JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – The Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation (JOGMEC) has entered into its third joint venture (JV) to explore for platinum in South Africa.

The Japanese corporation announced in a statement on Wednesday that it had entered into a deal with ASX- and Aim-listed Platinum Australia, in terms of which it would provide exploration funding for one of the Australian company’s subsidiaries operating in South Africa, Stellex Platinum.

Newswire Reuters reported that JOGMEC has agreed to pay Stellex Platinum, which is 49% owned by Platinum Australia and 51% by South African investment firm Batsalani Mining & Resources, $3,5-million in exploration funding over the next four years.

In return, JOGMEC would earn the rights to 35% of any of Stellex’s projects where mining was considered feasible, the report stated.

In March last year, the Japanese State-owned company signed a $10-million optional funding agreement with TSX- and NYSE-listed Platinum Group Metals (PTM) to fund exploration on the War Springs project, in South Africa’s Limpopo province.

The funding was payable over a five-year period.

PTM signed a second agreement with JOGMEC in October 2009, in terms of which it could earn a 37% stake in a 118-km2 project in South Africa’s Waterberg region by provided $3,2-million in exploration funding over a four-year period.

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