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A letter from Pierre de Garis, Mining Engineer
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I had a brief chat with Josh Hattingh the other day and have briefly looked at the Platfields website. My opinion is as follows:
Hope this helps,
Pierre de Garis
Mining Engineer
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I had a brief chat with Josh Hattingh the other day and have briefly looked at the Platfields website. My opinion is as follows:
- Josh correctly summarised the Berg Project as a large, low grade platinum deposit (± 3 million ounce) with some good platinum value intersections
- The Berg Project has a strike length of 9km, which is more than sufficient to start a mining operation.
- The big advantage of the Berg Deposit is that it is shallow, so it should be possible to open up a large open pit operation. This will reduce dramatically the amount of time (and capital) required to get the project to the production stage since the need to sink shafts or declines, plus carry out underground development, will not be required in the short term. This stage will come later. In this regard, the project is somewhat similar to Eland Platinum's current operation in Brits, where an open pit operation is preceding underground mining.
- My overall impression is that the Berg Project and Platfields itself both present a genuine opportunity. Platfields has taken a relatively slow and thorough approach to the Project, with a number of drilling campaigns over the last few years. The main priority now is to produce a Competent Persons Report (CPR) and a resource statement, most likely to an inferred level of accuracy. I understand that SRK has been tasked with this, which is positive for the Project as they are well respected. The CPR is crucial to the Project.
Hope this helps,
Pierre de Garis
Mining Engineer




