Thailand. The Company is the operator of the large Phu Kham Copper-Gold Mine, based in Laos. Phu Kham started copper-gold ore processing in March 2008. The Company sources gold production from the Phu Kham Heap Leach Gold Operation which commenced production in November 2005. The core asset of the Company is its 90% interest in the Phu Bia Mining Limited (Phu Bia Mining), held through Pan Mekong Exploration Pty Limited, its 100% owned subsidiary. The remaining 10% interest in Phu Bia Mining is held by the Government of Laos. Phu Bia Contract Area is based in the Lao PDR covering an area of 2,600 square kilometre. PanAust has a 33.17% shareholding in Puthep Company Limited (Puthep) via its 100% owned subsidiary PNA (Puthep) Pty Limited. Apart from these two mineral assets, PNA has also made a number of significant exploration discoveries within its Lao Contract Area, with a pre-feasibility study already commenced at the Ban Houayxai Gold-Silver deposit. PNA is carrying out a feasibility study at the Puthep Copper Project, in northern Thailand. PanAust is focused to progress its Southeast Asian projects in addition to acquiring more assets which will help in future growth of the Company.

PanAust History

The Company was founded in NSW in 1983, with a focus on gold and platinum exploration. It floated on the ASX on 15 January 1987, under the name Bruce Resources NL. The Company was renamed to Pan Australian Resources in 1995 and adopted its present name Panaust Ltd in May 2008. In August 1999, the Company carried out negotiations for acquiring a controlling interest of up to 70% in the Puthep copper project in Thailand. It started a feasibility study at Puthep in early 2007, after gaining approvals from Thai Government in 2006. It acquired an 80% interest in the Lao-registered company, Phu Bia Mining in 2001, the owner of the Phu Bia Contract Area in Laos, with remaining 20% interest acquired by the Company in 2005. In November 2005, the Company’s first operation, the Phu Kham Heap Leach Gold Operation (previously known as the Phu Bia Gold Mine), commenced production based on mining and processing ore from the oxide gold cap lying over the surface of the much larger Phu Kham copper-gold deposit. PanAust announced the development plans for the Phu Kham copper-gold deposit in April 2006, with processing operations commenced at the Phu Kham Copper-Gold Operation in March 2008.