new property newsTORONTO, Aug. 24 /CNW Telbec/ - Marathon PGM Corporation (MAR -- TSX)
("Marathon" or the "Company") is pleased to announce it has acquired the Steel Mountain PGM-Ni-Cu property ("Steel Mountain") in western Newfoundland, approximately 8 km east of Stephenville. Historical grab samples have returned values as high as 2.97 g/t PGM, 1.10% nickel and 0.62% copper in pods of
massive sulphide. Marathon was drawn to the area by sulphide showings
containing platinum, palladium, nickel and copper values.
Acquiring a large portion of the Steel Mountain Complex meets the
Marathon PGM criteria of focussing on highly prospective geology, access to infrastructure and potential for defining a resource; which are an integral part of Marathon's growth strategy. The Steel Mountain property is comprised of 14 licenses (910 claims) and covers 22,750 hectares (227.5 km(2)). Three of the licenses were acquired from prospectors and the remainder of the licenses were staked for Marathon PGM.
The Marathon PGM-Cu property is currently undergoing a comprehensive
feasibility study on its 100%-owned Marathon PGM-Cu property in Ontario. The Bird River Sill property in Manitoba is thought to have potential to host significant Ni-Cu PGM resources and is currently undergoing prospecting and prioritizing of drill targets.
The Steel Mountain Property
The Steel Mountain complex is predominantly anorthositic gabbro and has known magmatic nickel, copper and PGM mineralization as well as gold and silver mineralization in late stage veins related to the Cabot Fault. The Cabot Fault runs through Newfoundland and is known to have gold mineralization associated with the Fault and with splays off of the Fault. Despite the physical size of the complex and obvious potential as shown by the occurrences
of nickel, copper and PGM and gold, surprisingly little is known about the geology, making this prime target for systematic exploration by Marathon. Marathon is carrying out detailed prospecting and regional soil and sediment sampling as part of its initial exploration campaign. Subsequent phases of exploration on the property will depend on results of this initial
work. Mineralization at Steel Mountain is hosted in massive sulphide lenses with discrete PGM hosted in deformed anorthosites and pyroxenites. Two mineralized showings discovered by prospectors hosted in anorthosites yielded grab samples with up to 1.48g/t platinum, 1.08g/t palladium, 1.17% nickel and 0.10% cobalt; and 1.78g/t platinum, 1.19g/t palladium, 1.10% nickel, 0.11% cobalt and 0.62% copper. The Steel Mountain property is on strike from and encompasses the North Range Resources property which contains anorthosite hosted gold-bearing quartz veins which yield up to 162.7g/t Au and 7.10 oz/t Ag in grab samples and 16.2g/t Au and 14.2 oz/t Ag over 80cm (Government of Newfoundland and Labrador
assessment file).
Phillip Walford, President and CEO, stated "Steel Mountain is low-cost acquisition, and early stage exploration property, which is the precise fit for the Marathon portfolio. The presence of auriferous veins and PGM and nickel-copper mineralization gives exploration potential for both base and precious metals."
All exploration work is being performed under the guidance and
supervision of Phillip C. Walford, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Company, a professional geologist and Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101. Mr. Walford has approved the contents of this
press release.