Mining News: News Nuggets: Group Ten cut deal on Alaska PGE project

Group Ten Metals Inc. Sept. 24 reported the acquisition of the Duke Island copper-nickel-platinum group element project in Southeast Alaska from Quaterra Alaska Inc., a subsidiary of Quaterra Resources Inc. The property consists of 31 unpatented claims that control the core area of copper-nickel-platinum group element sulfide mineralization discovered by Quaterra in 2001. Four large zones of mineralization have been identified on the property. Only one of these zones has been tested to date with 3,434 meters of drilling in 16 holes. None of the holes are thought to have penetrated the prospective basal contact of the intrusion where the highest grades of mineralization are believed to occur. Sulfide mineralization on the property is within a zoned ultramafic intrusion in Alaska’s Alexander Platinum Belt. The Duke Island occurrence is unique in the high percentage of disseminated and net-textured to massive sulfide mineralization within certain phases of the ultramafic complex. Outcrop grab samples have returned values up to 2.8 percent copper, 0.25 percent nickel and more than one part per million PGE. Drilling at the Marquis prospect has intercepted from five meters to 90 meters of semi-massive to massive sulfide containing anomalous values for copper, nickel, platinum and palladium. To acquire the property, Group Ten has agreed to issue 1 million shares to each of two vendors, with Quaterra Alaska Inc. retaining a one percent net smelter return royalty. Group Ten is in the process of acquiring highly prospective projects in the ultramafic PGE-copper-nickel belts of Alaska and Yukon Territory. The company holds three projects – Spy, Ultra and Catalyst – in southwestern Yukon. “The Duke Island acquisition is a key component of our strategy to create the premier nickel exploration company in the region,” Group Ten CEO Michael Rowley explained.

- Shane Lasley