RNS Number : 2413F Platinum Australia Limited 08 January 2010
AIM Release
8 January 2010
PLA ENTERS INTO AGREEMENT WITH JOGMEC COVERING THE STELLEX NORTH PROJECT
Platinum Australia Limited (ASX:PLA) (AIM:PLAA) is pleased to announce it has entered into an Agreement with Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation ("JOGMEC") under which JOGMEC will earn an initial 35% interest in the Stellex North Project by providing US$3.5 funding for exploration over the next 4 years.
The balance of the project will be held by Stellex Platinum (Pty) Ltd ("Stellex") a joint venture company currently owned 49% by PLA and 51% by Batsalani Mining & Resources (Pty) Ltd ("Batsalani"). PLA anticipates increasing its interest in Stellex following the expenditure of an initial $30,000 on work undertaken on the project to date, as provided under the Joint Venture Agreement.
A Prospecting Right has been issued to Stellex covering the project and a detailed aeromagnetic survey and initial geochemical sampling program on the project area is due to be completed in the current quarter.
PLA Managing Director John Lewins said: "We are pleased to have entered into this agreement with a partner of the status of JOGMEC, which is a company owned by the Government of Japan and charged with securing a stable supply of natural resources for the country. The agreement will provide the necessary funding to complete our planned exploration programme over the next four years at a time when PLA expects to put significant funding into more advanced projects such as Kalplats and Rooderand to bring them into production. PLA will remain manager of the project
Stellex North Project
The Stellex North PGM Project is located 330km west of Johannesburg and adjacent to the Kalplats (PLA earning 49% from ARMplatinum) and Kalplats Extended (PLA 50%) Projects. The Kalplats Project currently has Measured, Indicated and Inferred Resource of 6.4 Moz 3E which is set out in summary in Table 1, according to the guidelines of the JORC Code (2004) as previously announced on 8 October 2009.
The Stellex North Project covers a strike length of 26 kilometres of the Kraaipan Greenstone belt immediately to the north of the Kalplats Extended Project. PLA believes that this project has the potential to host extensions of the known Kalplats style mineralisation. An aeromagnetic survey of the project area and detailed soil geochemistry program is planned for the project area in 2010.
Table 1 Combined Coffey Mining plus Harmony Resource Estimate for the Kalplats Project
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TABLE 1 COFFEY MINING and HARMONY RESOURCE SUMMARY FOR KALPLATS
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Deposit
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Total Resource3
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Main Reef Resource2
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High Grade Resource1
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|
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Tonnes
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3E g/t
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Ozs
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Tonnes
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Grade
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Ozs
|
Tonnes
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3E g/t
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Ozs
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Crater4
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26,215,785
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2.04
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1,719,530
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11,543,219
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2.6
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966,740
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11,638,000
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3.21
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1,201,590
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Orion4
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11,856,000
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1.58
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603,210
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5,597,000
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2.14
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385,710
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2,720,000
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3.33
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291,100
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
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Crux4
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28,038,000
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1.42
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1,238,400
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12,946,000
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1.70
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706,700
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5,092,000
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2.67
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436,100
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|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Vela5
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36,662,000
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1.34
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1,579,676
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14,804,000
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2.08
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991,573
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8,171,000
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3.07
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806,439
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|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
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Sirius4
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9,484,000
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1.42
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431,490
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3,103,000
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2.11
|
210,390
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1,570,000
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3.19
|
161,020
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
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Serpens North5
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7,703,000
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1.43
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353,950
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3,199,000
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1.93
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198,820
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1,269,000
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3.20
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130,640
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|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
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Serpens South6
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10,762,228
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1.34
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462,071
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5,890,324
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1.81
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324,262
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848,289
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5.09
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138,993
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|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
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Total
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130,721,013
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1.53
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6,433,327
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57,083,543
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2.06
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3,784,195
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30,308,289
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3.14
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3,165,882
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1 Includes the high grade UM (+UUM in Crater and Vela) and LM Reefs
2 Includes the UM (+UUM in Crater and Vela), Main Reef Residual and LM, which constitute the Main Reef
3 Includes the UM, UUM, LM, MR, LG, MMW and the Main Reef Residual layers, which is the total mineralised width for all seven layers
4 Coffey Mineral Resource estimates of Measured, Indicated and Inferred resources
5 Coffey Mineral Resource estimates of Indicated and Inferred resources
6 Harmony Mineral Resource estimates of Inferred resources
Qualification Statement
The information in this announcement that relates to the Crux, Orion, Crater, Vela, Sirius and North Serpens Mineral Resource is based on a resources estimate compiled by Mr. Ken Lomberg who is a full-time employee of Coffey Mining Specialists and is a Member of the South African Council for Natural Scientific Professions (member no 400038/01) .
Mr. Lomberg has more than 15 years experience which is relevant to the style of mineralisation and type of deposit under consideration and to the activity which he is undertaking and qualifies as a Competent Person as defined in the 2004 edition of the 'Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves'. Mr Lomberg consents to the inclusion in this announcement of the matters based on his information in the form and context in which they appears.
Yours faithfully
PLATINUM AUSTRALIA LIMITED
JOHN D LEWINS
Managing Director
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John Lewins
Managing Director
Platinum Australia
+61 08 9324 1491
M: 0419 910 061
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Glossary
4E - Platinum + Palladium + Rhodium + Gold
3E - Platinum + Palladium + Gold
Moz - Million ounces
Mt - Million tonnes
Symbols and abbreviations; Pt is platinum, Pd is palladium, Au is gold, ppm is parts per million which is equivalent to grams per tonne (g/t), m is metres.
This information is provided by RNS
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