Pacific North West Capital has announced that it is set to continue its exploration work at the River Valley platinum group metal (pgm) project. The company revealed early in November that its planned Phase 9B $525,000 budget for the development of the River Valley operation had been given approval by its joint venture partner at the site, Anglo Platinum.

Under the next phase of the programme, Pacific North West Capital's money will be used to define the new pgm mineralisation that could expand the potential of the project. The pgm mineralisation at the site was first discovered in 2005 and it is hoped that this latest phase of development will provide a better understanding of the structural controls on the mineralisation, as well as expand the horizons of the pgm mineralised horizons that have so far been discovered.

Tharisa Minerals, the newly-formed black-owned company, has announced plans to develop a platinum group metals (pgms) smelter in conjunction with Braemore Resources. The two companies have signed a memorandum of understanding, Mining Weekly reports, which will see a ConRoast smelter being established to process the pgms produced by Tharisa Minerals. Tharisa Minerals is developing a 600,000 tonnes per year ferrochrome mine near Rustenburg, which will produce pgms as a by-product.

Platinum Australia announced at the end of November that its pgm resource estimate at its Kalplats project has increased by 16 per cent. The increase has come at the Crater Deposit at the operation and the total resource estimate now stands at 11.2 million tonnes, at 1.3 grammes per tonne of 3E pgm, reports Thomson Financial. The Main Reef resource was increased by 19 per cent to 394,000 ounces of 3E pgm.

Outside South Africa, Platinum Australia announced in November that it has begun work on a feasibility study for the Panton pgm project. The programme is due to be completed in the middle of next year, the company states.

The organisation's Panton project will be aimed at developing a stand-alone operation, with a treatment plant operating on-site. Initially, Platinum Australia sees a four-year life for an open-pit mine, producing up to 40,000 oz of pgms per annum. The site also has potential for further development into underground mining once this initial phase is completed.

Australian exploration company NiPlats has insisted that it is still focussing its efforts on finding platinum and palladium in Western Australia's Kimberley region, the Age reports. According to the company's Executive Director, Richard Wolanski, a find of vanadium, which has pushed the firm's share price higher, will not divert the organisation's attention from its primary goal of finding pgms.

Hard Creek Nickel has announced its analytical results for an additional eight diamond drill holes at its Turnagain Project in British Columbia, with significant result for platinum and palladium. Mark Jarvis, President of Hard Creek Nickel, explained: "Although the holes in the vicinity of the Duffy zone were not encouraging, the holes in the Northwest zone returned some very pleasant surprises.

"The platinum-palladium values were well above what was anticipated within sections of drill core above 0.5 per cent total nickel. This is significant because this is the first time we have encountered this relationship within drill core on the property." He added: "These results open up the potential for developing areas within the Horsetrail deposit which host both nickel and platinum-palladium mineralisation."

Ÿ Adfero Ltd