VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / May 21, 2021 / Group Ten Metals Inc. (TSX.V:PGE)(OTCQB:PGEZF)(FSE:5D32) (the "Company" or "Group Ten") announces that it has retained Oretest Drilling and Simcoe Geoscience for 2021 exploration programs at the Company's flagship Stillwater West platinum group element, nickel, copper, cobalt, and gold ("PGE-Ni-Cu-Co + Au") project in Montana, USA, adjacent to Sibanye-Stillwater's high-grade palladium-platinum mines.
Group Ten's 2021 exploration program targets world-class polymetallic deposits of battery metals, platinum group elements and gold in a famously productive and metal-rich mining district which supports the highest-grade palladium-platinum mines in the world, as well as a smelter and refinery complex, in the USA. The Company's work to date has demonstrated potential for bulk tonnage Platreef-style deposits of nickel and copper sulphide that host palladium, platinum, rhodium, gold, and cobalt within the lower Stillwater complex, based on known parallels with South Africa's Bushveld complex.
Highlights
- Oretest Drilling has been retained for a planned 10,000-meter, multi-rig drill campaign with the primary objective of expanding drill-defined mineralization at the three most advanced areas, while also testing adjacent priority targets identified in the 2020 Induced Polarization ("IP") survey.
- Results from 2021 drilling are expected to drive expansion of the inaugural mineral resource estimates that are now in development at each of the Chrome Mountain, Camp, and Iron Mountain target areas. Publication of these initial resources is targeted for summer 2021 from mineralization that starts at or near surface, runs from 1 to 1.5 kilometers in strike, and is open for expansion along trend and at depth as demonstrated by IP anomalies.
- Simcoe Geoscience has been retained for a planned 54-line-km Alpha IP survey to expand on the success of the 2020 survey which produced wide, high-level, and coincident chargeability and conductivity anomalies with exceptional continuity across the 9.2-kilometer length and 800m depth of the 3D model.
- Thick intervals of drill-defined nickel and copper sulphide mineralization with palladium, platinum, rhodium, gold, and cobalt, confirm the presence of significant Platreef-style polymetallic mineralization in the most advanced target areas, and this mineralization correlates spatially with the geophysical anomalies identified in the 2020 survey (see April 19, 2021 news release).
- The 2021 IP survey will include extension lines off the east and west ends of the 2020 survey grid with the objective of advancing drill-defined polymetallic Platreef-style mineralization at the Crescent target area and drill-defined high-grade gold at the Pine target, among other targets. The new survey will also include infill coverage to detail wider-spaced areas within the 2020 survey.
- Work in 2021 will further include geological mapping and prospecting programs intended to advance earlier-stage targets to drill-ready status across the 32-kilometer-long project.
Michael Rowley, President and CEO, commented, "We are excited to announce contracts and plans for our largest exploration program yet at Stillwater West. IP geophysics and drilling proved to be a powerful combination last year, driving the successful expansion of known mineralization into untested adjacent targets and identifying multiple new high-grade magmatic horizons, and we look forward to building on that success at the three most advanced target areas with a view to expanding inaugural resources that are targeted for release this summer. We also plan to drill some step-out and exploratory holes at priority targets. Stillwater West continues to rapidly advance towards becoming a world-class source of low-carbon, sulphide-hosted nickel, copper, and cobalt, critical to the electrification movement, as well as key catalytic metals including platinum, palladium and rhodium used in catalytic converters, fuel cells, and the production of green hydrogen. We look forward to further announcements in the near term."
About Stillwater West
The Stillwater West PGE-Ni-Cu-Co + Au project positions Group Ten as the second-largest landholder in the Stillwater Complex, adjoining and adjacent to Sibanye-Stillwater's Stillwater, East Boulder, and Blitz PGE mines in south-central Montana, USA1. The Stillwater Complex is recognized as one of the top regions in the world for PGE-Ni-Cu-Co mineralization, alongside the Bushveld Complex and Great Dyke in southern Africa, which are similar layered intrusions. The J-M Reef, and other PGE-enriched sulphide horizons in the Stillwater Complex, share many similarities with the highly prolific Merensky and UG2 Reefs in the Bushveld Complex. Group Ten's work in the lower Stillwater Complex has demonstrated the presence of large-scale disseminated and high-sulphide battery metals and PGE mineralization, similar to the Platreef in the Bushveld Complex2. Drill campaigns by the Company, complemented by a substantial historic drill database, are driving 3D models of Platreef-style mineralization in the five most advanced target areas, three of which are expected to become formal mineral resources by mid-2021. Multiple earlier-stage Platreef-style and reef-type targets are being advanced across the rest of the 31-kilometer length of the project based on strong correlations seen in soil and rock geochemistry, geophysical surveys, geologic mapping, and drilling.
About Group Ten Metals Inc.
Group Ten Metals Inc. is a TSX-V-listed Canadian mineral exploration company focused on the development of high-quality platinum, palladium, nickel, copper, cobalt, and gold exploration assets in top North American mining jurisdictions. The Company's core asset is the Stillwater West PGE-Ni-Cu-Co + Au project adjacent to Sibanye-Stillwater's high-grade PGE mines in Montana, USA. Group Ten also holds the high-grade Black Lake-Drayton Gold project adjacent to Treasury Metals' development-stage Goliath Gold Complex in northwest Ontario, and the Kluane PGE-Ni-Cu-Co project on trend with Nickel Creek Platinum‘s Wellgreen deposit in Canada‘s Yukon Territory.
About the Metallic Group of Companies
The Metallic Group is a collaboration of leading precious and base metals exploration companies, with a portfolio of large, brownfield assets in established mining districts adjacent to some of the industry's highest-grade producers of silver and gold, platinum and palladium, and copper. Member companies include Metallic Minerals in the Yukon's high-grade Keno Hill silver district and La Plata silver-gold-copper district of Colorado, Group Ten Metals in the Stillwater PGM-nickel-copper district of Montana, and Granite Creek Copper in the Yukon's Minto copper district. The founders and team members of the Metallic Group include highly successful explorationists formerly with some of the industry's leading explorers/developers and major producers. With this expertise, the companies are undertaking a systematic approach to exploration using new models and technologies to facilitate discoveries in these proven, but under-explored, mining districts. The Metallic Group is headquartered in Vancouver, BC, Canada, and its member companies are listed on the Toronto Venture, US OTC, and Frankfurt stock exchanges.
Note 1: References to adjoining properties are for illustrative purposes only and are not necessarily indicative of the exploration potential, extent, or nature of mineralization or potential future results of the Company's projects.
Note 2: Magmatic Ore Deposits in Layered Intrusions-Descriptive Model for Reef-Type PGE and Contact-Type Cu-Ni-PGE Deposits, Michael Zientek, USGS Open-File Report 2012-1010.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:
Michael Rowley, President, CEO & Director
Email: [email protected] Phone: (604) 357 4790
Web: http://grouptenmetals.com Toll Free: (888) 432 0075
Quality Control and Quality Assurance
Mr. Mike Ostenson, P.Geo., is the qualified person for the purposes of National Instrument 43-101, and he has reviewed and approved the technical disclosure contained in this news release.
Forward-Looking Statements
Forward Looking Statements: This news release includes certain statements that may be deemed "forward-looking statements". All statements in this release, other than statements of historical facts including, without limitation, statements regarding potential mineralization, historic production, estimation of mineral resources, the realization of mineral resource estimates, interpretation of prior exploration and potential exploration results, the timing and success of exploration activities generally, the timing of the timing and results of future resource estimates, permitting time lines, metal prices and currency exchange rates, availability of capital, government regulation of exploration operations, environmental risks, reclamation, titlefuture driling actiivities and the locations of such drilling, and future plans and objectives of the company are forward-looking statements that involve various risks and uncertainties. Although Group Ten believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on a number of material factors and assumptions. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include failure to obtain necessary approvals, unsuccessful exploration results, changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined, results of future resource estimates, future metal prices, availability of capital and financing on acceptable terms, general economic, market or business conditions, risks associated with regulatory changes, defects in title, availability of personnel, materials and equipment on a timely basis, accidents or equipment breakdowns, uninsured risks, delays in receiving government approvals, unanticipated environmental impacts on operations and costs to remedy same, and other exploration or other risks detailed herein and from time to time in the filings made by the companies with securities regulators. Readers are cautioned that mineral resources that are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. Mineral exploration and development of mines is an inherently risky business. Accordingly, the actual events may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. For more information on Group Ten and the risks and challenges of their businesses, investors should review their annual filings that are available at www.sedar.com.
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
SOURCE: Group Ten Metals Inc.