The Future OF PGM Production
In the words of Robert Mosig, CEO and Managing Director of Platina Resources Limited, the ASX-listed, Queensland based PGM and gold exploration/development company, “We’re running on three legs.” By legs, Mosig is referring to three projects in Platina’s portfolio, and three pretty sturdy ones at that.

In December last year, Mosig told IRJ that, “Somewhere out there is a new PGM deposit, although it probably does not possess any of the Bushveldian hallmarks.” As luck would have it, some six months later, it looks like Platina might have come upon something which could potentially fit this description and also offer the first PGM production Australia has ever seen. What’s more is that this comes in addition to Platina’s cornerstone asset over in Greenland, Skaergaard. It is definitely a lot to get our heads around—but let’s make no bones about it, Platina has been extremely busy during 2010, with what look like significant breakthroughs across three very different, yet mutually complimenting projects.

Starting with Skaergaard: Platina’s portfolio revisited

Situated on the east coast of Greenland, a locale getting plenty of attention from explorers today is Platina’s flagship project, Skaergaard. It’s a large tonnage, large production venture for gold and platinum group metals (PGM). Reported under the JORC Code and NI 43-101, Skaergaard is being estimated for the region of 100,000 ounces per annum production.

“We’re in pre-feasibility study and what we have established is that we have work being carried out at the moment on metallurgy which is looking very promising in terms of underground processing,” Mosig says.

“We’re looking at processing in the order of 1.2 million tonnes of ore in three modules underground. That would mean producing at around 95,000 to 110,000 ounces of PGMs.”

Previous drilling totalling around 20,000 metres has enabled Platina to identify Skaergaard’s resource estimate as it stands today—around six million ounces of gold in the gold zone—and the company has been reassessing this data.

“We find that in one particular location, in one 7.5 square kilometres area of the Skaergaard intrusion, all the drilling intersected plus two grams per tonne gold and in particular within those 7.5 square kilometres is a three square kilometre zone where the drilling of gold is all above three grams per tonne,” Mosig explains.

“We’re now focusing on a 6,000 metre program in this zone to see if we can beef up the grade. If it’s robust we’ve got ourselves a very nice little sweet spot on which to commence production so that’s really the aim of where we sit right now.”

Results permitting, it looks like Skaergaard might offer up a very lucrative sub-component, containing grades higher than Platina’s previous estimates. As a result, the company continues with bulk sampling on this area to see what could be in store, and exploring this zone is now the priority for Skaergaard.

“That’s all happening this year,” Mosig says. “We’re shipping over three diamond drill rigs. We’re operating two rigs 24 hours per day and the third rig is going to be cannibalised for parts should the need be to have parts available.”

Platina has been careful to plan its drilling well in advance and prepare for every eventuality, as Mosig says of the remote area, “You have to have all of your Ts crossed and your Is dotted before you start drilling out there otherwise it’s going to cost you a bucket-load of money.”

It looks like the “jewel in the crown” for Platina is coming along extremely well, however it is not the only project to offer up surprising and encouraging new results.

Revisiting Munni Munni

Over in Australia’s iron ore mining haven, the Pilbara, Platina continues to work away on another project, Munni Munni, which Mosig says, compared with Skaergaard, “is a totally different kettle of fish.”  In many respects, Munni Munni really couldn’t be more different, but it is still extremely exciting. It is 30 kilometres from Karratha and conveniently close to the port of Dampier which both BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto use to ship their respective iron ore product. Therefore, existing infrastructure is all well established and ready for Platina to enjoy when the time comes.

“Munni Munni has a power grid running just a kilometre away and a railway line just a couple of kilometres away from it, plenty of water, fabulous labour force—all of the things that aren’t available at Greenland are at Munni Munni,” Mosig says.

“We’re spending time to estimate the resource under JORC standards to establish just how big it is, and this would be the high grade component, a little bit like Skaergaard where we’re aiming to mine would-be smaller production.”

That’s right; another high grade inner zone exists on this, Platina’s second project. Munni Munni weighs in at 24 million tonnes at 2.9 grams per tonne, 3E [the 3E PGM’s are platinum, palladium and rhodium plus gold] but there is more.

“Within that 24 million tonnes at 2.9 grams per tonne which approximates roughly to two million ounces of gold, there appears to be a high grade component—a higher base metals component and higher platinum/palladium value,” Mosig explains, noting that the company estimate is around 30,000 ounces per annum of PGM production.

“It’s still quite realistic given that Australia hasn’t got any PGM production, so we’d still be getting accolades to achieve this.”
As a potential first for the country, with recent high grade zones identified and hosted by one of the world’s mining hubs, Munni Munni is a smaller and tidy prospect for Platina today.

Introducing Owendale

Platina’s Owendale project, located in the Fifield region in New South Wales, didn’t really make an appearance in our feature six months ago, but today the project demands inspection.

“When I mentioned that Australia hasn’t produced any platinum, there’s only one place that has produced 600 kilograms of platinum in the 1890’s to 1930’s,” Mosig laughs. It was alluvial mining in Fifield and Owendale was picked up as the potential ultramafic source to the alluvial platinum.

“It’s always been an enigma whether there has been any primary grade possibilities for Fifield, in other words whether any load exists instead of alluvials,” Mosig says. “Earlier this year we did a Magneto-Telluric [Controlled Source Audio-Magneto-Telluric (CSAMT)] which is a geophysical survey running electrical current into the ground.”

The CSAMT has shown a particularly compelling drilling target, one giant anomaly just 350 metres away from the last place drilling was done which, back in 1987, obtained results of 40 metres at .8 grams per tonne platinum.

“We’re going to be diamond drilling this geophysical target in the next months or weeks,” Mosig says. “This one could change things quite dramatically again for Australia.”

Of course, it is important to remember that none of these breakthroughs have happened overnight. Platina has been focused on PGM’s for a very long time and it is down to the company’s own experience and understanding of the mineralisation that it has managed not to follow many other miners into the hype surrounding Africa’s Bushveld.

A focus to fuel future platinum production

Mosig highlights the fact that Platina is concentrating purely on exploration targets and not Bushveldian possibilities.

“If you’re looking in the world elsewhere you won’t find six grams per tonne platinum,” he says, noting the difficulties the region is plagued by including power and local labour.

“Also, some of the ages or depths of the platinum mines are such that this geological freak has been mined dramatically and we probably need to move further afield and find a source elsewhere.”

Instead, by looking further afield, Platina has managed to pick up three entirely different projects which combine to make for a very healthy portfolio.

“I think [the projects] complement each other beautifully,” Mosig says. “We feel fairly confident that we’re on the right path and we have in-house ability to develop these projects.”

Skaergaard offers big tonnage and annual production potential. Munni Munni, whilst smaller, could be a genuine platinum coin for Australia. Owendale, Mosig says, is likely one of the best new targets to come up and bursting with exploration potential, making the upcoming drilling plans all the more exciting. In short, through experienced, consistent and single-minded sheer tenacity, Platina could well make a pivotal mark on world PGM production.

platinaresources.com.au