I got this from the Northern Miner.
Canadian platinum hunt heats up
08/11/2000
Vancouver -- Now that a second round of drilling on Pacific North West Capital's (PFN-V) River Valley property in Ontario is yielding favourable results, Starfield Resources (SRU-V), CanAlaska Ventures (CVV-V), Triple 8 Ventures (TVU-V) and Cusac Gold Mines (CQC-T) have all intensified their hunt for platinum-palladium.
The first round of drilling targeted the northern portion of River Valley at Dana Lake, 60 km northeast of Sudbury. Holes 1 through 10 cut encouraging mineralization over a 500-metre strike-length portion of an induced-polarization geophysical anomaly, which was outlined last year.
In the latest round of drilling, nine holes were collared over the main body of mineralization to better determine its size and shape. Seven of the holes cut significant grades. Results included:
Hole 15 -- 39.1 metres averaging 0.28 gram platinum per tonne, 0.77 gram palladium, 0.04 gram rhodium, 0.06 gram gold, plus 0.1% copper and 0.03% nickel. Included in this interval was a higher-grade section running 1.4 grams platinum, 4.1 grams palladium, 0.19 gram rhodium, 0.2 gram gold, plus 0.18% copper and 0.05% nickel;
Hole 18 -- 15 metres averaging 0.78 gram platinum, 2.1 grams palladium, 0.07 gram rhodium, 0.15 gram gold, plus 0.12% copper and 0.02% nickel. Included in this interval were three higher-grade sections running up to 1.7 grams platinum, 4.8 grams palladium, 0.15 gram rhodium, 0.35 gram gold, plus 0.26% copper and 0.03% nickel over 3.2 metres; and
Hole 22 -- 49.5 metres grading 0.53 gram platinum, 1.55 grams palladium and 0.1 gram gold. Included in this interval were four higher-grade sections running up to 0.86 gram platinum, 3.3 grams palladium and 0.18 gram gold over 4.25 metres. This hole's assay results for rhodium, copper and nickel are still pending.
The remaining five holes were drilled 50-150 metres north of the Main zone, where surface samples returned an average grade of 1.38 grams combined platinum-palladium-rhodium-gold. All of the holes cut either narrow intervals grading 1-2 grams combined platinum-palladium-gold, or broader intervals of lower-grade material. According to Pacific North West, mineralization in this area is affected by post-mineral faults.
Mineralization on the 43.5-sq.-km River Valley property occurs at the margin of the River Valley Intrusion, consisting of 1-5% chalcopyrite, pyrrhotite, pentlandite and minor pyrite. It is hosted in a coarse heterolithic breccia containing gabbro, pyroxenite and anorthosite fragments in a gabbro-pyroxenite matrix.
A phase-three drill program is set for September. It will focus on establishing a mineral resource in the Dana Lake area.
The total exploration budget (approximately $1.5 million) will be funded by South Africa-based Anglo American Platinum, which is earning a half-interest in the property by paying $300,000 in cash and spending $4 million on exploration over five years. Anglo-American is the world's largest platinum producer.
Pacific North West has agreed to acquire half of New Millennium Minerals' (PGM-V) interest in the Shakespeare-Dunlop platinum-palladium property, some 60 km west of Sudbury. To earn its stake, the junior will make cash payments totalling $200,000 and spend $500,000 on exploration.
On the PD-1 platinum-palladium property, 8 km north of the Dana Lake discovery, Triple 8 has agreed to take a 50% interest in the project from CanAlaska. The junior must make cash payments totalling $180,000 and property payments of $75,000, issue 500,000 shares and spend $1 million on exploration over five years.
In British Columbia, Cusac has staked an additional 23 claims contiguous to its Golden Loon platinum-palladium property, north of Kamloops. In June, the company agreed to take an 85% interest in the property, which consists of 193 claims, from Tilava Mining. Cusac paid $10,000, issued 100,000 shares and agreed to spend $100,000 by Oct. 30. The company must pay an additional $200,000 and issue 300,000 shares over the next four years and spend $2.5 million on exploration by 2004.
In Canada's Nunavut Territory, a newly completed UTEM geophysical survey on Starfield's Ferguson Lake property has increased the target area of potential copper-cobalt-platinum-palladium mineralization within the West zone. According to Starfield, the known mineralization at the West zone and its geophysical signature now define a strike length of 4.2 km and a depth of up to 1.4 km. The geophysical program has also identified a significant new anomaly at the eastern end of the mineralized horizon, some 6 km from the West zone. Known as the "M" zone, the anomaly measures 2 km by 400 metres and is indicative of a flat-lying source.
Earlier this month, the junior began a drill program to test possible extensions of the West zone. It now plans to drill-test the newly discovered anomaly.
A previous company pegged the resource of the West zone at 6.4 million tonnes grading 0.87% copper and 0.75% nickel.
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