Intl Platinum continues search for PGM deposits

The company has been conducting exploration for the strategic white metal since 1985 and currently holds some 25 platinum- palladium properties in its portfolio.

Although the firm’s management acknowledges that finding a new commercial platinum orebody in Canada is analogous to “finding a needle in a haystack,” it remains confident that a new PGM deposit can be found in North America.

Two of the company’s major foreign backers don’t appear averse to the high risk nature of the North American platinum search either.

Almost $2.2 million of International Platinum Corp.’s exploration funds are being provided by two overseas joint venture partners — West German-based Degussa Explorations GmbH, and Hong Kong- sponsored Jenkim Holdings (Canada), which are earning a 40% and 20% interest, respectively in its properties.

In an effort to focus this year’s exploration emphasis on its most promising prospects, the company will spend the bulk of its budget on four key property holdings. A $630,000 work program will resume this summer on the company’s most advanced platinum property at Big Trout Lake in northwestern Ontario. Winter drilling on that property has returned some encouraging results, and further work is planned to determine the extent of mineralization and further define the platinum-bearing horizons.

On the Muskox property in the Northwest Territories, a $600,000 drilling program will test some recently outlined geophysical anomalies.

Nearly nine miles from the Stillwater platinum-palladium mine in Montana, the company plans to spend $365,000 on its Picket Pin property this year.

A total of $220,000 has been budgeted for its Duluth claim group in Minnesota, where three separate properties cover part of a large layered mafic intrusive.

Ian Chisholm, manager of platinum exploration for IPCO, says, “there are still many things we don’t know about these mafic intrusions. A tremendous amount of detailed work has to be done to narrow down the target areas.”

The shares of International Platinum have traded at $1.30 recently on the Toronto Stock Exchange, down from a high of $5.00 reached in 1987.

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