Aurora adds ground in Quebec

With a 14-hole drill program under way at its Midrim platinum property, near Temiscaming, Que., Aurora Platinum (ARP-V) has inked a deal to earn a 70% stake in the adjoining Belleterre property.

Comprising 2,880 ha, the Belleterre property is 20 km northeast of Ville Marie and consists of 72 contiguous lots. Geologically, the property is underlain by a suite of gabbro and ultramafic rocks that host several nickel/copper/platinu-group-metals prospects, including Alotta, Delphi, Patry and Duchesne.

To earn its 70% interest, Aurora must pay $125,000 in cash, issue $350,000 in shares and spend $1.5 million on exploration over four years. The property is also subject to an underlying 2.5% net smelter royalty (NSR). Aurora has the right to buyback 1.5% of the NSR for $1.5 million.

A major geophysical feature appears to be associated with the Midrim, La Croch and Allota prospects, and the junior intends to fly a close-spaced, high-sensitivity magnetic survey in order to delineate possible blind conductive zones that may host sulphides.

Mineralization at the adjoining Midrim prospect consists of disseminated-to-massive sulphides enriched in PGMs and hosted gabbroic sills that were intruded into a felsic volcanic rocks.

Previously reported drill results in the 1960s included an intersection of 15 metres grading 2.09% copper and 1.49% nickel, plus 0.72 gram platinum and 1.7 grams palladium per tonne.

The Main zone at Midrim extends for a strike length of 230 metres. The mineralization is cut off by a north-trending fault to the east, and geological interpretation of the drill sections is under way in an attempt to locate extensions of the mineralization.