Drilling Results
May 13 2003 - 10:35AM
UK Regulatory
RNS Number:0443L
Tertiary Minerals PLC
13 May 2003
www.tertiaryminerals.com
13 May 2003
DRILLING RESULTS - FINNMARK PGE PROJECT
Tertiary Minerals plc ("Tertiary Minerals" or "the Company") announces initial
assay results from a recent drilling programme on its Finnmark Platinum Group
Element (PGE) project in Norway, the first of a number of projects to be drill
tested this Spring and Summer.
Anomalous PGE intersections were made in each of the three holes drilled with
broad intersections of anomalous PGM values in composite samples and higher
anomalous values in narrow sections.
Significant assay results are as follows (all samples assaying greater than 0.1g
/t platinum+palladium+gold) :
Hole No. From Intersection Pt+Pd+Au Pt Pd Au
(m) Width (m) g/t g/t g/t g/t
03GD001 12.35 0.55 0.69 0.27 0.38 0.04
52.40 1.00 0.12 0.05 0.06 0.01
03GD002 26.90 4.00 0.26 0.03 0.03 0.20
Composite
30.90 4.00 0.11 0.05 0.04 0.02
Composite
39.00 4.00 0.15 0.05 0.06 0.04
Composite
43.00 0.55 0.12 0.05 0.06 0.01
117.2 1.80 0.11 0.04 0.06 0.01
Composite
03GD003 48.4 2.00 0.10 0.05 0.04 0.01
Composite
58.1 4.00 0.16 0.06 0.07 0.03
Composite
The programme was designed to investigate the discovery of PGE mineralisation
made by Tertiary in its recent summer field programmes which identified a small
outcrop within a North-South striking ultramafic intrusion where two grab
samples averaged 2.5 grammes per tonne platinum (Pt) + palladium (Pd) + gold
(Au) with a Pt-Pd ratio of approximately 1:1. Subsequent geophysical exploration
identified a Induced Polarisation (IP) anomaly associated with the PGE bearing
outcrop but extending for several hundred metres north-south along strike.
Two drill holes (03GD001 and 2) tested the IP anomaly beneath the outcropping
PGE mineralisation. Hole 03GD002 was drilled 80m behind 03GD001 on approximately
the same Easting. The third hole (03GD003) tested the same anomalous zone 700m
to the south. All holes were drilled at -45 degrees west.
The majority of anomalous samples contain only low levels (approx. 1%) of
sulphide minerals (the likely cause of the IP anomaly) and there is not a direct
correlation between higher sulphide content and higher anomalous PGE values.
Consequently the controlling factors on the location of PGE mineralisation are
not yet established and further assaying and mineralogical work is therefore
required before concluding if this small programme has effectively tested the
economic potential of this PGE bearing intrusion.
Further Information:
Patrick Cheetham, Executive Chairman, Tertiary Minerals. Tel: 01625-626203
John Greenhalgh, City of London PR. Tel: 020-7628-5518
N.B For reported assays, sample preparation was carried out at the SGS
laboratories in Ojebyn, Sweden, where the core was cut in half using a diamond
saw. Half the core was pulverised to 90%