Harry Barr Puts Pacific North West Capital At The Forefront Of PGM Exploration In Canada
By Charles Wyatt
02 25 08
www.Minesite.com
[INFORMATION PROVIDED BY PACIFIC NORTH WEST]
Hardly surprising that Canadian listed Pacific North West Capital has decided to switch its focus back onto platinum group metals. Recently it appeared that nickel might take up the running, but now that platinum has broken through the US$2,000 per ounce barrier and palladium is pushing up towards US$500 per ounce - both a long way north of where they were in 2005 and 2006 - there is not much choice.
Ironically, Anglo Platinum is the company's joint venture partner at the River Valley project near Sudbury in Ontario and poor old Anglo Platinum has just had to announce that it will lose around 150,000 ounces of platinum production this year due to power shortages in South Africa. As this amounts to 2.25 per cent of total world production it is little wonder that the metal price has gone into orbit. Not that this trend will be without setbacks. There was evidence of profit taking earlier in the week, while the imposition of clearing margin deposits by the Tokyo Commodity Exchange after an increase in price volatility, is also taking a toll.
Metals prices have to be viewed over a year or two to discern underlying trends, so it is interesting to read Rio Tinto's views, particularly those pertaining to North America. Vivek Tulpulé, its chief economist, writes, "it is arguable that even as negative sentiment in relation to the US economy and credit markets has continued to increase in 2008, the market's perceptions about the fundamentals in most resource markets do not appear to have been much affected." In other words the outlook is still bullish as the US becomes decoupled from the rest of the world. It's also worth bearing in mind that the power problems in South Africa will not be cured in a month or two, or even a year or two. A historic lack of government support and funding means that it will take ten years or more to bring that country's power industry up to scratch.
Anglo Platinum will therefore be redoubling its efforts to find more new sources of platinum group metals, and, as a tried and tested partner Pacific North West Capital is in a strong position to take advantage. The two companies have been working together since 2000. At that time Pacific North West was exploring Agnew Lake, said to be the best preserved of the four large intrusions which comprise the East Bull/River Valley Suite. Agnew Lake is some 60 kilometres west of Sudbury in Ontario, whereas the other key property, River Valley, is a similar distance to the north east. Agnew Lake covers most of the layered Shakespeare-Dunlop mafic intrusion, which is of similar age and composition to that of the River Valley layered intrusion. These days River Valley is making most of the running. The two partners operate on a 50:50 basis, but Anglo Platinum can take its interest up to 60 per cent by taking the project to feasibility and to 65 per cent by taking it to production.
According to Pacific North West's president Harry Barr, a total of US$22 million has been spent on the River Valley project by Anglo Platinum - so it's not playing games. As a result of all this work the current resource in the indicated and inferred categories amounts to 30.5 million tonnes containing 953,900 ounces palladium at an average grade of 0.97grammes per tonne, 325,500 ounces platinum at 0.34 grammes per tonne, and 59,500 ounces of gold at 0.061 grammes pert tonne. Quite modest and not very high grade, but it still has a lot going for it when compared with the Bushveld Complex. Before it was taken over by Impala in a £297m deal last year, Aim-traded African Platinum had resources of around 100 million ounces of platinum group metals, but production was a big ask, entailing sinking twin shafts 1,300 metres to intercept the UG2 reef.
River Valley is a very different proposition. Some high grade zones have already been established and one of the tasks to be carried out this year, according to Harry Barr, is to decide whether these zones can be mined efficiently and whether it would be economically viable to transport the ore direct to a smelter in Sudbury. Cash flow would transform investor perception of the company, and Harry points out that both North American Palladium and Stillwater - the only platinum group metals producers in North America at present - have seen their shares double in recent weeks as metals prices advanced. Two other priorities for 2008 will be to carry out some deeper drilling as far down as 500 metres to test for increasing grade, as well as carrying out more aggressive infill drilling across the property. There is a possibility that the mineralization currently identified may just be the near surface expression of something many times bigger with higher grades and different styles of mineralization.
Mention of Stillwater is appropriate as Pacific North West also has a joint venture with that company at the Goodnews Bay platinum project in Alaska. In the past this area has had a history of placer production, and the partners are now seeking the source rock by drilling targets identified in 2007. Stillwater is due to spend US$4 million by 2010 to earn a 50 per cent interest and can go up to 65 per cent if it arranges finances to take the project into production.
But this isn't the sum total of Pacific North West's involvement in platinum group Metals Exploration. It is also looking for projects elsewhere in Alaska and has recently acquired one on the Coldwell Complex, near Marathon in northern Ontario, on the largest composite alkaline intrusive complex in North America, a complex which has much in common geologically with the Bushveld Complex in South Africa. Last, but not least is the joint venture agreement with SOQUEM to research platinum properties in Quebec.
Harry Barr's strategy to place his company at the forefront of platinum group Metals Exploration in North America is therefore paying off - at an ideal moment. This is true also from a personal viewpoint as he has shed his management responsibilities at CanAlaska Uranium, Freegold Ventures and El Nino Ventures over recent months, and is now free to concentrate on the platinum metals which have long been close to his heart. Pacific North West may be the last play in which the great promoter appears, but it could be the one for which he will be remembered.
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