The hits keep coming for Podium Minerals as the company continues its 100 per cent strike rate from a drilling campaign aimed at extending mineralisation at its Parks Reef platinum group metals project in WA.
The 5E PGM Parks Reef project is a 15km-long contact zone mineralisation between mafic and ultramafic rock units near Meekatharra.
The company recently added rhodium and iridium to its mineral resource estimate at Parks Reef and is busy creating what it says is Australia’s first defined 5E PGM resource.
5E PGM represents a combination of platinum, palladium, gold, rhodium and iridium compared with 3E PGM that only records platinum, palladium and gold.
The company has received results from another 17 holes from the stage 10 program with intersection highlights including a 10m intercept at 2.18 grams per tonne 3E PGM from 170m including a 2m hit grading 6.09 g/t from 170m.
The 2m section breaks down to a combination of 3.82 g/t platinum, 2.21 g/t palladium and 0.07 g/t gold.
The same hole also recorded a 4m section going 1.45 g/t 3E PGM from 158m.
Other positive results included a 18m hit running 1.52 g/t 3E PGM from 168m.
Podium says regular assay results above 1.2 g/t 3E PGM are a positive step for the delivery of an exploration target, whilst the intersections with grades above 6 g/t 3E PGM are highly encouraging for early-stage mine planning.
All 17 assays from the latest round of stage 10 drilling will be tested for rhodium, iridium and base metals copper and nickel as the company looks to upgrade its 5E PGM resource.
Podium’s current inferred resource at Parks Reef is 52.2 million tonnes at 1.64 grams per tonne for three million ounces of 5E PGM. According to the company, the addition of iridium and rhodium adds 44 per cent to the average weighted price of the previous 3E PGM.
Podium Minerals Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Sam Rodda said: “These results will be incorporated into the next Parks Reef resource model to illustrate the size potential of the Parks Reef project, along with the recently released rhodium and iridium results that allowed the upgrade from a 3E PGM resource to Australia’s first 5E PGM resource.”
Podium says its latest assay results are in line with projected orebody widths, with a significant portion on the upper side of grade expectation.
More drill results from the stage 10 campaign are expected throughout this month and September, with selected samples re-assayed for 5E PGM and base metals.
Management says due to the high volumes and laboratory delays, results from 5E PGM assays will be longer than the 3E and gold turnaround times.
The company argues value-adding to the Parks Reef project remains at the forefront of its plans, with the next resource update expected in the upcoming December quarter.
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By Matt Birney
