PFN sees higher grades at River Valley

Vancouver — Drilling by Pacific North West Capital (PFN-T) on the River Valley project, near Sudbury, Ont., has delivered significant grades of platinum group metals (PGMs).

Many of the 18 holes cored on the Lismer Extension zone cut wide intercepts of sulphide mineralization with considerable PGM values.

Hole 140 encountered 4 metres (at 269 metres down-hole) grading 0.6 gram platinum and 1.9 grams palladium per tonne, including a 1-metre section of 2.1 grams platinum and 6.5 grams palladium. Farther down-hole, a 27-metre intercept (from 284 metres) averaged 0.1 gram gold, 0.8 gram platinum and 2.5 grams palladium, including 8 metres grading 0.2 gram gold, 1.2 grams platinum and 4 grams palladium, and 1 metre of 0.5 gram gold, 3 grams platinum and 9.2 grams palladium;

Hole 141 cut 2 metres (from 221 metres) grading 0.4 gram gold, 4.1 grams platinum and 12.1 grams palladium, followed farther down-hole by 20 metres (from 249 metres) of 0.6 gram platinum and 1.9 grams palladium, including a 2-metre section of 1.2 grams platinum and 3.5 grams palladium;

Pacific North West is drilling the Lismer Extension on 50-metre panels down to a depth of about 200 metres.

Drilling has outlined an extensive, 20- to 30-metre-wide zone in the intrusive contact breccia at Lismer Extension, which has been intersected to a true depth of at least 200 metres.

The new zone lies along strike and between the Dana and Lismer zones, which cumulatively host River Valley’s main measured and indicated resource of 25.4 million tonnes grading 0.98 gram palladium, 0.34 gram platinum and 0.06 gram gold.

“The Lismer Extension is just a continuation of the Dana North and Dana South zone,” explains Peter Dasler, PFN’s vice-president of business development. “We’ve drilled half of the length of the zone so far.”

The Varley zone is also being tested, as are targets on the interior of the intrusion.

A 40-tonne bulk sample collected from the Dana North and Dana South zones will be used for metallurgical testing.

Nine PGM targets have so far been defined along the 15-km-long northern contact of the River Valley intrusive. The latest drilling is part of a $3-million program conducted by PFN and funded by Anglo American Platinum (AAPTY-Q). The latter can earn up to a 65% interest by funding the project through to production; it has so far spent and committed almost $16 million.

PFN has 31.8 million shares outstanding and recently traded at 46. The market capitalization is pegged at $15 million.