Arctic Platinum hits 6 million oz.

Vancouver — Results from a 25,700-metre drill program have prompted South African-based Gold Fields (GOLD-Q) and Finnish-based Outokumpu to more than double the previous resource estimate at their Arctic Platinum Partnership project in northern Finland.

Targeting the Konttijarvi-Suhanko intrusion, within the Portimo mafic layered complex, the latest round of drilling boosted the resource figures for the Ahmavaara and Konttijarvi deposits.

Based on 322 drill holes and using a cutoff grade of 0.5 gram palladium-platinum-gold per tonne, the overall resource for Konttijarvi now stands at 43.4 million tonnes grading 1.42 grams palladium, 0.39 gram platinum, 0.1 gram gold, 0.15% copper and 0.06% nickel per tonne. Of this, 11.7 million tonnes grading 1.6 grams palladium, 0.43 gram platinum, 0.1 gram gold, 0.15% copper and 0.07% nickel are in the measured category.

At Ahmavaara, 163 drill holes were used to calculate a combined resource of 74.1 million tonnes grading 1.05 grams palladium, 0.22 gram platinum, 0.12 gram gold, 0.21% copper and 0.09% nickel. Of this, 11.8 million tonnes grading 1.02 grams palladium, 0.19 gram platinum, 0.1 gram gold, 0.21% copper and 0.09% nickel have been defined as measured.

Combined, the two deposits host 23.5 million tonnes of measured ore grading 1.31 grams palladium, 0.31 gram platinum, 0.1 gram gold, 0.18% copper and 0.08% nickel. This is within an overall resource of 117.5 million tonnes averaging 1.19 grams palladium, 0.28 gram platinum, 0.11 gram gold, 0.19% copper and 0.08% nickel.

The mineralization is hosted in a laterally extensive stratabound zone at the base of the Konttijarvi-Suhanko Intrusion. Ranging from 30 to 60 metres in thickness, it lies below a thin layer of glacial till and has been drill-tested to 200 metres below surface. The combined resources cover a strike length of greater than 2 km.

Detailed metallurgical studies are under way and a bankable feasibility study is expected by the third quarter of 2002. Preliminary studies indicate that open-pit mining methods can extract a significant proportion of the resources at overall waste-to-ore stripping ratios hitting 3-to-1.

Gold Fields formed its joint venture with Outokumpu in March 2000. The agreement covers 390 sq. km of concessions, which are part of a 9,500-sq.-km area of interest. The gold producer can earn a 51% interest in the project by spending US$13 million over six years.

The area of interest is a 125-km-long regional crustal contact dividing Early Proterozoic volcanic and sedimentary rocks of the Svecofennide greenstone belt from Archean rocks that include gneisses, granites and older greenstone belts. A series of layered, mafic-ultramafic intrusions are localized along this major geological feature.

The Portimo layered complex hosts fault-displaced mafic intrusive bodies.

Outokumpu originally generated four resource targets, two of which were Konttijarvi and Ahmavaara. In last year’s initial 5,000-metre drill program, the partners tabled a preliminary resource for the two deposits of 49.2 million tonnes grading 1.4 grams palladium, 0.34 gram platinum, 0.12 gram gold, 0.19% copper and 0.1% nickel.