Benton gets PGM exploration boost (April 17, 2007)

Stillwater Mining (SWC-N) has agreed to pump $1.6 million into Benton Resources (BTC-V) Goodchild nickel-copper-platinum group metal project north of Marathon, Ont., giving Stillwater the option to earn up to 75% with continued investment.

Under the agreement, Stillwater, which focuses on PGM mining, can earn a 50% interest in the project by completing three financings for a total of $6 million over three years. Each financing will be priced at a 50% premium to the 20-day trailing average of Bentons share price.

Bentons share price was up 5 to 87 on the TSX Venture Exchange today on a trading volume of 2.1 million shares. Stillwater dropped US46 to US$14.35 on the New York Stock Exchange as of press time.

Benton will remain the operator for the first three years but should Stillwater earn a 50% interest in the project, the two companies will form a 50% joint venture whereby Stillwater has the option to earn an additional 10% if it invests $4 million in exploration over the following two years.

To increase its interest to 70%, Stillwater will have to invest another $20 million in exploration or on a feasibility study for the project over the following three years. Benton can also choose to have Stillwater arrange total financing for putting the project into commercial production by allowing Stillwater an added 5% interest. In this case Benton would reimburse Stillwater with interest for incurring the added financing costs.

Benton will soon do a detailed airborne survey over the Goodchild property, which consists of 221 claims over an ultramafic intrusion that measures 5 km by 8 km. The company says there are numerous untested airborne electromagnetic anomalies on the property.

Up until February, Xstrata Nickel, a subsidiary of Xstrata (XTA-L, XSRAF-O), had an agreement with Benton for Goodchild, but Xstrata, but Xstrata terminated the agreement leaving Benton with a 100% interest.

Grab samples collected by Benton have assayed up to 5.76% nickel. Xstrata reported grab sample assays up to 6.72% nickel, 0.3% cobalt and 2 grams PGMs per tonne.

Benton also has the option to earn 100% in the South Goodchild property, located around the southern part of the ultramafic intrusion and is next to Bentons 100%-owned Goodchild Lake nickel-copper project.

Stillwater is based in Montana, which is the only significant source of PGMs in the United States.