Wallbridge continues to entice larger producers to pay for play

Wallbridge Mining (WM-T) continues to lock-up deals with bigger platinum players in a bid to prove up projects while minimizing shareholder dilution.

The latest development involves South African-based platinum miner Impala Platinum (IPLA-L). The platinum producer has met its $6.2 million spending obligation and will now take a 50% stake in Wallbridge’s Parkin Offset Property in Sudbury.

The move comes just two days after Wallbridge announced that another of its partners at a different project, Lonmin (LMI-V), would exercise its right to enter into a joint venture with Wallbridge. That deal involves Wallbridge’s North Range properties which are also in the Sudbury area.

North Range is a prospective grassroots play that Lonmin has already invested $3.9 million into, and it can move up to a 50% interest by spending twice that amount.

Recent work by Wallbridge at the property has led to the discovery of 46.5 km of new offset dyke structures and a number of new mineral occurrences. Offset dykes are important geological structures in Sudbury and over 25% of the ores mined in the region over the past 126 years have been hosted by such structures.

As for the investment decision by the Impala, the deal furthers a process that began with a joint venture agreement signed in 2008. With the latest move by Impala the two companies will form a 50/50 joint venture with each partner funding its proportionate share.

Wallbridge will be the initial operator at the project but the JV will be governed by a management committee with each partner having equal votes.

Impala can, however, take a controlling interest by exercising its right to take another 15% of the project by funding a definitive feasibility study.

The companies are exploring for platinum group metals, nickel, copper and gold within the 9.4-km Parkin Offset dyke on the northeast margin of the Sudbury basin.

The next phase of exploration is expected to start this quarter and will be made up of roughly 5,000 metres of drilling focused on the Milnet Mine area and the recently discovered Milnet 1500 Zone.

The site hosts the past producing Milnet Mine which milled 142,544 tonnes of ore averaging 2.25 grams platinum, 2.98 grams palladium, 0.33 grams gold, 1.49 % nickel and 1.54 % copper.

In 2009 Wallbridge drilled beneath the old deposit and discovered the Milnet 1500 zone with an intercept of 14.24 metres containing 1.50 grams platinum, 2.52 grams palladium, 3.99 grams gold, 0.78 % nickel and 2.57 % copper from 1,499.66 to 1,513.90 metres.

In Toronto on April 5 the company’s shares were off half a penny to 19¢ on 44,000 shares traded, Impala shares were flat in London at 1,232.73 pence.