Nkwe to acquire 74% platinum farm interest

West Perth-based platinum company Nkwe Platinum Ltd will go ahead with plans to acquire a 74 per cent interest in Genorah Resources Ltd's Garatouw platinum project, after declaring the bid unconditional today.

Nkwe's South African subsidiary will acquire the interest with an issue of 63 million shares to Genorah upon completion of the transaction, and the issue of a further 63 million shares to Genorah upon the establishment of a Joint Ore Reserves Committee compliant resources of 20 million contained 5PGE ounces on the farms.

The full text of a company announcement is pasted below  

The Board of Nkwe Platinum Ltd is pleased to advise that the agreement to acquire a 74% interest in the Genorah farms (De Kom and Garatouw) from Genorah Resources Ltd is now unconditional and the parties will now proceed to complete the transaction.

The Genorah farms are located down dip from both Anglo American's Modikwa and Implats' Marula Platinum Mines. SRK Consulting have reported that the expected target mineralisation on these properties is 15 million oz 3PGE + Au oz at depths of 0-1000m and an additional 20 million oz 3PGE + Au at depths of 1000m-2000m.

Drill rigs have been mobilised on the Genorah farms and drilling will commence this week with an aim of immediately establishing the initial indicated and inferred resource over the coming months.

Genorah Farms

The Anglo Platinum Modikwa Mine is directly adjacent to the Genorah properties and has reported an average value of 2.97 g/t 3PGE+Au over 2.3m on the Merensky reef at this mine and 6.1 g/t 3PGE+Au over 1m for the UG2 reef. The adjacent Impala mine has reported 5.5g/t over a reduced 0.9m cut on the Merensky reef. SRK Consulting has confirmed that "it is considered very likely that the Genorah properties are underlain by a UG2 Chromitite with average mineralization of 6.1 g/t 3PGE+Au over a 1m width". Nkwe will commence an aggressive exploration program on these properties and expects to have two drill rigs operating on the farms in January 2007. The Merensky and UG2 reefs are projected to commence at depths of approximately 250m and 500m respectively.

The Transaction

Nkwe's South African subsidiary, Nkwe Platinum (South Africa) Ltd will acquire Genorah's interest in the Garatouw Platinum Project. Key terms of the agreement include:

1. Issue to Genorah 63 million shares upon completion of the transaction; and

2. Issue to Genorah a further 63 million shares upon Nkwe establishing a JORC (or similarly accredited reporting code) compliant resource of 20 million contained 5PGE ounces on the farms ("JORC Milestone").

On completion of the transaction, Nkwe SA will increase from 70% to a 74% owned subsidiary of Nkwe with the remaining 26% held by BEE entities. Nkwe SA will own 100% of the platinum projects, including the De Wildt Project and the Genorah Project.