Anooraq to acquire 100% of Platreef property

Vancouver — Anooraq Resources (ARQ-V) intends to buy the balance of its South African subsidiary, Plateau Resources, from Denver-based Pinnacle Resources (PNRR-OTC), in order to focus its attention on platinum-palladium exploration in the Bushveld complex of South Africa.

Anooraq will issue to Pinnacle 7.5 million shares and 4.5 million share purchase warrants in return for Pinnacle’s remaining interest in Plateau Resources. Anooraq has 14.1 million shares outstanding. With the new issuance, Pinnacle will have a 30% equity interest in Anooraq.

Pinnacle has agreed to enter into a share re-sale and voting trust arrangement in order to ensure an orderly market for Anooraq and to guarantee the continuity of the current management. Pinnacle will nominate two additional members to the Anooraq board of directors.

Over the last two years, Anooraq has funded exploration on Plateau Resources’ 9,600-ha Platreef property on the northern limb of the Bushveld layered mafic intrusive complex. According to the original agreement with Pinnacle, Anooraq could earn an initial 70% interest by spending $10 million over a four-year period. Once the initial earn-in was complete, Anooraq could acquire the remaining 30% by issuing the vendor the equivalent of 30% of Anooraq’s outstanding share capital.

The Platreef property covers 12 km of strike length of the PGM-bearing Platreef horizon. It is located 250 km northeast of Johannesburg and covers a portion of the Potgietersrus lobe. This lobe is noted for the absence of any lower-zone rock types, which host the famous Merenskey Reef and UG deposits. The local equivalent of the critical zone in the Potgietersrus limb is know as the Platreef.

This dominantly peroxenitic unit trends to the north. It dips to the west at about 40 and decreases westward to 20. Mineralization within the Platreef frequently extends over tens of metres to hundreds of metres and contains economically exploitable quantities of PGMs.

Anooraq’s Platreef prospect is located on strike, to the north and to the south of Anglo American‘s (AAUK-Q) Amplats property. Amplats is host to nine deposits with a combined resource of 350 million tonnes grading 0.151 oz. platinum-palladium-rhodium and gold, or 54.5 million contained ounces.