Pacific NW cuts high grade at River Valley

Vancouver — Pacific North West Capital (PFN-T) has intersected impressive intervals of platinum and palladium at its River Valley project, 60 km northeast of Sudbury, Ont.

The project is a 50-50 joint venture with Anglo American Platinum, which is funding this year’s $5.3-million exploration program. To date, Amplats has spent $12 million on the project; it stands to earn a 60% interest by completing a feasibility study, and an additional 5% by funding the project through to production.

Highlights of the recent drilling include hole DL-154. Collared in the Dana Lake South area, it cut the highest-grade intersection to date: 1.28 grams gold, 6.17 grams platinum and 18.03 grams palladium over 1 metre. The interval is part of a wider section that averaged 0.163 gram gold, 0.902 gram platinum and 2.82 grams palladium over 68 metres, starting at a down-hole depth of 245 metres. Also included in that wider section was 47 metres averaging 0.219 gram gold, 1.22 grams platinum and 3.8 grams palladium, starting at 245 metres down-hole.

The Dana Lake South zone is hosted in the marginal breccia unit and bracketed by above-average grade mineralization. Mineralization remains open at depth.

PNWC also tabled results from four other holes drilled in the Dana Lake South area, 11 holes in the Banshee Lake area, and four in the Lismer’s Ridge area. Details are provided in the accompanying charts.

Meanwhile, Pacific North West Capital is involved in another joint venture with Amplats — at the Agnew Lake platinum-group-metal project, also near Sudbury, where so far Amplats has spent about $2.6 million.

And in Alaska, PNWC has a third joint-venture agreement, with Lonmin PLC, the world’s third-largest primary producer of platinum group metals. Lonmin funded a US$815,000 exploration program this past summer at the Union Bay property. The program consisted of mapping, drilling and sampling and resulted in the discovery of a new platinum-bearing zone, dubbed the Continental zone. Lonmin has approved an additional US$120,000 to explore the new zone through mapping, channel sampling, and geochemical and mineralogical analysis. Union Bay is in southeastern Alaska, 35 miles northwest of Ketchikan.

Lonmin can continue to fund the Union Bay project by spending at least US$1 million per year in 2004, 2005 and 2006, and US$750,000 for each year thereafter. PNWC is operating the project during exploration. Lonmin can earn up to a 70% interest in the project by completing a full feasibility study. In the event of a production decision, Lonmin will arrange all the required financing. Following the start of commercial production, PFN and Freegold Ventures (ITF-V) will each repay their share of the financing costs and contribute to operating costs on agreed-on commercial terms. According to an earlier agreement between PNWC and Freegold, the former has the right to earn a half-stake in the project.

In other news, the management of PNWC recently granted 700,000 incentive stock options to employees, consultants, and insiders of the company at the exercise price of 76 per share for five years.

PNWC has 24.5 million shares fully diluted.

DANA LAKE AREA

DL-155 — no significant values

BANSHEE LAKE AREA

BL-18 — no significant values

LISMER’S RIDGE