Lac Des Iles - Thunder Bay North

Platinum Group Metals Ltd. (PTM) got its start in the Lac Des Iles and Sudbury platinum group metal (PGM) exploration camps after a merger in 2002 with New Millennium Metals Corporation. Recently, PTM has renewed its commitment to the discovery of a PGM deposit in Canada after reaching certain milestones on its advanced stage mine development on the Bushveld Igneous Complex of South Africa.

PTM holds a large land position through various wholly owned claims, newly staked ground and optioned mineral rights in the Lac Des Iles - Thunder Bay PGM exploration camp, Northwestern Ontario. New mineral rights were staked by PTM in early 2011 in response to renewed exploration promoted by the definition of a new style of PGM deposit for the Thunder Bay North area. Project areas were also added through option agreements on highly prospective ground with known PGM mineralization in boulders. Additionally, mineral rights held for the past 10 years by PTM are being re-assessed and explored with respect to the new model as well as defining and expanding the previously discovered PGM mineralization.

The Thunder Bay area hosts Canada's only primary producing PGM mine, the Lac des Iles Mine (LDI), owned by North American Palladium. The LDI Mine is a large, low-grade open-pit mine hosted in an unusual Archean Age (2100 Ma) intrusive complex. Deeper workings at the mine have increased historic resources and defined higher grades of PGM material with Platinum to Palladium ratios of approximately 1:6.

A newly discovered deposit type for the Thunder Bay North area occurs as PGM mineralization hosted in magma conduits or tubes. These deposit types are known in other PGM exploration camps around the world but have only recently been the focus of renewed exploration campaigns due to highly concentrated zones of PGM mineralization with higher Platinum to Palladium ratios of approximately 1:1. As is the case for the majority of the conduit deposit types, the recently discovered one near Thunder Bay is also Proterozoic in age (1200 Ma).

With the discovery of the younger, conduit style of PGM mineralization, PTM considers the potential for further discovery in the region to be excellent. With a spread of nearly 1 Billion years separating the two styles of PGM mineralization within the Lac des Iles – Thunder Bay North area there is a long lived history of PGM mineralization events in the region.

Exploration work continues on the numerous PTM Canadian Exploration Projects with airborne geophysical surveys, geochemical surveys, ground geophysical surveys and the drill testing of the targets generated. This work continues concurrent with mine development in the RSA

Based on the exploration results thus far and the number, size and widespread distribution of PGM occurrences in the district, PTM plans to continue to hold these positions and add to them for further exploration.