Basin remains hotspot for PGM activity: prospects look favourable for junior mining companies. (Sudbury: Special Report).

Exploration activity in the Sudbury region remains in high gear with more than 20 junior mining companies in various stages of the hunt for platinum and palladium in the historic nickel belt area.

Junior exploration companies continue to explore for platinum group metals in partnership deals with some of the world's largest producers, such as Anglo-American Platinum Corp. and Impala Platinum Holdings Ltd. of South Africa and London-based Lonmin PLC.

"Certainly there's a lot of activity going on in the Sudbury basin now," says Wayne Whymark, president of Wallbridge Mining, a Walden-based company, which is exploring the basin for platinum group metals (PGMs).

"The Sudbury basin is probably in the year 2002 seeing exploration at an historic high."

Last winter, his company struck a multimillion-dollar deal with Lonmin for its Windy Lake project and 18 other properties around Sudbury.

Under an open-ended financing agreement, Lonmin came in with an initial commitment of $4.5 million (US) for the next two years to cover all of Wallbridge's exploration costs, as well as any mine development.

"That means if our exploration is successful, Wallbridge is carried all the way to production. We think we've matured our Sudbury project considerably with this deal with Lonmin."

Whymark says their drill program at the previously unexplored terrain beneath Windy Lake identified a critical sub-layer rock type.

"We're trying to map out the structure that contains this sub-layer and we'll complete that program this fall."

The likelihood of an operating mine is years away, but optimism remains high.

"Geologically it has the potential to host a very significant deposit," says Whymark. "It's probably the last big piece of near-surface contact in the Sudbury camp. It's a big target and we've been drilling from land since early in the spring and we'll be drilling well into the fall.

"Hopefully we'll have a fairly large program on the ice this winter; we're anticipating having four drills this winter for the better part of two months or more."

The company has further identified a promising PGM-copper-rich structure on its Victor East property near a high-grade ore discovery by Falconbridge on its Nickel Rim property last November.

"The property has very high prospectivity."

Falconbridge is proceeding with an intensive diamond drill program until year's end to gather data on a high-grade deposit, which may increase the longevity of the nickel mining giant in the region.

Mike Welch, Falconbridge's manager of geology in Sudbury, says six drill rigs are operating on their Nickel Rim South property about three kiometres north of the Sudbury airport.

A preliminary resource calculation indicates about 4.2 million tonnes of high-grade deposits of nickel, copper, platinum, palladium, gold and silver.

"Those are spectacular platinum-palladium numbers and are way better than anything at Lac des Iles (property near Thunder Bay)," Welch says. "They're far superior, just not the same tonnage."

This phase of drilling should be wrapped up by year's end when it is anticipated a decision will be made by the board of directors early next year to proceed with an underground exploration program. The program would begin by mid-year with the deposit possibly under production by 2007.

Diamonds are also looming on the horizon with Mustang Minerals having spun off a new public company, JML Resources, and staking a big claim position in the Marten River area about a one-hour drive northeast of Sudbury.

After extensive till sampling and detailed airborne magnetic surveys of their checker-board of claim blocks, in mid-August JML began drilling a number of potential anomalies to find kimberlite pipes.

JML plans to keep up the field work with additional drill programs throughout the fall and winter.

Mustang acquired the ground in July 2000, buying into a joint venture of 500 claims with Falconbridge, then adding 2,000 of their own claims in the area.

"We've found the full suite of mineral chemistry," says Mustang president Robin Dunbar. The company has found more than 400 indicator minerals, including eclogitic garnets, "overwhelming evidence" that diamonds should be there, Dunbar says.

"It's part of the Lake Timiskaming structural zone so the geology is right for kimberlite. It's a confluence of a number of geological structures. It's a prospective area laying right on our doorstep within an hour's drive of our Sudbury office.

"Some of our targets are literally 100 yards off a logging road," and can be drilled very economically, says Dunbar.

Mustang is continuing work on its prime PGM properties having just drilled six holes at East Bull Lake property, a joint venture with Falconbridge. Results are expected to be made public soon.

The company is waiting word from Impala on the next phase of the River Valley project and is "hoping to get another $1 million commitment," says Dunbar.

"We're getting lot of mineralization, it just isn't a high enough grade yet. We're looking for that sweet spot that would justify the economics moving ahead."

www.wallbridgemining.com

www.jmlresources.com

www.mustangminerals.com