Wallbridge entices PGM miners to Sudbury

Wallbridge Mining (WM-T) is locking up deals with big platinum players in a bid to prove up its projects while minimizing shareholder dilution.

The latest development involves South African-based platinum miner Impala Platinum (IMPUY-Q). Impala has met its $6.2-million spending obligation and will 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, Lonmin (LMI-L), would exercise its right to enter a joint venture with Wallbridge. The deal involves Wallbridge’s North Range properties, which are also in the Sudbury area.

North Range is a prospective grassroots play that holds a previous $3.9-million investment by Lonmin. It can move up to a 50% interest by spending twice that amount.

Recent work by Wallbridge at the property has uncovered mineral occurences and 46.5 km of offset dyke structures. Over 25% of ore mined in the region over the past 126 years has been hosted by offset dyke structures.

Impala’s deal began with a joint-venture agreement signed in 2008. With the latest move by Impala, the two companies will form a fifty-fifty joint venture, with each partner funding its proportionate share.

Wallbridge will be the initial operator at the project, but the joint venture 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 a 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 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 extracted 142,544 tonnes of ore averaging 2.25 grams platinum, 2.98 grams palladium, 0.33 gram 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 metres containing 1.50 grams platinum, 2.52 grams palladium, 3.99 grams gold, 0.78% nickel and 2.57% copper from 1,500 to 1,514 metres.