he 2006 program follows up on the successful 2005 program which defined a Platinum Group Metal (PGM) bearing B Chromitite reef, or horizon, over a 5,000 meter (17,000 ft) strike. The 2006 field program is designed to define extensions to the known B Chromitite reef, explore for PGM's associated with additional reefs, and drill test the current known extent of the B Chromitite.
The summer field program is divided into four separate activities; soil grid sampling; geologic mapping; ground geophysics; and drilling.
Grid soil sampling; geologic mapping; and ground geophysical programs were immediately started. Samples from the soil grid are collected every 25 meters on lines spaced 100 meters apart. To date over 6,000 soil samples have been collected, representing over 150 line kilometers of traverse. The ground magnetic geophysical has followed a similar traverse. Geologic mapping is proceeding in the target areas where outcrop is available. Over 100 rock chip samples have been collected.
A core drilling rig arrived at the base camp at the end of June and was mobilized, by helicopter into the defined B Chromitite target zone. Drilling commenced on July 6th and subsequently, over 1,300 meters of oriented core have been drilled in five holes. Every hole intercepted multiple Chromitite layers and all but the current hole have been shipped to SGS in Toronto for PGM analyses. All assay results are pending and should be available before the end of August.
Mike Johnson, Beartooth's President and CEO said "We are very pleased with the lateral continuity of the zone and our ability to identify the horizon over an extended strike length. We are continuing to make tremendous gains this year and will be drilling 15 to 20 additional holes before the end of the field program."
BTP is orientating the core so all structures, layers and intercepts can be translated into three dimensional data. This should aid in the interpretation of the data.
In addition to the B Chromitite reef, BTP's 872 unpatented lode claims (16,000 acres) contain several additional parallel reefs, containing local zones of anomalous PGM's. These parallel reefs include the VEZ horizon and the Picket Pin zone. Exploration, including soil geochemistry, ground magnetics and geologic mapping will be conducted on these targets during the field season. If warranted, drilling will also be performed on these targets.
About Beartooth Platinum Corporation
Beartooth controls 872 unpatented lode mineral claims over the exposed 50 kilometer strike length of the Stillwater Complex, North America's largest known resource of PGE's where there are two operating mines of the Stillwater Mining Company (SMC) from the J-M Reef. Beartooth's mineral claims are contiguous with these significant resource properties. |
