Impact assays high grades of rare PGM elements at Broken Hill

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THE DRILL SERGEANT: Impact Minerals (ASX: IPT) has received assay results, which it claims have confirmed the presence of high-grade and potentially economic rare platinum group metals (PGM) on the company’s 87 per cent-owned Broken Hill Joint Venture project in New South Wales.

The company said the results add to both the mineralised and economic appeal of the Red Hill prospect within the JV area, where Impact has previously identified encouraging copper and nickel grades just 20 kilometres east of the Broken Hill silver-lead-zinc mine.

The drill intercepts from both the Upper and Lower Zones at Red Hill have been upgraded as follows: (Note 3PGM = platinum-palladium-gold and 7PGM = 3PGM + osmium, iridium, rhodium, ruthenium where assayed)

Upper Zone:
9.5 metres at 4.7 grams per tonne 3PGM, 1.5 per cent copper and 0.8 per cent nickel, including 5.1m at 11g/t 7PGM, 1.9 per cent copper and 0.9 per cent nickel (RHD001); and

5.2m at 7.9g/t 7PGM, 1.1 per cent copper and 1.6 per cent nickel (RHD006).

Lower Zone:
9.9m at 6.7g/t 3PGM, 1.4 per cent copper and 0.3 per cent nickel, including
4.2m at 11.8g/t 7PGM, 2.6 per cent copper and 0.5 per cent nickel (RHD001); and

13.8m at 6.6g/t 7PGM, 1.1 per cent copper and 0.3 per cent nickel (RHD006).

Impact Minerals managing director Dr Mike Jones said the Red Hill assays revealed the presence of the rare platinum group metals (PGM) osmium, iridium, rhodium and ruthenium, factors which he considers to have increased the total grade of PGM in the recently discovered zones of high-grade copper-nickel-platinum-palladium-gold mineralisation.

Jones went on to claim the new assays confirm Impact’s discovery at Red Hill contains some of the highest grades of PGM reported in Australia.

“These newly discovered PGMs have almost doubled the total grade of PGM’s within the more nickel-rich Upper Zone of mineralisation that occurs within the 25 to 30 metre thick near-surface layer of Red Hill’s copper-nickel-PGM mineralisation,” Jones said in the company’s announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange.

“Given that the current spot metal prices in Australian dollars per ounce for these metals are rhodium: $1,506 per ounce; iridium $763 per ounce: osmium $500 per ounce and ruthenium $65 per ounce, in addition to platinum $1,528 per ounce, palladium $1,015 per ounce and gold at $1,581 per ounce, the rare PGMs at Red Hill may be a significant economic credit to any resource defined at the project.”

Email: info@impactminerals.com.au

Website: www.impactminerals.com.au