MetalCORP drilling turns up a basket of minerals

MetalCORP‘s (MTC-V) property in northwestern Ontario is turning up an array of minerals that are both surprising the company and impressing the market.

Thunder Bay-based MetalCORP’s shares rose 13% or 20 on the latest drill results, closing at $1.70 on roughly 1 million shares traded.

It says it has been surprised by the amount of platinum on the North Rock property, as the mineral was not known to be there before it began drilling.

Its latest results come from eight additional drill holes on the North Rock property which is 25-km east of Fort Frances.

The drill program tested the east zone of the Beaver Pond copper zone and consisted of 21 drill holes totaling roughly 4,000 metres. The company is still waiting for assays on 12 of the holes.

So far, drilling has hit upon platinum, gold, copper, nickel, silver, and palladium.

On March 6, 2006 the company announced intersections of 3.7 metres grading 12.2 grams per tonne of platinum and 0.6% copper in the hanging wall to the east zone.

One sample assayed 46.1 grams per tonne of platinum over 0.5 metres. Other results showed 1 gram per tonne of platinum and 0.6% copper over 47.4 metres.

The company says the latest results delineate the widest zone of mineralization to date on the North Rock property.

It says several other holes were drilled in the vicinity and also intersected similar mineralization. Highlights include one hole returning three intervals of platinum of: 2.8 grams per tonne over 1 metre, 2 grams per tonne over 1.2m and 2.0 grams per tonne platinum over 0.7 metres.

In addition to the platinum, MetalCORP reports two drill holes hitting copper and gold mineralization. Highlights include: 2.8% copper and 6.3 grams gold per tonne over .6 metres, and 1.9% copper, 7.9 grams gold per tonne, 5 grams silver per tonne, and 5 grams palladium per tonne over 0.5 metres.

The best copper intersect was 1.8% copper, 0.1% nickel, 0.3 grams platinum per tonne, 0.6 grams palladium per tonne, 3.1 grams silver and 0.2 grams gold over 11.4m.

The company says it will drill below and along strike of the newly discovered copper mineralization.

MetalCORP also drilled along a 1-km long anomaly that it believed to represent the presence of sulphides.

One hole confirmed mineralization, intersecting a sulphide zone consisting of pyrrhotite, chalcopyrite and pentlandite.

The core sample yielded 1.0% copper, 1.2% nickel and 1 gram per tonne of palladium over 0.6 metres. The zone remains open to the southwest and will be a target in the upcoming drill program.

According to MetalCORP, several major mining companies have expressed interest in the North Rock project and have signed confidentiality agreements to allow them to view MetalCORP’s exploration results in detail.