Here is a shot at it for Ed.
November 17, 1997
SPECULATIVE BUY International Precious Metals - It's real! In a
NASDAQ authorised announcement an Arizona Registered Assay
Laboratory has confirmed that quantifiable amounts of gold and silver exist at Black Rock, and Batemans Engineering Ltd has confirmed that gold silver and platinum are recoverable.
International Precious Metals IPMCF (US$5.38 -0.60, 17.5 issued shares, US$94.2m market cap) issued a long awaited statement after trading closed on Friday 14th November 1997 confirming the existence of gold and silver at its Black Rock deposit in measurable quantities. It is important to state at the outset that these are not exploration results; the samples were taken simply to prove the existence/non existence of precious metals. Over the past few weeks the market had been anticipating the announcement of better grades in the region of 0.3oz/t (9g/t) PGM's and gold, and sentiment may well be gloomy considering the published grades which averaged 0.036oz/t (1.1g/t) gold and 1.48oz/t (46g/t) silver. Platinum and palladium assays were not included because the assay method has not been onfirmed by the assay laboratory conducting the work. However, a hard look at the announcement dispels much of the negativity built up over the past few months. It is prudent to put what has often been a very emotional issue into perspective.
*Gold and silver exists in measurable quantities at Black Rock,
*An Arizona Registered Assay Laboratory has confirmed that a modified fire assay procedure has been developed which is able to quantify amounts of gold and silver to an acceptable level of accuracy and consistency,
*Batemans Engineering Ltd, in conjunction with Behre Dolbear,conducted a chain of custody sampling and processing exercise and have confirmed the existence and recovery of Platinum, Gold and Silver,
*The existence and recovery of Platinum has been noted by both the assayer and Batemans Engineering Ltd but has not been confirmed with the gold and silver results as the specific assay method has not satisfied the required level of accuracy and consistency,
*9 samples from 5 areas averaged 1.1g/t gold and 46g/t silver. Some of these can be cross-checked with samples taken, assayed and reported in March 1996. A comparison shows that the new gold assays are more conservative than those previously reported, which may be due to a number of factors including the fact that the new results were from a homogeneous mix of the entire drill hole, rather than by sections (March 1996 results in parentheses);
Sample 181A (3-25ft) 0.75g/t (1.46g/t)
Sample 181B (25-50ft) 0.68g/t (1.40g/t)
Sample 143A (3-25ft) 1.03g/t (1.71g/t),
The company has indicated that Platinum assays from the above samples were similar to those in March 1996, which were between 1.0 and 2.0 times greater than gold.
The backlog of 2,100 samples from drilling of the original 1km2 grid will be completed in about 3 months and a resource will be calculated in the first quarter of 1998,
The announcement by IPM was thoroughly scrutinised and duly authorised by both NASDAQ and the Arizona Corporate Commission. With the verification from a number of official bodies we are confident that IPM's announcement squarely places the Black Rock deposit in the category of a precious metals prospect, which is realistic rather than fictional. Further the confirmation of assays at a more conservative level lends credence to the values obtained in the past. We remain consistent with our conclusions in our July 1997 technical assessment that the risk/reward profile looks attractive and the share remains a SPECULATIVE BUY. |
