OTCRIDER
8 years ago
http://www.wellgreenplatinum.com/
Wellgreen Platinum is a Canadian mining exploration and development company focused on the active advancement of its 100% owned Wellgreen platinum group metal (PGM) and nickel project. Located in the Yukon Territory, Canada, a 2015 Preliminary Economic Assessment (the “2015 PEA”) demonstrated that the Wellgreen PGM and nickel project has the potential to become a large, low cost open pit producer of platinum, palladium, gold, nickel, and copper. The Wellgreen property is accessible from the paved Alaska Highway, which leads to year-round deep sea ports in southern Alaska.
The Company is led by a management team with a track record of successful large scale project discovery, development, financing and operation. Our vision is to create value for our shareholders through development of the Wellgreen deposit into a leading North American PGM and nickel producer.
http://www.otcmarkets.com/stock/WGPLF/profile
The Wellgreen deposit occurs within, and along the lower margin of, an Upper Triassic ultramafic-mafic body, within the Quill Creek Complex. This assemblage of mafic-ultramafic rocks is 20 kilometres long and closely intrudes along the contact between the Station Creek and Hasen Creek formations. The main mass of the Quill Creek Complex, the Wellgreen and Quill intrusions, is 4.7 kilometres long and up to 1,000 metres wide.
Mineralization on the Property occurs within the Quill Creek Complex, a layered intrusion which gradationally transitions from Dunite to Peridotite to Pyroxenite to Clinopyroxenite to Gabbro with a corresponding increasing sulphide content through this sequence toward contact with the Paleozoic sedimentary country rocks. Mineralization within the main Wellgreen deposit has been delineated into six zones of massive and disseminated mineralization known respectively as the Far East Zone, East Zone, Central Zone, West Zone, Far West Zone, and North Arm Zone. The mineralization at Wellgreen is similar to gabbro-associated nickel deposits such as those found in Noril’sk, Russia; Stillwater, Montana; and Sudbury, Ontario, though it is unusual in comparison with the width of continuous disseminated mineralization and total platinum group metals (PGMs) content.
Exploration drilling has defined a mineralized zone over a 2.8 kilometre East-West trend. The deposit averages 100 to 200 metres in thickness at surface in the Far West Zone, expands to 500 metres in thickness in the Central Zone and to nearly a kilometre wide in the Far East Zone where the deposit remains open down dip and along trend.
The main sulphide minerals associated with potentially economic mineralization at Wellgreen include pentlandite for nickel, chalcopyrite for copper, with the PGMs platinum, palladium, rhodium, iridium, ruthenium, and osmium, as well as, gold included in sperrylite, merenskyite, sudburyite, and other lesser known minerals that are often associated with magnetite, pyrrhotite, chalcopyrite, and pentlandite, along with cobaltite for cobalt.
http://www.wellgreenplatinum.com/projects/wellgreen/location-geology
I put 50.00 on stocks like this one, looks very nice.
stocktrademan
9 years ago
$WGPLF recent news/filings
bullish 0.226
## source: finance.yahoo.com
$WGPLF charts
basic chart ## source: stockcharts.com
basic chart ## source: stockscores.com
big daily chart ## source: stockcharts.com
big weekly chart ## source: stockcharts.com
$WGPLF company information
## source: otcmarkets.com
Link: http://www.otcmarkets.com/stock/WGPLF/company-info
Ticker: $WGPLF
OTC Market Place: OTCQX International
CIK code: 0001510604
Company name: Wellgreen Platinum Ltd.
Company website: http://www.wellgreenplatinum.com
Incorporated In: British Columbia, Canada
Business Description: Wellgreen Platinum is a Canadian mining exploration and development company focused on the active advancement of its 100% owned Wellgreen platinum group metals (PGM) and nickel project. Located in the Yukon Territory of Canada, the 2015 Preliminary Economic Assessment demonstrated that the Wellgreen PGM and nickel project has the potential to become a large, low cost, open pit producer of platinum, palladium, gold, nickel, and copper. The Wellgreen property is accessible from the paved Alaska Highway, which leads to year-round deep sea ports in southern Alaska.The Company is led by a management team with a track record of successful large-scale project discovery, development, financing and operation. Our vision is to create value for our shareholders through development of the Wellgreen deposit into a leading North American PGM and nickel producer.Wellgreen shares trade on the US OTCQX market under the symbol WGPLF and on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol WG.Less >>
$WGPLF share structure
## source: otcmarkets.com
Market Value: $25,092,412 a/o Mar 10, 2016
Shares Outstanding: 125,462,061 a/o Nov 10, 2015
Float: 25,971,984 a/o Jun 29, 2011
Authorized Shares: Unlimited a/o Jan 31, 2011
Par Value: No Par Value
$WGPLF extra dd links
Company name: Wellgreen Platinum Ltd.
Company website: http://www.wellgreenplatinum.com
## STOCK DETAILS ##
After Hours Quote (nasdaq.com): http://www.nasdaq.com/symbol/WGPLF/after-hours
Option Chain (nasdaq.com): http://www.nasdaq.com/symbol/WGPLF/option-chain
Historical Prices (yahoo.com): http://finance.yahoo.com/q/hp?s=WGPLF+Historical+Prices
Company Profile (yahoo.com): http://finance.yahoo.com/q/pr?s=WGPLF+Profile
Industry (yahoo.com): http://finance.yahoo.com/q/in?s=WGPLF+Industry
## COMPANY NEWS ##
Market Stream (nasdaq.com): http://www.nasdaq.com/symbol/WGPLF/stream
Latest news (otcmarkets.com): http://www.otcmarkets.com/stock/WGPLF/news - http://finance.yahoo.com/q/h?s=WGPLF+Headlines
## STOCK ANALYSIS ##
Analyst Research (nasdaq.com): http://www.nasdaq.com/symbol/WGPLF/analyst-research
Guru Analysis (nasdaq.com): http://www.nasdaq.com/symbol/WGPLF/guru-analysis
Stock Report (nasdaq.com): http://www.nasdaq.com/symbol/WGPLF/stock-report
Competitors (nasdaq.com): http://www.nasdaq.com/symbol/WGPLF/competitors
Stock Consultant (nasdaq.com): http://www.nasdaq.com/symbol/WGPLF/stock-consultant
Stock Comparison (nasdaq.com): http://www.nasdaq.com/symbol/WGPLF/stock-comparison
Investopedia (investopedia.com): http://www.investopedia.com/markets/stocks/WGPLF/?wa=0
Research Reports (otcmarkets.com): http://www.otcmarkets.com/stock/WGPLF/research
Basic Tech. Analysis (yahoo.com): http://finance.yahoo.com/q/ta?s=WGPLF+Basic+Tech.+Analysis
Barchart (barchart.com): http://www.barchart.com/quotes/stocks/WGPLF
DTCC (dtcc.com): http://search2.dtcc.com/?q=Wellgreen+Platinum+Ltd.&x=10&y=8&sp_p=all&sp_f=ISO-8859-1
Spoke company information (spoke.com): http://www.spoke.com/search?utf8=%E2%9C%93&q=Wellgreen+Platinum+Ltd.
Corporation WIKI (corporationwiki.com): http://www.corporationwiki.com/search/results?term=Wellgreen+Platinum+Ltd.&x=0&y=0
WHOIS (domaintools.com): http://whois.domaintools.com/http://www.wellgreenplatinum.com
Alexa (alexa.com): http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/http://www.wellgreenplatinum.com#
Corporate website internet archive (archive.org): http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.wellgreenplatinum.com
## FUNDAMENTALS ##
Call Transcripts (nasdaq.com): http://www.nasdaq.com/symbol/WGPLF/call-transcripts
Annual Report (companyspotlight.com): http://www.companyspotlight.com/library/companies/keyword/WGPLF
Income Statement (nasdaq.com): http://www.nasdaq.com/symbol/WGPLF/financials?query=income-statement
Revenue/EPS (nasdaq.com): http://www.nasdaq.com/symbol/WGPLF/revenue-eps
SEC Filings (nasdaq.com): http://www.nasdaq.com/symbol/WGPLF/sec-filings
Edgar filings (sec.gov): http://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?action=getcompany&CIK=0001510604&owner=exclude&count=40
Latest filings (otcmarkets.com): http://www.otcmarkets.com/stock/WGPLF/filings
Latest financials (otcmarkets.com): http://www.otcmarkets.com/stock/WGPLF/financials
Short Interest (nasdaq.com): http://www.nasdaq.com/symbol/WGPLF/short-interest
Dividend History (nasdaq.com): http://www.nasdaq.com/symbol/WGPLF/dividend-history
RegSho (regsho.com): http://www.regsho.com/tools/symbol_stats.php?sym=WGPLF&search=search
OTC Short Report (otcshortreport.com): http://otcshortreport.com/index.php?index=WGPLF
Short Sales (otcmarkets.com): http://www.otcmarkets.com/stock/WGPLF/short-sales
Key Statistics (yahoo.com): http://finance.yahoo.com/q/ks?s=WGPLF+Key+Statistics
Insider Roster (yahoo.com): http://finance.yahoo.com/q/ir?s=WGPLF+Insider+Roster
Income Statement (yahoo.com): http://finance.yahoo.com/q/is?s=WGPLF
Balance Sheet (yahoo.com): http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bs?s=WGPLF
Cash Flow (yahoo.com): http://finance.yahoo.com/q/cf?s=WGPLF+Cash+Flow&annual
## HOLDINGS ##
Major holdings (cnbc.com): http://data.cnbc.com/quotes/WGPLF/tab/8.1
Insider transactions (yahoo.com): http://finance.yahoo.com/q/it?s=WGPLF+Insider+Transactions
Insider transactions (secform4.com): http://www.secform4.com/insider-trading/WGPLF.htm
Insider transactions (insidercrow.com): http://www.insidercow.com/history/company.jsp?company=WGPLF
Ownership Summary (nasdaq.com): http://www.nasdaq.com/symbol/WGPLF/ownership-summary
Institutional Holdings (nasdaq.com): http://www.nasdaq.com/symbol/WGPLF/institutional-holdings
Insiders (SEC Form 4) (nasdaq.com): http://www.nasdaq.com/symbol/WGPLF/insider-trades
Insider Disclosure (otcmarkets.com): http://www.otcmarkets.com/stock/WGPLF/insider-transactions
## SOCIAL MEDIA AND OTHER VARIOUS SOURCES ##
PST (pennystocktweets.com): http://www.pennystocktweets.com/stocks/profile/WGPLF
Market Watch (marketwatch.com): http://www.marketwatch.com/investing/stock/WGPLF
Bloomberg (bloomberg.com): http://www.bloomberg.com/quote/WGPLF:US
Morningstar (morningstar.com): http://quotes.morningstar.com/stock/s?t=WGPLF
Bussinessweek (businessweek.com): http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/snapshot/snapshot_article.asp?ticker=WGPLF
$WGPLF DD Notes ~ http://www.ddnotesmaker.com/WGPLF
jjeeddoo7
10 years ago
At Surface and Out of Africa: CEO Greg Johnson on Wellgreen Platinum’s Yukon Project
Wednesday July 2, 2014, 3:30pm PDT
By Teresa Matich+ - Exclusive to Platinum Investing News
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At Surface and Out of Africa: CEO Greg Johnson on Wellgreen Platinum's Yukon ProjectSouth Africa, long known as a platinum and palladium powerhouse, saw an end to a protracted miners’ strike last week. However, the white metals are still rallying, and South African mines will take time to ramp up production again. In light of those factors, investors and analysts may be interested in looking at companies that operate outside that country.
One such company is Wellgreen Platinum (TSXV:WG), which holds the Wellgreen deposit, a large PGM-nickel-copper deposit in Canada’s Yukon. It features mineralization that begins at surface rather than deep underground, making it noteworthy for miners and investors alike.
To find out more about the company, Platinum Investing News (PIN) spoke with Wellgreen’s president and CEO, Greg Johnson. In the interview below, the CEO discusses the unique characteristics of the Wellgreen deposit, the importance of PGM projects in mining-friendly jurisdictions and what’s next for Wellgreen Platinum.
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PIN: Just to start off with, I don’t think we’ve covered Wellgreen extensively on our network before, so could you tell our readers a bit about your company?
GJ: Wellgreen is a PGM-focused exploration and development company, and our primary asset is the Wellgreen project, which is located in the Yukon territory. It’s one of the largest undeveloped platinum and palladium resources in the world at about 10 million ounces, and it’s an open-pittable type deposit. This is quite unique in that most of the world’s platinum and palladium is concentrated in Southern Africa and Russia, so a large deposit in general is quite rare, and one that’s located in Canada in an open-pittable type configuration is even more scarce, so we’re seeing strong investor interest in the company. We just recently completed a $6.9-million financing that’s going to allow the company to move seamlessly into the prefeasibility level of activity this field season.
PIN: How does the Wellgreen deposit compare to others around the world?
GJ: Wellgreen is one of the largest undeveloped projects of its kind in the world, and has the potential to be a very significant producer. Most of the world’s platinum and palladium production is coming from deep, underground mines that are quite costly to operate, very labor intensive and don’t have the ability to really scale up the way you can with an open pit.
Our project is quite unique in that its very wide widths of mineralization start right at surface and are typically between 100 and up to 700 meters wide. So in many ways our project would look more like a porphyry copper-gold type deposit, except that our metals are PGM and nickel. This is a project that was historically developed back in the 1970s by HudBay Minerals (TSX:HBM) as a high-grade underground operation, but since the late 90s, the focus has been on looking at it as a bulk mineable deposit, and that has been the focus of Wellgreen Platinum’s activities as well.
PIN: Interesting. I’ve seen a few comparisons between platinum deposits; for example, Ivanhoe Mines’ (TSX:IVN) Flatreef deposit in South Africa vs. the Bushveld Complex. How does Wellgreen compare to that deposit?
GJ: In terms of comparison, what makes the Ivanhoe and Platinum Group Metals (TSX:PTM,NYSEMKT:PLG) deposits stand out from the others in South Africa is that even though they’re mostly underground, they have much greater widths of mineralization than is typical of the area. I believe with Platinum Group Metals it’s around 25 meters width and I think for Ivanhoe it’s up to 90 meters in width.
Our mineralization on the western end of the Wellgreen deposit, where it’s the narrowest, is about 100 to 200 meters in width, and it widens out to over 500 meters at surface in the central part of the deposit; it then expands to almost a kilometer wide at the eastern end of the deposit where it’s open. So it’s a very large system, and we’re also fortunate with the geometry, since mineralization starts right at surface as opposed to being a kilometer deep or more, which is more typical in South Africa and Russia. And that’s just really the result of the particular geologic setting that we have at Wellgreen, which means that it happens to be exposed right at the surface. That allows us to look at far wider zones of mineralization with a slightly overall lower grade because it’s open-pit mining cost as opposed to underground mining cost.
PIN: How unusual is it to have an open-pittable platinum deposit?
GJ: It’s quite unusual, around 95 percent of the world’s platinum production is from underground mines. There are a handful of projects in the first world that are open pit and those tend to be the lowest-cost producers. I think much like we’ve seen in the gold and the silver business over time we’re going to see a migration towards the lower-cost, higher-scale, open-pit type operations. The challenge is you have to have the right kinds of geology, the right rocks to host these deposits, and the ultramafic rocks that host ours are exceedingly rare; they only occur in a few places globally.
PIN: And you said there was historic mining in the area?
GJ: Yes, the historic infrastructure is still in place and available. We are right now updating our preliminary economic assessment on the project and targeting this summer for release. It will update the overall resource estimate on the project, as well address the major objective of converting a significant portion of the inferred ounces into measured and indicated.
Importantly, it will also update the overall approach to the mining of the project. The new approach that’s being developed is looking at a smaller-scale operation that has lower capital investment up front, but is focused on higher-grade material, so we think that should enhance the economics. Then, later in the mine plan, the project gets naturally wider as we start mining deeper and towards the east the project; at that point, we would likely scale up to a higher throughput level with the geometry of the deposit changing. And that could result in the project being one of the largest first-world PGM producers.
PIN: What does your timeline look like in terms of getting to commercial production?
GJ: Right now we are looking to start prefeasibility activities in the second half of this year. That would likely allow us to start feasibility activities in 2015, so potentially we could be looking at a construction decision in 2017, which would allow for first production in 2018 or perhaps 2019. For a development-stage project, it has the opportunity to move quite rapidly, and because the Yukon is one of the best jurisdictions for mining in Canada, there’s a very straightforward permitting and regulatory process to move the project forward to production.
PIN: Your website highlights the importance of your project being outside of South Africa and Russia, which have been problematic jurisdictions in the past, but are the world’s largest PGM producers. What is the importance of platinum and palladium projects outside of these jurisdictions?
GJ: Starting on the demand side in general, the fundamentals for platinum and palladium are quite different than what we see today in gold and silver. Platinum and palladium are also precious metals, but the single largest use for both is catalytic converters in automobiles. So we’ve basically seen nearly continuous demand growth since the mid-1980s for platinum and palladium, particularly for catalytic converters. As higher emissions standards are implemented in the first world and in the developing world, we’re seeing that growth continue.
That demand growth was matched up until the mid-2000s, with new mine supply of platinum and palladium as one might expect, but because of the challenges of mining deep underground in South Africa and in Russia, we’ve seen falling mine supplies since 2006 for platinum and since 2004 for palladium. The main decrease in supply on the platinum side was due to a decrease in production supply from South Africa, while the main decrease in supply of palladium came from decreasing supply out of Russia. So the opportunity to have a project located in Canada that has an open-pittable and very saleable configuration that could add to the source of supply outside of Southern Africa or Russia has real strategic value.
PIN: Given the current situations in Russia and South Africa, what do you think the future holds for PGM producers in North America?
GJ: Well, the trend was in motion well before the strike in terms of declining supply out of South Africa and Russia, so most analysts continue to project deficits in terms of mined supply vs. total demand for the metals. That’s obviously very bullish for projects that are in areas that don’t have the same kind of political and operating risks that we see today in South Africa and Russia. We would not expect that the removal of the strike would significantly change the overall fundamentals, and in fact, you’ve taken about a million ounces of platinum off the market this year from the strikes, so potentially with that lack of production taking away additional sources of supply for the market, I think analysts are expecting looking to see continued price increases looking forward to at least 2020.
jjeeddoo7
10 years ago
June 24, 2014 – Vancouver, B.C. – Wellgreen Platinum Ltd. (TSX-V: WG, OTC-QX: WGPLF) is pleased to announce that it has completed its previously announced bought deal financing (the “Offering”) led by Dundee Securities Ltd., along with Edgecrest Capital Corporation, Haywood Securities Inc. and Mackie Research Capital Ltd. (collectively, the “Underwriters”), along with H.C. Wainwright & Co., LLC as U.S. Placement Agent. Pursuant to the Offering, 10,615,650 units of the Company (the “Units”) were issued, at a price of C$0.65 per Unit, for total gross proceeds of C$6,900,172, representing the base offering size of 9,231,000 Units and the exercise in full of the over-allotment option for an additional 1,384,650 Units.
The Company will use the net proceeds of the Offering toward initiation of Pre-feasibility studies on its flagship Wellgreen PGM-Nickel-Copper project, to further exploration and development of its properties and for general corporate purposes.
Each Unit consists of one common share (“Share”) of the Company and one common share purchase warrant (“Warrant”). Each Warrant entitles the holder thereof to acquire one Share at a price of $0.90 for a period of 24 months following today’s date. In the event that the Company’s shares trade at a closing price of greater than $1.35 per share for a period of 10 consecutive trading days, the Company may accelerate the expiry date of the Warrants by giving notice to the holders thereof and, in such case, the Warrants will expire on the 30th day after the date on which such notice is given by the Company.
Greg Johnson, Wellgreen President & CEO, states, “The Company appreciates the high level of participation from our existing shareholders and the strong level of interest from new investors in this offering. These funds will facilitate the continued advancement of our flagship Wellgreen project and will enable us to take full advantage of the field season to initiate Pre-feasibility-level work, while we finalize engineering on the updated Preliminary Economic Assessment.”
All Officers and Directors of the Company participated in the financing, subscribing for an aggregate of 535,769 Units. Pursuant to Multilateral Instrument 61-101 – Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transactions
jjeeddoo7
10 years ago
Here is the latest...
CEO Greg Johnson provides an overview of Wellgreen’s renewed focus on bringing its flagship platinum-nickel-gold project into production with a revised (and smaller) capex approach, and the moves the company has made to strengthen both its management team and its share structure. Transcript: Greg Johnson: Well, it’s been a fairly busy period for the company. Our new management team all joined about 15 months ago, in late 2012 and at that point the Board brought in a new technically focused management group. We undertook a couple of important things over the last year plus. One was to comprehensively go back and compile all of the existing information on the project back to the 1950s to bring all that into a single database and systematize it and allow our geologists and team to really dive in, engage some of the leading experts in PGMs who helped us to be able to understand the Wellgreen system in context with other world class systems like Norilsk in Russia, the Bushveld down in South Africa. So our work with the new drilling, we have got almost 40,000 meters of new drill information that’s gone into the program since the 2011 resource estimate has really built our confidence in terms of understanding of the system. The early work in 2011 demonstrated that we had a very large system, mostly inferred, and the work that we’re doing now is really reinforcing the scale of the system, in fact, it’s demonstrating that we’ve got what’s effectively becoming a porphyry scale PGM System here, that’s open-pitable. In addition, there were some pretty important structural changes at the corporate level. We had a controlling shareholder that was around a 30% position that we placed entirely in 2013, in new hands, and that restructuring of the company resulted in new Board of Directors and effectively taking that over-hang from those stock sales from that financially distressed investor out of the way so that we would be in a position to be able to take the story out. James West: Okay, was that a Prophecy Coal you are referencing there? Greg Johnson: Prophecy Coal was the original control and shareholder in Wellgreen and they are now effectively completely out of the shares. James West: Okay. So what’s been happening since your new team has taken over? Greg Johnson: Well, in addition to the drilling, the development of the new geologic model, we have been undertaking as well, engineering and metallurgical test work. We’ve got a couple of major milestones here in the second quarter. We are looking to deliver an updated concept on the engineering and production for the project. We are looking at a smaller capital project focused on higher grade material, potentially an open-pit and underground combination operation, and we’re targeting an operation that could be the largest producer of PGMs in the first world, potentially larger than Stillwater; as our target for this project, and clearly the resource that’s coming together is demonstrating that this is a system that could be a very large producer for a very long period of time. In addition, we are getting set up to look at pre-feasibility activities, they are going to get kicked off in the second half of this year and we are targeting to be able to move into feasibility in 2015. James West: Hey, well that’s interesting. Have you been drilling all through the winter this year? Greg Johnson: We drilled up in through November and we’ve been releasing the results of a combination program, it was about 5000 metres of new drilling, including one of the widest intercepts ever hit on the property, 756 meters at almost 2 grams per ton, platinum equivalent. In addition, we had the benefit of being able to go back into historic drilling. Particularly drilling that was done in the 1980s, and we were able to re-log and resample many of it for the very first time, about 20,000 meters of historic drilling. So our combined program was about 25,000 meter program. And all of that is going to go into this new resource estimate that’s going to be coming out in the second quarter and the new preliminary economic assessment. James West: I see! Okay, so then — I had actually visited the Wellgreen project back in 2011 and at the time there was some discussion about a 16-17 kilometer strike length for the whole Wellgreen project. Is that still something that you feel comfortable sort of putting out there? Greg Johnson: Yeah, our property is about 18 kilometers long that we control a 100%. The main focus — we’ve got almost 800 drill-holes in the Wellgreen deposit proper, and that’s about a ten million ounce platinum equivalent resource for platinum, palladium and gold. Along trend of that, we have got a series of other deposits that are also associated with these ultramatic systems. (00:05:12) Most of the work on those was done in the 1980s. There really hasn’t been much more modern work done since that time. But we undertook some surveys on project, both of magnetics as well as surface sampling and we have identified two very high priorities areas. One that is the continuation of the Wellgreen to the East called Quill and that’s about a two-and-a-half kilometer long anomaly combination of soils and magnetics. And then the second is the Burwash area which historically was actually a separate property that was optioned by INCO and others looking for high grade massive sulfide deposits. And that deposit has a very strong signature similar in scale to Wellgreen itself, with historic drilling shallow holes, but some interesting results in some of that historic work. And with the new surveys that we have, we’ve got some very large targets that we’re hoping to be able to test this year. All of this is on the road. So all of this, if we can develop additional open-pitable resources could be processed through a centralized facility and all of it could be looked at as kind of a single coherent district James West: I see! Interesting! So those discrete deposits to the East that you mentioned in Burwash and Quill, are those — you don’t think those are contiguous possibly connected to the main Wellgreen deposit? Greg Johnson: Well, the geology is mapped as continuous. But we don’t have a lot of information on there yet. A lot of that is based on outcrop mapping and magnetics in particular. The Ultramatic Host Rocks for the deposits do have a high degree of magnetic minerals in them. So magnetics can be a very good tool, but until we actually have a series of drill-holes across those, it’s hard to say whether or not this is going to be continuous. Certainly when you look at Quill, and you look at the strength of the magnetic signature at Wellgreen, and the fact, that that runs unbroken into the Quill target, one could argue that there is a strong probability that there is continuation of Wellgreen into Quill. Burwash, it almost appears that there is a — the area that our main access road comes in and the Quill creek drains out of — it looks like there may be some kind of important structure; geologic structure that goes through there. And sometimes in geology and ore deposits, big structures can be important. So it looks like we may have a little different geometry as we get across into Burwash. And we don’t know what level we’re looking at in the system, we could be looking deeper than we are at Wellgreen. So we’re pretty excited to take a look at that and see what comes out of it. James West: Sure! Okay, so what is the drilling budget for 2014 in terms of dollars and metrage? Greg Johnson: So we’re basically looking to start a pre-feasibility level program in the second half of the year. So that’s probably going to kick off sometime in June. We are talking of $5-$10 million program, and actually that’s likely to be something that’s going to be in the 5,000-10,000 meter program combination, probably of reverse circulation and core drilling. We haven’t finalized, right now we’re going through and developing our priority target list, and I can tell you that our target list is probably going to be longer than what we’re going to be able to go after, so you know we’ll clearly be prioritizing within our priority list. But there are some very exciting targets. Some of the very best holes at Wellgreen have not had the natural step-out adjacent to them, and so, were going to want to test some of these targets at Quill and Burwash look like, very promising targets. So I think we would want to test some of those. So it’s going to be a combination of both, infill confirmatory work, as well as step out and expansion work and testing some of these new targets. James West: And I assume that’s all in support of an updated revised resource calculation? Greg Johnson: Yeah, so we’ll have an updated resource out this second quarter along with the updated economic approach looking at this smaller capital, higher grade start-up concept. And then, we would look to put out a pre-feasibility update to that probably early in 2015 and then begin the feasibility work in the remainder of 2015, with potentially permits could be completed by late 2016 on the projects. (00:10:03) So, we do have the opportunity that this thing can move quite rapidly, particularly mining is the industry in the Yukon, as you know. So they’ve got a good process in terms of going through environmental assessment, The Kluane First Nations are strong supporters of the project and we see the project being able to move fairly quickly through that process. James West: Sure! Okay, so in terms of financing a $10 million drill program in 2014, does Wellgreen have that capital in the bank? Greg Johnson: We are going to need to raise some money, and so we’re basically going to be looking to raise, probably something in the $5-$10 million range. It’s depending on the outcome of that investment round, that’s going to kind of set the plans in terms of how much work will be done in the summer or into the fall. But that work would be specifically targeted towards that next major milestone of the completion of the pre-feasibility studies. James West: I see. And at this point do you have as an investor any major mining corporations or large mineral funds that will sort of provide the role of lead order in that financing? Greg Johnson: Yeah, we’ve got — a number of our existing shareholders have invested in each round of financing, including, putting in lead orders. We’ve got a number of new funds that are looking at the company in terms of new investment. These are names that are also invested in other platinum names and are groups that are putting capital to work today. In addition, we are already discussing the project and potential investment from a number of more strategic type investment groups. These could be groups that are affiliated with smelting groups, or some of the producers. I think we’ve got a number of irons in the fire that we’re pursuing. It is still fairly early days at Wellgreen, but there are so few assets of scale in the platinum space, particularly that would likely have an open pit mining cost structure and scalability, and I think as we get out this next set of studies on the resource and on the engineering, and as we’re advancing that we’re likely to see a lot of attention from those groups over the next couple of quarters and years. James West: Sure! Okay, now what about infrastructure? It seems to me that there were some challenges there in terms of energy, electricity etcetera. Has there been any progress on that front since 2011? Greg Johnson: I mean the Yukon energy is one of the main issues for all projects. Now fortunately, we’ve got the highway that goes past the project and we’ve got our year round access road and the two ports. The one at Skagway and the one at Haines are already in place with capacity to be able to handle our concentrates. So really when we talk infrastructure, for our project, it mostly is about energy with the access roads and things already there. The Yukon has about 20 MW of capacity on the grid. There is a high capacity line near Haines junction which is a about 100 kilometers from the project down the highway. LNG is definitely coming to the Yukon; there is a couple of initiatives that are underway now. The State of Alaska’s Industrial Development Bank is putting in place an LNG facility in Fairbanks, Alaska. They’ve completed their feasibility and they’ve gone to tender for the groups that’s going to construct that, and that’s supposed to be up and running by late 2015. So that’s a possible source for us, and in fact, we are in discussions with the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority right now about a potential MoU on that source of LNG. In addition, about 95% of the Yukon grid is hydroelectric, about 5% of their power comes from diesel and they are upgrading those sets to become LNG and are actually in the construction phase on their first LNG plant that would be tied into the grid now in Watson Lake. So the Yukon Energy Corporation is going to be bringing LNG to the territory for that. So we are going to be looking for this next study, the PEA that was done in 2012, we used diesel as its assumed power source. We are likely to be looking at an LNG-base case, which could be a significant reduction in the cost assumptions for power and it looks like we’ve got two or three different potential sources along with investigating whether or not it may make sense to extend the power line from the main Yukon Energy Corporation Grid. James West: Oh well, great! So it sounds like you’ve got options there. That sounds great Greg! Thanks for taking the time. We’ll catch up with you in the next couple of quarters and see how you are making out. Greg Johnson: I really appreciate your time and look forward to providing you further updates. James West: Thanks very much Greg!
jjeeddoo7
11 years ago
First Nations, industry plot a new way forward
Eva Holland Friday March 28, 2014
Ian Stewart/Yukon News
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Kluane First Nation Chief Math'ieya Alatini says she's found the ingredients for a healthier relationship between Yukon First Nations and the mining industry.
At the fifth annual Yukon First Nations Resource Conference in Whitehorse this week, the emphasis was on partnerships and communication.
The two-day conference, which took place Wednesday and Thursday, featured panel sessions with titles like “Working Together to Explore for More,” “Project Certainty through Respectful, Honest and Trusting Relations,” and “Mining: An Economic Opportunity for First Nations.”
Set against the backdrop of ongoing First Nations lawsuits against the Yukon government over mining-related issues, the pitch was clear: engaging respectfully with First Nations can be a net good for the industry, and mining can also be a boon for those First Nations that embrace it.
The final session of the conference, “Advancing Projects and Partnerships,” featured Chief Math’ieya Alatini of the Kluane First Nation as well as representatives from Kaminak Gold Corp. and Wellgreen Platinum.
Allison Rippin Armstrong, director of lands and environment for Kaminak, spoke from an industry perspective about the hows and whys of engaging with First Nations. She argued that exploration companies should not just inform First Nations about their projects and plans, but also listen and ask questions - about wildlife movements, culturally significant sites, and other sensitive areas that can derail a project.
She suggested that open communication, environmental monitoring, cultural significance studies and even reclamation studies should begin before the project begins to have any impact on the land - not after.
By working closely with First Nations and local communities from the outset, she said, “you improve the likelihood of successful and timely permitting. You have a true partnership going into the construction of your project.”
Chief Alatini spoke next, explaining that her drive to engage actively with the industry was a result of her election in 2010, in the midst of an enormous staking rush. The activity, she said, was overwhelming - so the KFN responded by gathering industry and First Nations experts and sitting down to analyze the First Nation’s capacity to provide services to industry, as well as its needs and how industry might be able to help meet them.
The KFN revived its then-defunct Kluane Development Corporation and also created a second institution, the Kluane Community Development Corporation - while the former would focus on wealth generation through tools like limited partnerships and investments, the latter would provide support to local businesses and help to create support services for industry.
The most notable project on KFN land right now is Wellgreen Platinum, which is touted as one of the world’s largest undeveloped deposits of platinum and its related group of metals. Located just off the Alaska Highway north of Burwash Landing, the Wellgreen deposit was mined briefly in the 1970s. If it’s revived as a working mine it has the potential to be the third-largest producer of platinum in North America.
The project is noteworthy not only because it’s a deposit of rare and in-demand platinum, but because when Chief Alatini signed an impact benefit agreement with then-owner Prophecy Platinum in August 2012, the Kluane First Nation received an unspecified number of shares alongside the usual education and employment incentives. Wellgreen was just the third mining project in the North to offer shares to a First Nation - two others, Brewery Creek and the N.W.T.‘s Nechalacho rare earths project, signed similar agreements in July 2012.
Chief Alatini has ambitious plans for her First Nation’s involvement in the potential mine. “If the mine site goes ahead, we want to be ready for it,” she told the conference attendees. The KFN wants its citizens to get the training necessary not just for unskilled positions - “we want geologists, engineers,” she said. “We want to see highly skilled individuals with the ability to establish long careers.”
The First Nation is looking into ways to provide an array of services to the mine site, from haulage and camp services to employee housing and roadwork. It’s even contemplating the possibility of building its own LNG power plant, to power the mine and to reduce the community’s reliance on diesel.
The KFN is also involved in the planning for the mine, with quarterly meetings to discuss environmental stewardship, reclamation plans, and other issues. They’re planning for “seven generations,” Alatini said. “It’s a very collaborative approach and it’s working for us.”
After the panel, Chief Alatini spoke to the News about her approach to dealing with industry. “We didn’t want to just be reactive, we wanted to be pro-active,” she said. “I think the way we’ve engaged all the industry players that have been in our area, we’ve developed really good working relationships with them.”
She isn’t afraid to say no to industry when necessary, she said. “We’re able to do that in a respectful manner that doesn’t have to be in the media and doesn’t have to be in the courts. We’re able to sit down and say ‘This is not going to work for us.’”
Her advice for First Nations looking to work directly with the mining industry: “Know what your parameters are. Know what you definitely don’t want. Know your limits. And then get informed about the industry so that you’re making informed decisions.”
As for the industry, she says that reaching out to local First Nations is the first step. “Call, number one. Create awareness about your project and your intent.” The second step? “Be prepared to answer some questions but also to ask questions. Are there concerns?”
“Those are the ingredients,” she said, for a healthier relationship between Yukon First Nations and industry.
jjeeddoo7
11 years ago
Wellgreen Platinum Announces Warrant Exercises for Approximately $1 Million
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March 28, 2014, Vancouver, B.C., Wellgreen Platinum Ltd. (TSX-V: WG, OTC-QX: WGPLF) announces that, over the course of the past few weeks, 903,636 warrants were exercised at $0.80 and 300,000 warrants were exercised at $0.90 resulting in a total of 1,203,636 common shares of the Company being issued from treasury for total proceeds to the Company of approximately $1.0 million.
In addition, the Company has applied to the TSX Venture Exchange (the “Exchange”) to amend the expiry date of 2,533,604 warrants that were granted by the Company on July 31, 2012 with an expiry date of July 31, 2014, and 1,250,000 warrants that were granted by the Company August 29, 2012 with an expiry date of August 29, 2014 (together, the “Warrants”). Subject to Exchange approval, the term of the Warrants will be extended to September 29, 2016, in accordance with the policies of the Exchange. All other terms of the Warrants, including but not limited to the exercise price of $2.00 and the “accelerator” clause whereby Wellgreen Platinum can require that all Warrants be exercised within a 30 day period in the event that the closing price of the Company’s common shares on the Exchange exceeds $2.80 for ten consecutive trading days, shall remain unchanged.
The Company has amended the maturity date from March 31 to December 31, 2014 for loans aggregating $0.9 million that the Company advanced to its senior management team in order to assist them in participating in the $5.9 million equity financing of the Company that closed on June 20, 2013 (the “Placement”). All other terms of the loans remain unchanged, including that the Company holds as collateral for the loans, all shares and warrants subscribed for by the loan recipients under the Placement, and the amended loan agreements will be available under Wellgreen Platinum’s SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com.
About Wellgreen Platinum
Based in Vancouver, Canada, Wellgreen Platinum Ltd. is a platinum group metals focused exploration and development company with advanced Canadian projects in the Yukon Territory and Ontario. Our 100% owned Wellgreen PGM-Ni-Cu project, located in the Yukon, is one of the world’s largest undeveloped PGM deposits and one of the few significant PGM deposits outside of southern Africa or Russia. Our Shakespeare PGM-Ni-Cu project is a fully-permitted, production-ready brownfield mine located in the well-established Sudbury mining district of Ontario.
Our experienced management team has an extensive track record of successful, large-scale project discovery, development, permitting, operations and financing combined with an entrepreneurial approach to sustainability and collaboration with First Nations and communities.
jjeeddoo7
11 years ago
SA
Sprott's Thoughts on Platinum in SA
Sprott's Thoughts
March 28, 2014
South Africa: Platinum, Gold Miners and Workers Are Stuck – Nick Holland, Gold Fields By Henry Bonner (hbonner@sprottglobal.com) Read online Nick Holland, CEO of major gold miner Gold Fields Inc., has become well-known for his approach to reconciling state and workers’ demands with the drive to maximize shareholder earnings. He helped propose the current sliding tax system in Peru – where tax rates depend on metals prices. The deal helps miners maintain their production during tough times, while government enjoy a higher take when miners are most profitable. On a call to his offices in South Africa, I asked Mr. Holland to comment on the situation unraveling on the ground there. An eight-week strike by the South African Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) mining union has blocked operations at platinum producers Anglo American Platinum Ltd. (Amplats), Lonmin Plc., and Impala Platinum Holdings Ltd. (Implats). As of March 21st, losses to these companies’ revenues were 9.4 Billion South African Rand, or around $865 million, because of the strikes2. “Unfortunately, I believe the miners will not be able to get what they want from the big mining companies,” said Mr. Holland. “The real issue in South Africa is that there is a very big gap in incomes,” he continued. “You have a situation where unions are now becoming much more aggressive in terms of what they want as base wages. “This comes against a backdrop in the platinum industry where the price of platinum has come down and costs are escalating rapidly. Producers are not in a position to give more – otherwise, they will roll over.” It’s not simply that mining companies pay too many taxes to be profitable, he adds: “I don’t think that the taxes we pay here are out of line with worldwide taxes. I think that taxes are reasonably competitive and fair. “ “I think that there is probably a big political undertone in the actions of the new dominant union – the AMCU – which is leading the strikes. They are trying to score points in the political arena – independent of the economic viability of their demands.” Is there any resolution in sight? Can mining companies meet the workers’ terms? “Well, it seems like there is not much room for compromise. Miners cannot pay more because productivity has declined as the mines have gotten deeper, and as the ore bodies grow further away from the surface. The costs of mining have thus gone up, but productivity has not matched it. “Meanwhile, the industry is simply carrying too many people. Mechanization of mines – which requires less labor – is severely lagging the rest of the world. Over the past 40 years, Australia and Canada have gone through the mechanization revolution, but South Africa has stuck with the old labor-intensive mining methods. “The platinum and gold industries carry about 280,000 employees. With the kind of increases that these workers want, you will need gold and platinum prices substantially higher than where they are today – assuming costs do not rise as well. “Because of strikes and political action, wages have actually risen faster than inflation over the past, while productivity has decreased. I am afraid that there is no easy solution at the moment. “In fact, you will notice that we have decreased our exposure in South Africa over the years. Our only remaining mine in South Africa is mechanized and employs only around 4,000 people. We have chosen to replace our production with mines in new jurisdictions, including Peru, Ghana, and Australia.” Nicholas Holland was appointed an executive director of Gold Fields in 1997 and became CEO on 1 May 2008. Prior to that, he was the Company’s CFO. Mr. Holland has more than 31 years’ experience in financial management, of which 23 years were in the mining industry. Prior to joining Gold Fields, he was Financial Director and Senior Manager of Corporate Finance at Gencor
jjeeddoo7
11 years ago
New results from shallow drilling in the Central Zone have also confirmed the presence of areas with higher grade mineralization beginning from surface. Hole 222 intercepted 163.0 metres grading 2.20 g/t Pt Eq. or 0.53% Ni Eq. from surface, including a 24.0 metre section grading 5.22 g/t Pt Eq. or 1.26% Ni Eq. Hole 138, approximately 56 metres West of hole 222, intercepted 74.9 metres at 2.72 g/t Pt. Eq or 0.65% Ni Eq., including 26.8 metres at 5.10 g/t Pt. Eq. or 1.22% Ni Eq. Future drilling and metallurgical testing will evaluate the potential extraction of these mineralized areas as near surface starter pits designed to provide higher grade mill feed early in the life of the mine.
Greg Johnson, Wellgreen Platinum's President and CEO, stated, "The identification of this band of higher grade mineralization in the Central Zone is very significant. This material is located just 50 metres from the existing underground workings, which could make this area amenable to low cost development. The updated preliminary economic assessment planned for Q2 will evaluate a combination of open pit mining and selective bulk underground mining of higher grade material at a reduced capital spending level. One of our key goals over the past year has been to develop a high confidence, predictive geologic model for Wellgreen to identify the controls to, and location of, higher grade mineralization in the deposit. The work on the model over the past year has significantly advanced our understanding and confidence in the geologic model and supports the upcoming resource update that will be the basis for the new engineering approach to the project. This new model shows that PGM-Ni-Cu mineralization occurs both within the often very high grade contact related zones that were the focus of historic mining and exploration as well as in the broad bands of higher grade mineralization up to 500 metres thick in the core of the ultramafic bodies that have been intercepted over one kilometre of strike length from the Far East Zone to the Central Zone."
Investors should note that Wellgreen is a polymetallic deposit with mineralization that includes the platinum group metals (PGMs) platinum, palladium, rhodium and other rare PGM metals along with gold, nickel, copper and cobalt. At current metal prices using anticipated metallurgical recoveries and proportionally allocated costs for each of the metals, the net economic contribution is anticipated to be largest for platinum, palladium and gold (3E elements), followed by nickel and then by copper and cobalt.
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These bands of higher grade mineralization are open to expansion to depth and further along trend towards the west. The Company continues to receive and interpret final assay results from additional holes drilled in the last program, as well as results from the re-logged and re-sampled historical drill holes. Results from the West and Far West Zones in the Wellgreen deposit are currently being integrated into the model and additional results are anticipated to follow in future updates.
jjeeddoo7
11 years ago
10 Pulsations
1) Looking at the Ashburn Ventures and the Caribou King properties and the activity in monies spend in the very recent past, they are willing to bet on the Kluane Ultramafic Belt, and located next to our Wellgreen Platinum project.
2) The addition of Greg Johnson as our CEO and the team he has assemilated, he does not get involved in project unless they are Big.
3) The ore body keeps growing will every assay and drilled hole, we are open at depth and width still, never thought I would love the far east area as much as I do to date! Drill, baby, drill.
4) We know we will at least double the size, if not triple, with the new 43-101 coming Q2.
5) Also having an updated PEA with the targeted higher grade starter pit and proper CAPEX in place, ensures the market to understand the complexity of deep evaluation of multiple metals like we have here at Wellgreen, also around end of Q2
6) The well seasoned government in the Yukon that truely understands their role of actually helping a company thru the permiting process to establish a mine.
7) The local First Nation involvement in this project and their willingness to partner along side.
(do not underestimate these last two)
8) Open pitable mine, nearly scratching the surface, with a mine life extending beyand the 37 years stated in the past PEA, as the ore body increases in size.
9) Transportation, deep sea ports, LNG, possible hydro, new met testing with higher % of recovery very possible, etc
10) ahh, ten, the fact that there are signed confidentiality agreements with possible joint venture partners AND producers at this time.
considerations: A) Do we prefer a joint venture? what terms?
B) Do we want a buyout? when? $$$?
C) Do you like pina coladas?
toss out your opinion