PFN kicks off Agnew drill program

Vancouver — Pacific North West Capital (PFN-V) has begun diamond drilling at its Agnew Lake platinum group metal (PGM) property, near Sudbury, Ont.

The company is earning a half-interest in the property from Platinum Group Metals (PTG-V). Agnew Lake is also currently under option to Anglo American Platinum (Anglo Platinum). Anglo stands to earn a 49.5% interest in the asset by spending $6 million on exploration by the end of 2004, and can boost its interest to 57% by completing a feasibility study and to 60% by arranging all project financing through to commercial production.

If the property goes to production, Platinum Group Metals and Pacific North West Capital would each retain a 19.5% participating interest, and the original property vendors would retain a 1% carried interest and up to a 2% net smelter royalty.

Pacific North West Capital reports that Anglo Platinum is funding a $1.25-million exploration program at Agnew Lake, which will include 10,000 metres of diamond drilling. PFN is currently the project operator. This new program represents the second phase of exploration that has been financed by Anglo Platinum.

The 65-sq.-km property covers most of the layered Shakespeare-Dunlop mafic intrusion, which is of similar age and composition to that of the nearby River Valley layered intrusion, where Pacific North West Capital and Anglo Platinum are exploring for platinum group metals. The Agnew Lake intrusion is known to contain significant PGM values close to its contact with adjacent older rocks. To date, exploration has identified several zones of PGM mineralization along the contact of the Agnew Lake Intrusion. Previously reported grab samples returned grades of 1 and 8 grams per tonne combined platinum, palladium and gold.

This season’s drill program will begin with a 1,500-metre hole designed to target a significant gravity anomaly centred in the upper portion of the Agnew Lake intrusion. The hole will also provide a stratigraphic section data through the intrusion. This information will help identify other potential targets within the intrusion, including reef-style stratiform mineralization, contact breccia style mineralization, and massive sulphide-rich mineralization associated with the base and feeder zones.

Over the past few weeks 1,000 grab samples have been collected and submitted for assay. The results are still pending. Pacific North West Capital is prospecting in areas where previous operators have conducted little or no detailed work.

Once the deep hole is completed, the junior will target known mineralization along the contact of the Agnew Lake intrusion. Drilling will also test geophysical anomalies, plus any targets generated by prospecting or the deep hole.