Platinum Group Metals has put together an impressive array of platinum-rich mineral resource projects in Canada and South Africa, and reported exploration results today on one of their five South African projects, the some 54 square mile Sable Joint Venture, just outside Pretoria (which is some 38 miles north of Johannesburg).
With extant work at the project thus far funded by JV partner Sable Platinum Holdings (Pty) Ltd, which has holdings (much like PLG) throughout the larger Bushveld Igneous Complex (BIC) area, considered by many to be the heart of South Africa’s platinum group metal (PGM) concentrations, PLG geological and field personnel have been doing the requisite completion work. The JV is set up quite well for PLG and Sable Platinum has already put in roughly $1.18M of the $5.14M obligation required as per the JV agreement for Sable Platinum to secure their 51% interest, with the majority of work thus far consisting of key drilling, geophysical surveying, mapping, and soil sampling efforts.
The Sable JV is in a perfect location with abundant resource potential and the some 21k feet of diamond drilling completed to date has helped to rationalize the true bounty of PGM targets available, with the identification of a mineralized layer (the entire BIC is essentially layered igneous) dubbed the “New Reef” being a glowing highlight of the exploration. The New Reef was intersected on the Sable JV property at roughly 423 feet and runs for a thickness of some 14 feet, returning grade values of 1.96 g/t 3E (platinum, palladium, and gold). In fact, looking at the site on the map and knowing that anything inside the Merensky/UG2 reefs (that define the edge of the massive Transvaal basin) are hot targets with virtually assured recovery potential, as the geology is comprised of some of the richest intrusive ore on earth, the potential of this project (which is on the eastern most edge of the Western BIC) should be immediately apparent.
The UG2 Reef was also intersected on Sable’s adjacent Klipfontein JV Project at 6,381 feet, with a thickness of some 6.7 feet at an average grade of 2.64 g/t 3E. Additional drilling behind the sub-crop of the reef lip tends to indicate that the layering distribution is such that true widths are ultimately 80-90% of the intercepts.
R. Michael Jones, P.Eng., CEO of PLG acted not only as Qualified Person for the release of today’s information, but has personally overseen operations on the project since 2002, lending his vast feasibility study and mine operation experience to the project’s success. Setpoint Group division, Set Point Laboratories (ISO 17025/SANAS accredited), handled the fire assay and ICP analysis of drill core samples (accredited to within 0.01-55ppm for gold, platinum, and palladium) and the QA/QC samples were intersticed at a rate of one for every five field samples taken (within two standard deviations of certified mean for platinum/palladium).
With some very nice intercept results among the data and a clear picture of the localized geology that is reinforced by an abundance of external empirical inputs, it seems very clear that the extensive PGM position PLG has put together in the BIC region can drive serious shareholder growth. The Sable JV is coming to the fore here and the company is eager to move forward with the project, as well as their regional strategy, the current main asset of which is the (74% interest) WMJV Project 1 Platinum Mine near Rustenburg, where the company has already begun initial construction (including underground workings) under a $100M budget.
For more information on the exceptionally well-positioned Platinum Group Metals Ltd., or to stay up to date with the latest news and developments, head over to the PLG website at: www.PlatinumGroupMetals.net
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