[miningmx.com] — THE intersection of shallower reef at Lesego Platinum (Lesego) was a significant development for the project according to Village Main Reef (Village) CEO Bernard Swanepoel.
But he added it was too early to start drawing conclusions on the implications for the plans to develop a mine on the site which is in Limpopo Province on the eastern limb of the Bushveld geological complex.
The Lesego project is based on a geological formation called the Phoshiri Dome which has forced the platinum bearing Merensky and UG2 reefs closer to the surface than should be the case in that particular region.
Swanepoel commented, “this was the first hole in the second phase of infill drilling to test the theory that the Dome could be even shallower than we thought.
“We stepped out 250m on the previous line of boreholes and intersected reef. We need to continue with the infill drilling programme and step out another 250m,’ he said.
Village bought 76% of Lesego in March last year for the issue of equity. The takeover followed the cancellation by Lesego of a proposed listing on the JSE because of the poor state of the financial markets.
Village completed a scoping study on Lesego in October and is currently carrying out a bankable feasibility study (BFS) which is due for completion in 2012.
At this stage the project contains an inferred resource of 27.8m oz of platinum group metals (pgm).
Swanepoel said the drilling programme was being paid for from the R142m in funds that the Industrial Development Corporation had agreed to commit to the completion of the BFS.
The initial drilling work carried out before Village became involved intersected the reefs at depths between 1,000m and 2,000m.
The latest borehole has now hit Merensky Reef at a depth of 943m and a thickness of 1.48m which is comparable to the thickness of reef previously identified in both the scoping study and the independent competent person’s report. The reef from the latest intersection has still to be assayed.
According to Swanepoel, “the discovery of a shallower, mineralised reef at depths of less than 1,000m elevates this project from a good platinum project to a potentially great one.
“It has the potential to change the game plan in terms of the time required and the amount of upfront capital needed before you get the first cash flow from the mine,’ he told Miningmx.
