Vancouver — The world’s third-largest producer of platinum group metals will fund a third season of exploration at the Union Bay platinum project, 35 miles north of Ketchikan, Alaska.
London-based
The company holds rights to earn up to a 70% interest from
Freegold will operate the exploration program at the 6.4-sq.-km project, which is hosted in an Alaska-Uralian-type zoned ultramafic complex. Government geologists mapped the property in the 1970s and detected highly anomalous platinum and palladium values.
Last year’s reconnaissance program consisted of geochemical sampling, core drilling on the Continental zone, and a combined airborne magnetic and multi-frequency electromagnetic survey.
The program tested the Continental zone, which had returned values ranging from 1 to 14 grams gold per tonne in the 2003 program. Initial fieldwork in 2004 returned significant platinum values from grab samples taken from ultramafic rocks along strike of the Continental zone.
The magmatic units deemed favourable for platinum-palladium mineralization were subsequently traced over a strike length of about 6 km and are still open along strike and at depth.
The Continental zone was tested by 10 holes totalling 6,000 metres last year, and results indicated the structure can be traced chemically and physically.
Reconnaissance exploration (including geophysical surveys) then located and evaluated extensions of the favourable units, resulting in the delineation of several targets that will be tested this year.
Lonmin is required to provide all the financing if the project advances to the production stage. At the start of commercial production, Freegold and Pacific North West Capital would be required to repay their share of costs and contribute to operating costs on a pro rata basis.
Lonmin produces 900,000 oz. platinum annually, plus a similar amount of other platinum group metals (notably palladium and rhodium) from its operations in the Marikana district, near Rustenberg, South Africa.
BID-ASK MAY 10-16, 2005
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