Marathon drilling turns up platinum, palladium (September 26, 2005)

Two holes drilled by Marathon PGM (MAR-V) at the Marathon property in north-central Ontario have returned high platinum and palladium values west of previously known mineralization.

The two holes, M05-58 and M05-59, were drilled west of the property’s Malachite Zone, and tested a coarse-grained phase of the gabbro intrusion that hosts the property’s mineralized zones. Hole M05-58 intersected 10 metres with average grades of 4.5 grams palladium and 4 grams platinum per tonne, plus 0.3 gram gold per tonne and 0.12% copper.

Included in that 10-metre interval was a 2-metre length with 18.6 grams palladium and 19 grams platinum per tonne, plus 1.1 grams gold and 0.32% copper. That intersection sported the highest platinum-group grades yet drilled on the property.

Hole M05-59 cut a 52-metre length with an average 1 gram palladium and 0.4 gram platinum per tonne, plus 0.1 gram gold and 0.1% copper. Within that interval, a core length of 16 metres averaged 2.1 grams palladium and 0.7 gram platinum, with 0.2 gram gold and 0.1% copper.

Trench sampling on two showings in the coarse gabbro, about 200 metres southeast of the two drill holes, also returned significant platinum and palladium grades. Channel sample S-1, a 36.8-metre sample from one trench, ran 1 gram palladium, 0.2 gram platinum and 0.2 gram gold per tonne, plus 0.24% copper. Channel sample K-1, about 100 metres to the south of S-1, averaged 0.4 gram palladium and 0.2 gram platinum, plus 0.05 gram gold per tonne, with 0.15% copper.

Two other holes, one drilled from a collar 50 metres southeast of the end of the K-1 trench and the other from a collar 50 metres farther, intersected copper mineralization but only trace precious metal values. Hole M05-61 ran 0.24% copper over 34 metres and hole M05-62 ran 0.16% copper over 4 metres.

Marathon is currently testing a 900-metre strike length of the contact between the gabbro unit and the volcanic country rock it intrudes. The gabbro is part of the Port Coldwell intrusive complex, a mafic ring-intrusion of Middle Proterozoic age.

Drilling earlier in the year on the project’s BR Zone intersected 10 metres grading 5.59 grams palladium, 2 grams platinum and 0.73 gram gold per tonne, with 0.21% copper, on a downdip extension of the known mineralization.

There is a measured and indicated resource of 24.3 million tonnes at grades of 1.22 grams palladium, 0.31 gram platinum and 0.1 gram gold per tonne, plus 0.37% copper, on the Marathon deposits. Another 2.3 million tonnes in the inferred category average 1.42 grams palladium, 0.6 gram platinum and 0.13 gram gold per tonne, plus 0.25% copper.