This is from the Sudbury star, 06/19/2000
thesudburystar.com
Discovery excites platinum mining executive
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.??
PS the ? marks are switched from Quotation marks by SI.
not sure why.
RGW |
