DRILLING TO START ON MAJOR PLATINUM-PALLADIUM PROSPECT
Vancouver, Canada, January 25, 2000 - Robert G. Hunter, Chairman of Anooraq Resources Corporation (CDNX ?
ARQ), is pleased to announce that regulatory approval has been obtained for Anooraq?s acquisition from Pinnacle
Resources Inc. of the rights to purchase up to 100% of its wholly owned subsidiary Plateau Resources (Pty) Ltd.
Plateau holds extensive platinum group metals (PGMs) properties in the famous Bushveld Intrusive Complex of South
Africa known as the Platreef Properties. PGMs comprise mainly platinum, palladium, rhodium and gold.
Anooraq has completed a $3.2 million financing and will commence drilling in the first week of February 2000 on the
Platreef Properties. Anooraq?s exploration management team from Canada is now in South Africa and will work with
leading Johannesburg consultants specializing in PGMs. Contracts have been signed for two diamond drill rigs which
are currently being mobilized to the site.
The Platreef Properties are located immediately adjacent to the most profitable PGMs mine in the world, an Anglo
American Platinum (Amplats) operation which hosts combined reserves and resources of 55 million ounces of PGMs
in eight deposits. Anooraq, is one of only two North American publicly-traded companies providing exposure to growth
investment in platinum exploration on the Bushveld Complex which hosts the world?s largest resources of PGMs (2
billion ounces) with annual production of almost 6 million ounces.
Geologically, the Platreef Properties are set in the highly prospective ?northern limb? of the Bushveld Complex in
northern South Africa. Platreef was discovered by Dr. Hans Merensky who gave his name to the platiniferous
Merensky Reef in the western limb of the Bushveld Complex. He wrote that on the northern limb, ?The best
mineralization was found on the farms Sandsloot [site of the Amplats mine], Vaalkop and Zwartfontein? north of
Zwartfontein, the pyroxenite body traverses the farms Drenthe and Witrivier? [which are within Anooraq?s Platreef
property boundary]. The first phase of Anooraq?s drilling will start on Drenthe.
An independent study completed for Anooraq by Dr. Morris Viljoen, Professor of Mining Geology at the University of
the Witwatersrand, concluded that ?Sufficient exploration has been undertaken on the Platreef mineral tenures to firmly
establish their strong potential to host large, viable deposits of platinum group and associated base metals. Much of
the historic exploration was undertaken by different companies prior to the development of the present geological
model. Previously this lack of understanding resulted in the potential of the project area not being appreciated and it is
therefore largely unexplored.?
The Platreef Properties offer substantial potential for the well-planned and systematic exploration program starting in
February to identify large-scale PGMs resources capable of being mined by open pit methods as well as extensions of
ore that can be mined underground.
For further details on Anooraq Resources Corporation and its Platreef Properties please visit our website at
www.hdgold.com or contact investor services at (604) 684-6365, or within North America, at 1-800-667-2114.
ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD
Robert G. Hunter
Chairman
No regulatory authority has approved or disapproved the information contained in this news release. |
