Surprise,surprise! The Sudbury Star found out there is another company looking for platinum metals in their back yard (or is it front yard?)
By Lisa Gervais/THE SUDBURY STAR
There are platinum group metals in Sudbury?s hills.
So says Murdo McLeod, 73, a Toronto executive turned prospector, whose eyes glisten over the thought
of finding palladium, at $667 US per ounce, in the Wanapitei area.
Palladium, a platinum group metal, is used in the telephone industry for switches and relays, as well as
in catalytic converters, which help to remove nitrous oxides from auto emissions.
Platinum is the other major metal of the group. It is used in jewelry, catalytic converters and by oil
refineries for increasing the octane value of gasoline.
McLeod is president of Calgary-based Flag Resources Ltd. With partner Golden Briar Mines Ltd., it
claims it may be on the brink of a large discovery of platinum group metals, which also include rhodium,
iridium, osmium and ruthenium.
Flag Resources has been drilling a 28,000-hectare (70,000-acre) area. It has held mineral rights to the
property for 20 years, says McLeod, and has spent $5 million in exploration.
Last month, though, drilling encountered something new.
?We found a rock we?ve never seen before,?? McLeod says from Calgary.
In layman?s terms, McLeod says Flag Resources is ?getting a lot of minerals in which platinum and
palladium are contained.?
While McLeod says it may be a month before Flag Resources knows what it actually has, he is excited
by the possibilities.
He says a positive find could lead to a platinum group metals mine, or mines, in Sudbury.
McLeod believes platinum group metals could one day replace nickel as the region?s leading mineral.
Inco and Falconbridge mines are ?getting old, deep and expensive,?? McLeod says, so platinum and
palladium ?represent a brand new era for Sudbury ... a new beginning.??
While Inco and Falconbridge concentrate on nickel and copper ore for their refineries, they mine
platinum group metals as a byproduct, says Inco spokesman Jerry Rogers.
?Nickel-copper is still their bread and butter,?? says Mike Cosec of the Ontario Geological Survey.
?Platinum metals are the gravy.?? |
