Message to ShareholdersMay 2005
It is my pleasure to provide you with an update of our latest activities at Pacific North West Capital.
The Company has undertaken one of the most aggressive platinum group metals (PGM) exploration programs in North America over the past three years and our success accruing from these efforts have firmly established Pacific North West Capital as a leader in North American platinum-palladium exploration.
In late 2004, we expanded our focus to include nickel exploration, capitalizing on strong market fundamentals and our in-house expertise in base metals exploration and development. Our commitment towards aggressive exploration has been well supported by the resources of our projects' joint venture partners, Anglo American Platinum Corporation Limited and Lonmin Plc. During fiscal year 2005, our joint venture partners committed a total of $5.7 million in exploration funding, enabling us to achieve significant progress in delineating mineral resources and reinforcing Pacific North West Capital's track record of excellence in grassroots platinum/palladium exploration.
A summary of our key accomplishments follows:
River Valley, Ontario: Developments at our flagship joint venture with Anglo American continue to progress most favourably. The $3.0 million Phase 7 program, completed in March 2005, undertook a total of 20,740 metres of diamond drilling, metallurgical testing and bulk sample collection. Strong mineralization was reported in the newly-discovered Lismer's Extension zone and additional drilling, geophysics and geological mapping in the Varley, Varley Extension, and Pardo zones have served to increase the known mineralization and strike length of the River Valley deposit from 9 kilometres (reported in Phase 6) to 15 kilometres.
We are now working to compile the final results of the Phase 7 program, following which, a revised resource estimate incorporating new mineralization results from the Lismer Extension and Varley zones will be prepared. Planning is also presently underway towards finalization of the Phase 8 exploration budget.
Union Bay, Alaska: Pacific North West Capital completed 5,973 feet of diamond drilling and 744 kms of airborne geophysical surveys under its 2004 exploration program. Favourable PGE mineralization was traced over a strike length of approximately 6 kilometres. A budget of US$1.1 million has recently been announced by the Company and joint venture partners Lonmin Plc and Freegold Ventures Limited to extend exploration activities for a third season. The new season will focus on the further delineation and drilling of targets identified from previous years' airborne geophysical surveys and field work.
West Timmins, Ontario: In November 2004, Pacific North West Capital entered into an agreement with Falconbridge whereby it may earn up to a 100% interest by undertaking exploration on the West Timmins nickel property. This broadening of focus into nickel is seen as a natural progression for the Company and is compatible with its principal PGM exploration business as many nickel deposits contain associated PGMs.
The West Timmins Project is located adjacent to Falconbridge's Montcalm Mine, which recently received mine permit approval. Pacific North West Capital recently completed a high-resolution airborne geophysical survey over the property aimed at identifying Montcalm style targets, for drill testing later this year.
Pacific North West Capital presently holds $5.5 million in working capital. We remain committed to developing our existing projects by way of joint venture agreements. However, your Company is now entering into an aggressive phase of major new acquisitions whereby we will expend our internal funds to finance projects and add shareholder value. I look forward to reporting our achievements to you in the future.
Yours truly,
Harry Barr
President & CEO