Company Reports > Platinex, Inc.

One of the most exciting concepts in mining exploration and development is known as the “area play” and few regions have drawn the level of interest as has the “Shining Tree Camp” located approximately equidistant between Sudbury and Timmins in Northern Ontario.  No less than fifteen listed Canadian junior miners are working within the general area, including Markham-based Platinex, Inc.  (TSX-V; PTX).  We had the pleasure of visiting the Shining Tree Camp in the company of Platinex’s President, Jim Trusler and their Exploration Manager, Dave Jamieson.

 While the company has several other significant Ontario projects in its inventory, exploration and development at Shining Tree is management’s highest priority and, among the areas of particular interest for Platinex at Shining Tree are the Herrick, Caswell and the “560” zones, in addition to the Creso J.V. project known as Gold Corona.

Infrastructure in the area is generally excellent with paved roads leading directly to the Shining Tree area, adequate power lines and mining supplies and personnel available in nearby cities.  However, at present, some sections of the property are accessible only by boat or along unimproved roads. 

The Shining Tree Camp itself has had a rather unique history.  Mining activity in the region began almost one century ago and ebbed and flowed for almost six decades until an aboriginal dispute known as the “Bear Island” resulted in staking being suspended from the mid-1970’s through the mid-1990’s when the Ontario Supreme Court ordered staking to be re-instated.  A rush reminiscent of the “Land Rush” days ensued with some outfits going so far as to hire area high school track athletes to stake as many claims as possible.  As a result, numerous separate claims were filed, and it took several years to consolidate many of those claims into workable holdings.

One of the techniques used by Platinex to explore their holdings in the Shining Tree Camp has been to evaluate gold gains in glacial till.  As explained by company geologists, when glaciers move over gold-bearing rock, the resultant ‘till’ contains grains of gold which, when analyzed, can provide an indication of potential gold ore bodies.  As the glaciers follow along their path, the contained gold grains are transformed with the passage of distance into three distinct styles; rounded, modified and pristine, with ‘pristine’ being the best indicator of a nearby gold source.  Therefore, both the number of grains in a given volume of till and the style of grains can be valuable exploration target indicators and Platinex makes extensive use of till analysis in their exploratory work.

Following examination of glacial till at Platinex’s Shining Tree properties, W. A. Hubacheck Consultants Ltd., a geological consulting firm and recognized leader in glacial till prospecting recently commented in June, 2010 that, “...widespread anomalous grain counts in till are indicative of nearby lode gold occurrences or deposits on Platinex’ Shining Tree property.”  Company geologists report that these favourable pronounced grain counts extend along a nine kilometre shear zone.

This is the newly recognized, highly prospective “560” zone, located along both sides of highway 560, an important east-west corridor servicing the region.  No previous exploration has taken place in the “560 Zone” and company President Trusler believes the area holds significant potential for future discoveries.

The company initiated its Shining Tree project in 2008 when it entered into an option agreement with Skead Holdings Ltd., thereby acquiring the right to a 100% interest in 139 claim units covering 2,251 hectares (5,560 acres) and later expanded their holdings by entering into another option agreement with Canadian Prospecting Venture on an additional 12 claim units covering 192 hectares.  In October, 2010 Platinex also entered into the Gold Corona Joint Venture agreement with Creso Resources to explore 9 claims along the mutual Creso/Platinex property boundary which included the Churchill, Gold Corona, Cochrane and Pet occurrences.  A 1,003 meter drill program was conducted in fall 2010 on the joint venture claims.

In May 2011, the company was able to report that they now owned a 100% interest, subject to a 3% net smelter royalty (NSR) in its Shining Tree property.

Shining Tree itself is located within the prolific Abitibi Greenstone Belt, host to numerous mining operations due to its concentration of world-class gold and Cu-Zn-Ag-Au deposits.  Historically, over 200 million ounces of gold has been recovered from this belt.   As described in the, “Technical Report for Platinex Inc.”, dated October 2, 2008; “The Shining Tree property is also centered on the axis of a regional gravity high signifying an area of thick supracrustal rocks and under-plating by oceanic crust.  In the Abitibi, these associations appear conducive to the discovery of major gold deposits.”

In addition, and related to the concept of gold grains in glacial till, the Technical Report also notes, “...Bedrock exposures are limited on the property which is principally covered by a thin mantle of Wisconsinan till.”

HERRICK

Mining history at the company’s Shining Tree holdings dates back to the early part of the 20^th Century when the Herrick gold deposit was discovered in 1918.  It was later developed by a shaft to the 94 meter level and lateral development also took place along two veins. (The shaft and underground workings have long since fallen into disrepair and are not presently accessible and no reliable records of specific gold production figures from that era are available.)  New exploration at Herrick took place when Unocal drilled 11 holes over 1,473 meters in 1989 and also cut 201 channel samples and took 35 composite grab samples.

A recent three-hole drill program at Herrick including HP11-64, HP11-65 and

HP11-66 returned assay values as high as 12.55 g/t Au over 0.85 meters in HP11-65 which was part of a larger intersection averaging 4.99 g/t Au over 3.1 meters at depths between 191.80 to 194.90 meters.  Hole HP11-64 reported an intersection averaging 2.29 g/t Au over 3.85 meters at depths between 302.15 and 306.0 meters.

Follow-up till sampling, prospecting, geologic mapping and power stripping is now in progress to locate the source of the multiple high gold-in-till results on the property at Herrick, Caswell, and along a nine kilometre shear zone paralleling Highway 560.  It  is anticipated that further drilling on newly generated targets at Herrick, Caswell and the 560 zone will be initiated later in summer 2011.  

CASWELL

The Caswell project is located on both sides of the Southeast end of Michiwakenda Lake, just to the south of highway 560, a major east-west route through the Shining Tree area.  Past records indicate a large number of historic high grade gold assays and intervals from grab, channel and bulk samples.  Portions of the Caswell project display a tellurium-gold-silver association in which very high grades of gold occurs within shears.  Geologists reported that gold mineralization is hosted by quartz tourmaline veins within gabbroic textured flows. 

In order to update information, a surface sampling program at Caswell took place in fall 2010 involving approximately 3,000 square meters of stripping and 370 channel samples plus 4 grab samples of the veins and enclosing shear zones.  Platinex also drilled a single hole, WP11-01, which intersected a composite gold value of 4.52 g/t over a core length of 2.52 meters, including 18.75 g/t Au over 0.5 meters at a depth of 199 meters.  An additional six holes have been drilled at Caswell. 

Individual channel samples returned numerous highly anomalous gold values including 10.55 grams per tonne (g/t) over 0.69 meters; 9.1 g/t over 1.0 meters and 4.69 g/t over 0.69 meters.  Grab sample assays returned gold values of up to 27.7 g/t Au and, in addition, anomalous silver and tellurium values were evident throughout the area sampled.

GOLD CORONA JV

Early work at the JV involving the Gold Corona and Pet veins included a compilation of all historic data available, power stripping and trenching, channel and grab sampling plus three diamond drill holes to test a wide carbonate alteration zone extending over 2 kilometers NW from the historic Gold Corona/Churchill gold-bearing vein system.  Work at the area had to be suspended due to the approach of winter but an additional program of power-stripping, mapping, channel sampling and diamond drilling is planned for 2011.

A new exploration area has just been stripped along an extension of the Churchill Trend utilizing a bulldozer.  The rock will be washed clean, then tested via channel sampling and the company will get a good idea regarding whether the area is worth further development.

During my visit I asked company President Jim Trusler which of the three projects is the most important and he replied that all three were valuable.  Exploration Manager Dave Jamieson added that each of the three has the potential to become a mine of its own but all three combined across a two-kilometre radius could become a very sizeable, profitable property.  Trusler also stated that the company was also optimistic regarding the outstanding new discovery, referring to the “560 Zone” where in-till results had greatly exceeded values associated with known zones. 

They also mentioned that one working idea is to ultimately develop a central mining camp with ore blended from the three projects being processed through one mill.

In addition to the Shining Tree Camp properties, Platinex also has interests in several projects, many of them with PGE potential.  These include both the McFaulds South and McFaulds North properties, located in the famous “Ring of Fire” area located to the south of James Bay and known for chromite and Ni-Cu-PGE deposits.  Another project of interest is the Norton Lake Property, also prospective for Ni-Cu-PGE deposits.

Trusler indicated that the company’s goal is to seek Joint Venture partners or to “farm out” a portion of their interest in order to develop the projects by using other companies’ capital.  In addition, any positive cash flow which might result from such agreements would be available to hasten development at Platinex’s Shining Tree project.   

Several years ago, Platinex was involved in an aboriginal rights issue dispute over their Big Trout Property in Northern Ontario.  Eventually through mediation, the Province of Ontario was compelled to award Platinex $5,000,000 plus granting a 2.5% NSR on future production for the Big Trout Lake property.  As a result of this addition to the company’s treasury, Platinex was able to report per share earnings of 9.3 cents per share for 2010.

The company is led by a management team headed by Trusler and also includes Joanna Perrin, VP Corporate Development; R. Bruce Reilly, CFO; and J. David Mason, Strategic Advisor.

Further information can be obtained by visiting the company’s website at www.platinex.com or by contacting Lori Paradis at lparadis@platinex.com.