Stillwater Critical Minerals targets resource update
Stillwater Critical Minerals Corp., [PGE-TSXV, PGEZF-OTC, 5D32-FSE], a company formerly known as Group Ten Metals, said it has hired SGS Geological Services to complete an updated resource estimate for its Stillwater West project in Montana.
In October 2021, the company announced an inaugural mineral resource estimate of 2.4 million ounces palladium platinum, rhodium and gold, plus 1.1 billion pounds of nickel, copper and cobalt in a constrained model totaling 157 million tonnes at an average grade of 0.45% total nickel equivalent (NiEq) (equal to 1.20 g/t palladium equivalent or PdEq) using an 0.20% NiEq cut-off grade
The company said modelling of the updated resource estimate will be based on results of the 14-hole expansion drilling campaign which were not included in the initial resource.
“Results from the expansion drill campaign demonstrated the impressive scale and grade of mineralization at Stillwater West with multiple drill intercepts of percent level nickel sulphide plus strong copper, cobalt, gold and Platinum Group Element (PGE) values across nine kilometres in wide step-outs from known mineralization at three of the five deposit areas,’’ the company said.
On Tuesday, Stillwater shares eased 8.6% or $0.015 to 16 cents on volume of 199,970. The shares are currently trading in a 52-week range of 48 cents and 15 cents.
The Stillwater West project hosts a total of eight metals (nickel, cobalt, chromium, palladium, platinum, rhodium, iridium, and ruthenium) designated as critical by the U.S. government with a mandate to secure domestic supplies based on economic and national security concerns.
Stillwater West also contains significant copper resources.
The project consists of 14-multi-kilometre-scale exploration target areas along a 25-kilometre strike length. It is situated in the Stillwater Igneous Complex, which is recognized as one of the top regions in the world for platinum group elements, nickel and copper mineralization, alongside the Bushveld Igneous Complex and Great Dyke in southern Africa, which are similarly layered magmatic intrusions.
The Stillwater district is known for the J-M Reef deposit, which has produced over 14 million ounces of palladium and platinum to date, along with other commodities including nickel and copper, from three producing mines and a smelter/refinery complex owned by with Sibanye-Stillwater [SBSW-NYSE, SSW-JSE]
The J-M Reef deposit is the highest-grade PGE deposit in the world, and the largest outside Africa and Russia.
Stillwater Critical Minerals has focused its exploration efforts on the lower portion of the magmatic layers of Stillwater. It is the first company to systematically explore for Platreef-style deposits, large and very large polymetallic deposits of palladium, platinum, rhodium, gold nickel and copper.
The term Platreef-style refers to geologic models that were developed at the world’s biggest and most economic platinum, nickel and copper mines in the North Bushveld and Platreef District of South Africa.
The company is targeting deposits of 10 million ounces and larger, based on the known parallels with the Bushveld Complex and an extensive database at Stillwater.