TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Vancouver-based Platinum Group Metals (PTM) has extended the northern limit of the known Waterberg Extension deposit, on the northern limb of South Africa’s Bushveld Igneous Complex.
PTM on Monday announced that new intercept WE 049 was located 3.4 km northward beyond the previous resource limit. The deposit remained open, beyond the current strike length, for further expansion and all of the intercepts would be considered in the resource update planned shortly.
Independent compliant resource calculations and peer reviews were in progress on the deposit.
Step-out intercept WE 049 was significant as it further established the open potential northward along strike on the Waterberg Extension property, where PTM held an effective 87% interest.
The Waterberg deposit had been divided into the Waterberg I, II, III domains. Each domain represented about 5 km of strike length, with the initial engineering work at Waterberg covering Waterberg I.
The current resource at Waterberg, before the update in progress, was 29-million ounces over about 10 km of strike length, comprising on a 100% basis an inferred resource of 287-million tonnes, grading 3.15 g/t 4E – 0.94 g/t platinum, 1.92 g/t palladium, 0.04 g/t rhodium, 0.25 g/t gold, comprising a ratio of 30%, 61%, 1% and 8% respectively.
PTM said geophysical modelling suggested an extension target at Waterberg III for 5 km and further north.
The company had, to date, completed 71 000 m of largely fill drilling since the last resource estimate. One drill continued to prospect the open strike and dip lengths looking for the best palladium and platinum grade and thickness at Waterberg.
A first priority for Waterberg this year would be to complete the resource update by May, including recent drilling, followed by prefeasibility study (PFS) results in mid-2015.
Engineering firm DRA was working on completing the PFS, which was funded by PTM and Waterberg Joint Venture partner Japan Oil, Gas & Metals National Corporation.