Prophecy Platinum Announces Drill Results Demonstrating Broad Zones of Continuous Platinum Group Metals, Nickel and Copper Mineralization at the Wellgreen Project
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwire) -- 02/04/13 -- Prophecy Platinum Corp. ("Prophecy Platinum" or the "Company") (TSX VENTURE: NKL)(OTCQX: PNIKF) is pleased to announce the final results of its US$6.5 million, 11,000 metre 2012 exploration drill program at the Company's 100%-owned Wellgreen PGM-Ni-Cu project, located in the southwest of Canada's Yukon Territory. Fourteen of fifteen drill holes, from across approximately two kilometres of the existing mineral resource area, intercepted significant mineralized widths, including two of the best intercepts drilled at the Wellgreen project to date.
Highlighted drill results are summarized below in platinum equivalent (Pt Eq.)(1) and nickel equivalent (Ni Eq.)(1):
of 2.22g/t Pt Eq. or 0.49% Ni Eq. including 37.6m of 5.31g/t Pt Eq. or
of 2.38g/t Pt Eq. or 0.53% Ni Eq. including 44.1 metres of 4.13g/t Pt
Eq. or 0.92% Ni Eq.;
1.91g/t Pt Eq. or 0.42% Ni Eq.;
Eq. or 0.89% Ni Eq.;
of 1.92g/t Pt Eq. or 0.43% Ni Eq.;
-- WS12-213 intersected two mineralized intervals totalling 251.9 metres of
2.08g/t Pt Eq. or 0.46% Ni Eq.
Please refer to the tables below for additional details on all drilling results.
Greg Johnson, Prophecy Platinum's recently appointed President and Chief Executive Officer, stated, "We are very pleased by the results from this last round of drilling in the 2012 Wellgreen exploration program and are developing a good understanding of the geologic controls for a large scale, bulk mining approach to the Wellgreen project. These drill holes from four different areas across the main Wellgreen deposit, designed to test representative sections of the deposit, demonstrate wide intervals of impressive mineralization. Two of these drill holes are in the top holes ever drilled on the property to date in terms of width and grade of mineralization and six of these drill holes exceed a grade thickness value of over 500 gram-metres of platinum equivalent. A grade thickness value of 20 gram-metres is considered economically significant and most high quality gold or platinum mines would have a core zone of 100 gram-metres or more. A value of 500 gram-metres is exceptional and two of our holes in the project are nearly 1000 gram-metres highlighting the strength of the Wellgreen system. In addition, most of these zones remain open to further expansion at depth and along trend."
"Over the past several months our Wellgreen team has been compiling all of the historic exploration data on the project and systematically integrating it along with the results from the 2012 program. This work is showing a nearly continuous zone of disseminated PGM, nickel and copper mineralization in ultramafic intrusive rocks of up to 200-500 metres in thickness with a higher grade package of ultramafics lower in the section of up to 150-300 metres with substantially higher PGM content."
Central Zone
The Central Zone, which occurs between the East and West Resource zones, had undergone only limited drilling at the time of the Wellgreen resource estimate, in 2011. Subsequent drilling in this area (see Wellgreen Plan View) has revealed one of the thickest zones of continuous PGM, nickel and copper mineralization found at the project to date. Drill Holes WS12-214 and WS11-188 intersected an upper ultramafic package of up to 200 metres in thickness grading 2g/t Pt Eq. and a lower ultramafic package of 160-248 metres in thickness grading 2.5g/t Pt Eq. Drill Hole WS11-188 intersected four mineralized intervals totaling 434.6 metres at a grade of 2.30g/t Pt Eq. (or 0.51% Ni Eq.). Mineralized samples from part of Drill Hole WS11-188 were also analyzed for rare PGM's rhodium, osmium, iridium and ruthenium. The results of these tests support the historic findings that the Wellgreen deposit contains rare PGM's along with platinum and palladium. Future metallurgical tests will look to quantify the potential economic contribution of these rare PGM's to the project. Drill Hole WS12-214 was an offset hole to WS11-188 and confirmed the continuity of mineralization by intersecting three mineralized intervals totaling 362.8 metres at a grade of 2.22g/t Pt Eq. (or 0.49% Ni Eq.). See Table 1 and Figure 1.
Together, Drill Holes WS11-188 and WS12-214 indicate the existence of a very broad mineralized zone of ultramafic rocks. Drill Hole WS12-214 also intersected a significantly higher grade zone in the lower ultramafic package across a width of 37.6 metres with grades of 5.31g/t Pt Eq. (or 1.18% Ni Eq.) including 0.47% Ni, 0.83% Cu, 0.023% Co, 1.12g/t Pt, 0.65g/t Pd, and 0.27g/t Au. These lower samples occur near the base of the ultramafic package that contains areas of intense disseminated sulphides as well as pods of massive sulphides that were the focus of historic exploration and mining on the project. Less than half of the mapped area of potentially mineralized ultramafics has been drill-tested in this area and the mineralized zone drilled in WS12-214 and WS11-188 remains open to expansion. Drill Holes WS12-214 and WS11-188 were designed to drill across the mineralized horizons with 8 individual intersections averaging 100 metres in width with an average base metal content of 0.40% Ni Eq. and average PGM content of 0.48 g/t Pt Eq., for a total of 2.26 g/t Pt Eq.
Table 1: Central Zone drill hole intercept highlights
--------------------------------------------------
Downhole Base Metals
Ultramafic From To Width Ni Cu Co Ni Eq.
Drill Hole Unit m m m % % % %
--------------------------------------------------
WS12-214 Upper 0.0 192.0 192.0 0.30 0.11 0.017 0.37
198.0 208.7 10.7 0.37 0.17 0.018 0.46
2 Total
intervals Upper 202.7 0.31 0.11 0.017 0.38
Total
Lower 219.5 379.5 160.1 0.25 0.35 0.018 0.42
incl 319.4 357.0 37.6 0.47 0.83 0.023 0.82
3 Total
intervals Hole 362.7 0.28 0.22 0.017 0.39
--------------------------------------------------
(i) Hole WS11-188 listed below for reference purposes (drilled in 2011)
--------------------------------------------------
WS11-188 Total
Upper 7.9 195.1 187.1 0.29 0.10 0.015 0.36
Lower 195.1 300.5 105.5 0.42 0.26 0.018 0.55
306.6 411.7 105.1 0.22 0.22 0.017 0.33
420.9 443.3 22.3 0.17 0.23 0.016 0.28
450.3 464.9 14.6 0.26 0.49 0.018 0.47
4 Total
intervals Lower 247.5 0.30 0.26 0.017 0.43
5 Total
intervals Hole 434.6 0.30 0.19 0.016 0.40
--------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------
Precious Metals Total Metals Pt Eq.-
Ultramafic Pt Pd Au Pt Eq. Pt Eq. Ni Eq. length
Drill Hole Unit g/t g/t g/t g/t g/t % g/t-m
--------------------------------------------------
WS12-214 Upper 0.17 0.26 0.02 0.28 1.97 0.44 378
0.20 0.34 0.03 0.36 2.46 0.54 26
2 Total
intervals Upper 0.17 0.26 0.02 0.29 1.99 0.44 404
Total
Lower 0.44 0.28 0.12 0.64 2.52 0.56 403
incl 1.12 0.65 0.27 1.59 5.31 1.18 200
3 Total
intervals Hole 0.29 0.27 0.07 0.44 2.22 0.49 806
--------------------------------------------------
(i) Hole WS11-188 listed below for reference purposes (drilled in 2011)
--------------------------------------------------
WS11-188 Total
Upper 0.17 0.24 0.02 0.27 1.88 0.42 353
Lower 0.48 0.57 0.07 0.75 3.21 0.71 338
0.48 0.31 0.07 0.65 2.13 0.47 224
0.39 0.19 0.07 0.52 1.79 0.40 40
0.62 0.32 0.14 0.86 3.00 0.66 44
4 Total
intervals Lower 0.48 0.41 0.07 0.69 2.61 0.58 646
5 Total
intervals Hole 0.35 0.34 0.05 0.51 2.30 0.51 999
--------------------------------------------------
Footnotes to Drill Interval Tables and Figures:
1. Nickel equivalent (Ni Eq. %) and platinum equivalent (Pt Eq. g/t)
calculations reflect total gross metal content using US$ of $7.58/lb
nickel (Ni), $2.85/lb copper (Cu), $12.98/lb cobalt (Co), $1270.38/oz
platinum (Pt), $465.02/oz palladium (Pd) and $1102.30/oz gold (Au) and
have not been adjusted to reflect metallurgical recoveries. The above
metal prices are a 20% reduction of the LME 3-year trailing average
metal prices as presented in the Company's technical report entitled
"Wellgreen Project, Preliminary Economic Assessment, Yukon Canada" dated
August 1, 2012 (the "2012 Wellgreen PEA") and prepared by Andrew Carter,
C.Eng., Pacifico Corpuz, P. Eng., Philip Bridson, P.Eng., and Todd
McCracken, P.Geo., of Tetra Tech Wardrop Inc. The 2012 Wellgreen PEA is
available under the Company's profile on SEDAR at
www.sedar.com.2. Ni Eq. % and Pt Eq. g/t in "Base Metals" and "Precious Metals" columns
only refers to equivalents of base and precious metals respectively, not
total metals. In the "Total Metals" column the Pt Eq. includes both base
and precious metals, as does the Ni Eq.
3. Significant interval defined as a minimum 15 g/t metre Pt Eq. interval,
4. Cutoff grade of 0.2% Ni Eq.
5. Internal dilution up to six continuous metres of less than 0.2% Ni Eq.
6. Some rounding errors may occur.
7. Individual composites of greater than 2.0 g/t Pt Eq. have been bolded.
8. True thicknesses have not been measured.
9. Projected open pit design in Figures is from the 2012 Wellgreen PEA.
See Figure 1: Cross Section of the Central Zone
East Zone
Results from eight new drill holes in the East Zone confirm previously identified zones of broad PGM, nickel and copper mineralization within a package of ultramafic rocks starting from the surface. The summary grade thickness values for all the holes indicated mineralized intervals with grade thickness values at or in excess of 250 gram-metres of platinum equivalent. Three holes exceeded a value of 500 gram-metres.
The East Zone contains many isolated massive sulphide lenses in and around the underground workings that occur near the base of the ultramafic host rocks. Though historic work focused on these massive sulphide bodies, as currently envisioned, these limited but very high grade zones are seen as enrichments in a much broader zone of disseminated material which spans the entire ultramafic body and demonstrates continuous mineralization for at least 400 vertical metres. In this section, the higher grade lower ultramafic package is confined to an area adjacent to the Hasen Creek sediments and seems to follow the contact very closely reaching widths of up to 160 metres. Although confined in the upper 300 metres, this zone appears to be widening with increasing depth and remains open in that direction. Drill holes in the East Zone were designed to drill across the mineralized horizons, with 19 individual intersections averaging 100 metres in width with an average base metal content of 0.35% Ni Eq. and average PGM content of 0.32 g/t Pt Eq. for a total of 1.90 g/t Pt Eq.
Like the Central Zone, less than half of the mapped area of potentially mineralized ultramafics has been drill- tested in this area.
Table 2: East Zone drill hole intercept highlights
--------------------------------------------------
Downhole Base Metals
Drill Ultramafic From To Width Ni Cu Co Ni Eq.
Hole Unit m m m % % % %
--------------------------------------------------
WU12-537 0.0 11.1 11.1 0.18 0.47 0.011 0.37
19.0 128.6 109.7 0.31 0.10 0.016 0.37
2 Total
intervals Hole 120.8 0.29 0.14 0.016 0.37
--------------------------------------------------
WU12-548 0.0 5.3 5.3 0.23 0.50 0.018 0.45
16.8 231.3 214.6 0.26 0.09 0.015 0.32
incl 121.9 189.0 67.1 0.31 0.13 0.017 0.38
2 Total
intervals Hole 219.9 0.26 0.10 0.015 0.32
--------------------------------------------------
WS12-202 Upper 0.0 106.5 106.5 0.27 0.08 0.015 0.32
141.4 260.5 119.2 0.27 0.09 0.016 0.33
2 Total
intervals Upper 225.7 0.27 0.08 0.015 0.32
--------------------------------------------------
WS12-203 Total
Upper 0.0 229.5 229.5 0.27 0.10 0.016 0.33
Total
Lower 237.4 325.0 87.6 0.30 0.19 0.017 0.40
2 Total
intervals Hole 317.2 0.28 0.12 0.016 0.35
--------------------------------------------------
WS12-204 Total
Upper 0.0 122.4 122.4 0.27 0.08 0.015 0.32
Lower 129.9 207.0 77.1 0.26 0.26 0.016 0.39
393.4 489.0 95.6 0.27 0.11 0.017 0.34
2 Total
intervals Lower 172.7 0.26 0.18 0.02 0.36
3 Total
intervals Hole 295.0 0.27 0.14 0.016 0.34
--------------------------------------------------
WS12-205 Total
Upper 0.0 145.7 145.7 0.27 0.08 0.015 0.32
Lower 158.1 185.0 26.9 0.28 0.36 0.019 0.45
197.0 241.1 44.1 0.35 0.88 0.026 0.73
261.3 269.0 7.7 0.24 0.52 0.017 0.47
365.0 455.0 90.0 0.35 0.16 0.016 0.44
4 Total
intervals Lower 168.7 0.33 0.40 0.02 0.52
5 Total
intervals Hole 314.4 0.30 0.25 0.017 0.43
--------------------------------------------------
WS12-210 Total
Upper 0.0 101.4 101.4 0.26 0.06 0.015 0.31
Lower 123.2 143.5 20.4 0.29 0.10 0.015 0.35
151.5 187.0 35.5 0.21 0.27 0.015 0.33
incl 185.1 187.0 1.9 0.94 1.67 0.052 1.66
2 Total
intervals Lower 55.9 0.24 0.21 0.015 0.34
3 Total
intervals Hole 157.3 0.25 0.11 0.015 0.32
--------------------------------------------------
WS12-212 Total
Upper 0.0 174.0 174.0 0.26 0.05 0.015 0.30
--------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------
Precious Metals Total Metals Pt Eq.-
Drill Ultramafic Pt Pd Au Pt Eq. Pt Eq. Ni Eq. length
Hole Unit g/t g/t g/t g/t g/t % g/t-m
--------------------------------------------------
WU12-537 0.55 0.34 0.13 0.78 2.46 0.54 27
0.19 0.27 0.03 0.31 2.00 0.44 219
2 Total
intervals Hole 0.22 0.27 0.04 0.35 2.04 0.45 246
--------------------------------------------------
WU12-548 0.54 0.32 0.09 0.74 2.75 0.61 15
0.19 0.22 0.03 0.29 1.74 0.39 374
incl 0.28 0.31 0.04 0.43 2.16 0.48 145
2 Total
intervals Hole 0.20 0.22 0.03 0.30 1.77 0.39 388
--------------------------------------------------
WS12-202 Upper 0.15 0.21 0.02 0.25 1.70 0.38 181
0.15 0.20 0.02 0.24 1.71 0.38 204
2 Total
intervals Upper 0.15 0.21 0.02 0.24 1.71 0.38 386
--------------------------------------------------
WS12-203 Total
Upper 0.18 0.23 0.04 0.30 1.80 0.40 413
Total
Lower 0.25 0.25 0.07 0.39 2.18 0.48 191
2 Total
intervals Hole 0.20 0.23 0.04 0.32 1.91 0.42 604
--------------------------------------------------
WS12-204 Total
Upper 0.14 0.20 0.02 0.23 1.68 0.37 206
Lower 0.34 0.28 0.06 0.50 2.25 0.50 174
0.33 0.26 0.02 0.44 1.96 0.43 187
2 Total
intervals Lower 0.34 0.27 0.04 0.47 2.09 0.46 361
3 Total
intervals Hole 0.25 0.24 0.03 0.37 1.92 0.43 567
--------------------------------------------------
WS12-205 Total
Upper 0.15 0.20 0.02 0.24 1.70 0.38 247
Lower 0.57 0.35 0.16 0.83 2.85 0.63 77
0.56 0.31 0.20 0.85 4.13 0.92 182
0.34 0.16 0.02 0.42 2.54 0.56 20
0.33 0.38 0.03 0.50 2.47 0.55 223
4 Total
intervals Lower 0.43 0.35 0.10 0.64 2.97 0.66 501
5 Total
intervals Hole 0.30 0.28 0.06 0.45 2.38 0.53 748
--------------------------------------------------
WS12-210 Total
Upper 0.11 0.17 0.01 0.19 1.57 0.35 159
Lower 0.19 0.27 0.03 0.32 1.90 0.42 39
0.19 0.15 0.06 0.29 1.80 0.40 64
incl 0.87 0.64 0.15 1.24 8.71 1.93 17
2 Total
intervals Lower 0.19 0.19 0.05 0.30 1.84 0.41 103
3 Total
intervals Hole 0.14 0.18 0.03 0.23 1.66 0.37 262
--------------------------------------------------
WS12-212 Total
Upper 0.10 0.16 0.01 0.17 1.52 0.34 264
--------------------------------------------------