Pacific North West Capital says Alaska platinum prospecting 'encouraging'
1/23/04
KETCHIKAN, Alaska, Jan 23, 2004 (The Canadian Press via COMTEX) --
Results of platinum prospecting last summer near Ketchikan are encouraging, according to Vancouver-based Pacific North West Capital.
The company, along with Freegold Ventures, and platinum giant Lonmin, has been prospecting for platinum at Uni
on Bay on the Cleveland Peninsula just northwest of Ketchikan. Results suggest the project has 'the potential to host significant accumulations'of platinum-group mineralization, according to the company.
Work last summer included mapping, channel sampling, geochemical and mineral analysis. The companies are assessing what they found, said Curt Freeman, a geological consultant on the project with Fairbanks-based Avalon Development.
'It's more likely we'll be back than not,'Freeman told the Ketchikan Daily News. 'The question is (at) what level will we be back.'
The project area covers 1,600 to 2,000 hectares on Tongass National Forest land. Ten to 12 people were on site this summer.
'Basically, there's a small tent camp that's set up to support the drill. Some phases, there's a helicopter on site,'he said. 'We're resupplied weekly by a local float plane operator and we go back and forth once a year with a barge company.'
The Union Bay project has shown higher levels of platinum than palladium, which is unusual in North America, Freeman said. Mines in Ontario and Montana have more palladium than platinum.
'Stillwater in Montana and Ontario, both of those are 1-to-10 platinum-palladium. Platinum is one and palladium is 10.'Freeman said. 'Union Bay is just the other way around, it's 10-to-1 platinum.'
Platinum was $864 US an ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange earlier this week. Palladium has been trading in the $220- to $240-an-ounce range.
Platinum is among the world's scarcest metals and is used in jewelry, automotive catalysts and fuel cells. With China and India tightening controls on vehicle emissions, demand should continue, Freeman said.
'It's probably the only mining industry that went up because of environmental concerns, not down,'he said.
Under a May 2003 joint-venture agreement, Lonmin agreed to fund $815,000 US for the Union Bay exploration program in 2003. In an unusual move, the company approved another $120,000 in September to explore a newly discovered platinum-bearing zone in the area.
Lonmin is the world's third-largest primary underground producer of platinum.
'Typically, projects take three to four years before you get a grip on what's going on if you continue to get good results,'Pacific North West Capital CEO Harry Barr said in a September interview (TSX:PFN).
Under the agreement, Lonmin has the option to continue funding the project by spending a minimum of $1 million in 2004, 2005 and 2006, and $750,000 each year thereafter.
Lance Miller, executive director of Juneau's Economic Development Council and a geologist with experience in the mining industry, cautioned it can take years and tens of millions of dollars to move from mineral exploration to production. It's critical for the region and the state to be supportive of early stage exploration projects, he said.
'In the Ketchikan region, both on the mainland and on Prince of Wales Island, there's a diversity and wealth of mineral resources. If approached correctly, especially in these times of elevated mineral prices, mineral development has the potential to contribute significantly to the economy,'he said.
He cautioned that Alaska would be competing in a global market with other countries with mineral resources such as Chile, South Africa, Russia and Canada.
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