QUERY –US Platinum still breathing, softly

I would like a little data on U.S. Platinum Inc. Around June 1995, you featured a promising writeup on U.S. Platinum. I think the company was based in Salt Lake City, Utah. Your paper said it was drilling on claims in Utah along with La Fosse Platinum Group and a couple of other companies, so with that in mind I purchased two blocks of shares.

Back in February 1996, your paper featured an article on the company, suggesting that here was one issue people should load up on for possible big profits. On October 31, 1998, the quote on the shares was US3 cents. Do you have anything further on this stock? It traded on the Vancouver Stock Exchange.

Edward Saflover,

Huntsville, Ala.

U.S. Platinum (UPT-V), which also trades on the U.S. over-the-counter market under the symbol usplf, is still in business. Despite its name, all the properties U.S. Platinum holds are in British Columbia.

In 1993, before you bought the shares, U.S. Platinum held three properties in British Columbia, had concluded an agreement to acquire a property in Ontario, and had another agreement to fund exploration on an additional Ontario property. It never earned the Ontario interests, and in June 1994 the Vancouver Stock Exchange deemed the company “inactive.” A reorganization saw the company take on another B.C. property in July 1995. Those claims lapsed in 1998.

Our latest information is that the company has four proerties, all of which are in B.C. The principal focus is on Yellow Jacket, a gold prospect in the Lillooet mining division. U.S. Platinum also has the three old properties it held before reorganizing in 1994.

In its latest quarterly report (Sept. 30, 1998), the company said it was waiting for funds to become available for exploration on the Yellow Jacket property. The last financial statement (June 30, 1998) shows a working capital deficiency of $115,664.

We don’t have any record of U.S. Platinum ever having claims in Utah in the 1990s.

La Fosse Platinum Group was de-listed by the Montreal Exchange in February of 1996, having failed to fulfil requirements for continued listing. At the time, it was trading around 4 cents. The company no longer trades on the U.S. over-the-counter market and is no longer a “reporting issuer” of securities in any Canadian province.

The company’s charter has not been cancelled, so, in theory, there is still the possibility of revival. However, previous shareholders are unlikely to see any significant value.

We hate to dodge responsibility, but we cannot find any articles in our papers about U.S. Platinum in either June 1995 or February 1996. In any event, we wouldn’t be advising readers to load up on any stocks “for possible big profits.” That’s for the newsletter writers to say, not us.