Vancouver — Final assay results from initial drilling on the west end of Benton Resources’ (BTC-V) Bermuda project, near Marathon, Ont., indicates a new copper and platinum group metal (PGM) mineralized zone.
An 11-hole, 2,000-metre program tested the new mineralized zone, dubbed Area 41, over 900 metres of strike. Drilling follows a surface-trenching program that exposed the mineralized trend.
Hole SL-06-01, initially reported in November, cut 61.2 metres (from 4 metres depth) grading 0.4 gram platinum per tonne, 0.7 gram palladium per tonne, 0.1 gram gold per tonne and 0.28% copper. A 13.4-metre section of the interval averaged 0.86 gram platinum, 1.6 grams palladium, 0.2 gram gold and 0.33% copper.
Latest results include hole SL-06-09, which intersected 20.5 metres (from 49.5 metres depth) of 0.4 gram platinum, 0.6 gram palladium and 0.1 gram gold. Within the mineralized section, a 5.7-metre interval averaged 0.9 gram platinum and 1.2 grams palladium.
A 1.5-metre high-grade section was encountered in hole SL-06-07, averaging 3.7 grams platinum and 4.3 grams palladium. The interval also returned a very low copper grade indicating a potential new style of PGM mineralization disassociated from the sulphides.
Assays from Area 41 indicate a general palladium-to-platinum trend of less than 2:1, atypical for the region, which generally exhibits a ratio of about 4:1. A lower palladium-to-platinum ratio enhances contained metal value, with palladium spot trading around US$330 per oz. and platinum at about US$1,120 per oz.
Benton plans to launch a second phase drill program on Area 41 over the next few months.
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