Northern Platinum takes on Wellgreen

Junior Northern Platinum (VSE) has been granted a 1-year extension on an expenditure deadline on the Wellgreen property in the Yukon.

The company now has until Nov. 30, 1995, to spend $200,000 on exploration. Under an agreement, it can earn an 80% interest in the property from All North Resources (VSE) by spending $4 million prior to Nov. 30, 2002. A director of Northern Platinum retains a back-in right to acquire half of his company’s interest in the property at the feasibility stage. Work on the project was delayed in 1994 as a result of data-gathering. Previous exploration and development outlined a potentially open-pit resource of 50 million tons grading 0.35% copper and 0.36% nickel, plus 0.016 oz. platinum and 0.01 oz. palladium per ton. The stripping ratio was estimated at 3.5-to-1. A higher-grade, underground resource is estimated at 3.1 million tons grading 0.87% copper and 0.65% nickel, plus 0.029 oz. platinum and 0.024 oz. palladium.

The history of the property is somewhat spotty. It was operated for about one year as an underground mine but was closed in 1973 as a result of excessive dilution and low metal prices. Galactic Resources bought a controlling interest in All North in 1987 but subsequently postponed development in response to poor market conditions.

Then in 1992, Black Hawk Mining optioned the property, only to back out of the agreement after completing a due diligence review.

In 1993, following the bankruptcy of Galactic, James Currie, president of All North, together with a group of independent directors, bought Galactic’s shareholding from the trustee.