Exploration company Premium Resources has unveiled an aggressive six-month strategy to accelerate development of its critical metals projects in Botswana, as it targets rapid growth through deep drilling, metallurgical testing, and resource expansion across the Selebi and Selkirk assets.

The Toronto-headquartered company is focusing on demonstrating the scale of the Selebi North and Selebi Main deposits, collectively known as the Selebi mine, and advancing Selkirk through targeted, low-cost initiatives. The plan is designed to fast-track the company’s path toward production readiness while unlocking untapped potential across its portfolio.

“We are embarking on an accelerated growth curve that will not only highlight the scale of Selebi and the significance of the hinge zone but also address key metallurgical questions,” CEO Morgan Lekstrom said in a statement. 

“The company is taking a very methodical approach to demonstrating resource potential while actively advancing on strategic initiatives that will position Premium as a significant player in the critical metals space.”

The updated strategy includes three major drill programmes at Selebi: a surface campaign to test a potential third mineralised horizon beneath Selebi main, hinge zone drilling between Selebi Main and Selebi North, and underground resource expansion at Selebi North. The company plans to drill more than 15 000 m across the campaigns in the coming months.

At Selebi Main, Premium is extending historic drill holes to test a large borehole electromagnetic (BHEM) anomaly about 150 m below the current resource. The programme could lead to the discovery of a third mineralised horizon, adding significant upside to the project’s resource base.

The hinge zone drilling, targeting previously untested BHEM plates over a 2 km area between Selebi North and Selebi Main, represents what the company calls a strategic opportunity for expansion.

Underground at Selebi North, the company has started developing an exploration drift to support infill and step-out drilling from underground drill bays, with initial plans to drill 2 525 m over four holes in six to eight weeks. This builds on an earlier 80-hole, 33 963-m infill campaign whose assay results remain pending.

Alongside the exploration push, metallurgical work is ongoing at Selebi, with flotation studies under way and evaluations of X-ray transmission (XRT) ore sorting to enhance processing efficiency by reducing waste and increasing feed grade. The company is also exploring the use of muon tomography, through a collaboration with Ideon Technologies, to produce 3D density maps of subsurface mineralisation.

At Selkirk, Premium is advancing a surface drilling programme for resource expansion and metallurgical flowsheet development. The drill core will be used for preliminary XRT testing, while a resampling programme targeting platinum group elements aims to upgrade and expand the existing resource.

“The high-grade nature of Selebi, its substantial size, our upcoming drilling and the planned metallurgical work are all critical coinciding steps in the larger vision of potentially building a world-class, generational critical metals project,” said Lekstrom.