PLATINUM is shining bright for WA-based Impact Minerals, with promising new discoveries made amid prevailing record prices for the commodity.
High grades of the rare platinum group elements (PGE) rhodium, iridium, osmium and ruthenium have been returned from new assays from seven previously drilled diamond drill holes at the Red Hill prospect within Impact’s 100pc-owned Broken Hill Project in NSW.
The drill holes had previously only been assayed for palladium and platinum, with a total of 12 out of the 13 drill holes completed returning robust widths and grades of these two PGEs, together with significant gold, copper, nickel, cobalt and silver credits.
In the current exploration, the seven holes with high grades of palladium and platinum were selected for full-suite PGE analysis by fire assay (with nickel sulphide collection) for rhodium, iridium, osmium, ruthenium, palladium, platinum and gold.
Impact managing director Mike Jones said the extensive nature of the rare platinum group metals in the seven drill holes suggests it is likely that the other five mineralised holes drilled at Red Hill will also contain the same metals.
“These new PGE results confirm again that the mineralisation at Red Hill and other prospects in the Broken Hill area such as Platinum Springs and Little Darling Creek, is exceptional even on a global scale,” he said.
“This is because it is unusual to get such high grades of all the PGE’s together, and in addition it also contains gold.”
The rare PGEs are used in many specialist hard-wearing metal alloys, electronics and for catalytic converters.
Given the recent increase in the demand and price for many of the platinum group elements, palladium and rhodium in particular, the new assays upgrade the overall tenor of mineralisation at the
project and may have a material positive effect on the economics of any future development of the project.
Rhodium is currently valued at about $10,000/oz, and iridium about $2400/oz.
