Positive results have emanated from exploration work at JSE- and ASX-listed platinum group metals (PGMs) project developer Southern Palladium’s Bengwenyama project, in South Africa’s Bushveld Complex, MD Johan Odendaal says.
Having accessed the PGMs-bearing Merensky Reef, assay results from initial intersections over an average sampled width of 197 cm show grades of 2.3 g/t for platinum, palladium, rhodium and gold; while results for platinum, palladium, rhodium, gold, ruthenium, osmium and iridium showed grades of 2.56 g/t.
Johannesburg-based ALS laboratory undertook the assay results.
The grade, which has sampled only a small percentage of the lease area, is slightly lower than the inferred mineral resource estimate of 2.96 g/t.
A total of 43 Merensky Reef samples and 98 Upper Group 2 (UG2) Reef samples – including quality control and footwall samples – were collected and dispatched in late 2022, with results expected shortly.
More recently, Southern Palladium restarted drilling activities on January 12 after the December break, with five rigs currently operating on site.
As a result of implementing action plans towards the end of 2022, the last three weeks of production have exceeded the planned meters, Southern Palladium notes.
In total, 21 drillholes have now been completed to date. Of these, the UG2 Reef has been encountered in 18 holes, with two appearing to have been faulted out at the expected depth, and in one case the reef was not developed.
Of the 21 drillholes, eight were expected to intersect the Merensky Reef as they were drilled east of the subcrop. Of these, six intersected the Merensky Reef and two were faulted.