Podium Minerals has just booked a stellar PGM resource upgrade at its internationally significant Parks Reef platinum, palladium plus gold project near Cue in Western Australia, that also boasts some solid copper and nickel credits. A 54% upgrade in the inferred mineral resource at the project has pushed Podium over the magic million ounces to 1.14m oz of contained platinum, palladium plus gold and the copper credits now stand at 37,300 tonnes of contained copper.
The company said the upgrade was also enhanced by an average grade increase to 1.45 grams per tonne 3E PGM across the main PGM horizon at Parks Reef. The project was previously showing an average grade of 1.38g/t 3E PGM.
The uber-upgrade stems from resource volumes calculated after integrating the results of Podium’s latest drilling campaign in the eastern sector of the Parks Reef project. The extra resource area extends the deposit for a further 2.4km to a total defined resource length of 6.9km. The company said the total identified strike length of the Parks Reef project is now 15 km.
The latest inferred mineral resource for the main PGM horizon at Parks Reef now stands at 23mt going 0.73g/t platinum, 0.62g/t palladium plus 0.09g/t gold, giving a total 3E PGM estimate of 1.45g/t for 1.07m oz of PGM. The main PGM horizon also contains 0.08% copper and 0.09% nickel.
Podium also said it has upgraded the resource at its base metal PGM horizon at Parks Reef with the total resource at that horizon now sitting at 8.1mt grading 0.08g/t platinum, 0.05g/t palladium and 0.13 g/t gold. The average grade of the three platinum group elements at that horizon is 0.26g/t 3E PGM for 70,000 oz contained 3E PGM. Copper grades were higher, grading 0.24% copper and 0.10% nickel in the base metal horizon.
The addition of both horizons delivers a total contained metal resource of 1.14m oz PGM, placing the project in the much rarer plus million-ounce category. Podium says the resource volumes are defined to a depth of 100m below surface on the assumption of bulk, open pit mining along strike and with mineralization still open at depth.
The company peppered the deposit with 23 RC drill holes for a total of 2,300m and the assay results identified three separate blocks of resources along the total 6.9km strike length. It is now planning further systematic extensional drilling to quantify the resource potential along the full strike of Parks Reef.
Podium CEO, Tom Stynes said; “The recent drilling has taken us well over the 1 million-ounce milestone which lays the foundations for the next stages of our work with further resource extensions plus test work and engineering to define a pathway to production for the project.”
“The outlook for the PGM market remains very positive with continued price increases being driven by strong market fundamentals and Podium provides unique exposure to this market with an Australian based project.”
The achievement of a million-ounce resource was perhaps not previously anticipated by the market and it remains to be seen just how big Podium’s resource might end up. At a million ounces however it now has to be taken seriously and it looks like Podium might actually be in danger of creating a mine out of this long-standing project.
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