Potential for Further Growth

The Canadian explorer PTX Metals (CSE: PTX, FSE: 9PX, WKN: A0MVNG) recently once again confirmed known (historically proven) mineralization on the polymetallic W2 project with impressive drilling results. The drilling was also designed to demonstrate the expansion potential of the near-surface mineralization trend on the property located near the Ring of Fire.

Now, CEO Greg Ferron’s company has used these and other recent and historical drilling results for 3D and pit grade modeling, creating an exploration target for the near-surface mineralization. This amounts to a potential 59 to 135 million tons with average grades of 0.78% to 1.03% copper equivalent.

Up to 2.3 Billion Pounds of Contained Copper Equivalent

This would mean between 610,000 and 1,052 million tons or 1.23 to 2.3 billion pounds of contained copper equivalent (at a cut-off of 0.7% and 0.5% respectively)! Assuming an even higher copper equivalent content of over 0.9%, the exploration target for W2’s surface mineralization is 31 million tons at 1.25% copper equivalent.

In total, five mineralization zones were defined using the exploration target model: CA Zone 1, CA Zone 2, AP Main and two satellite zones named AP North and AP East. Together, these have an extensive strike length of about 7 kilometers and are mostly located near the surface (150 meters) – but are open at depth. As PTX explains, all borehole data was consolidated in the GEOVIA GEMS database, which included 98 boreholes with 16,841 meters from Inco, Aurora Platinum, and PTX Metals.

The highlights:

• PTX only recently acquired the CA 1 and CA 2 zones. According to the exploration target model, these alone already have the potential for 24 million tons at an average of 0.98% copper equivalent with a cut-off of 0.7%. (Only ore with 0.7% copper equivalent or more was considered.)
• The CA Zone 2, located to the southeast, shows the highest grade of 1.42% copper equivalent in 2 million tons. Here, the cut-off is 0.9% copper equivalent.
• In the AP Main Zone, however, a higher proportion of platinum group elements (PGEs) was observed. According to the new model, there is potential here for 20 million tons at 1.25% copper equivalent, assuming a copper equivalent of over 0.9% for the estimate.

In addition, numerous other conductor structures not yet investigated by drilling are distributed across the entire W2 property, and the first phase of drilling in 2024 had previously discovered unknown mineralization zones with high thicknesses along a 7-kilometer strike on the property.

Now that the exploration target model is available, the next steps primarily involve confirmation drilling where Inco had previously drilled holes in the CA zones. This will be complemented by delineation drilling in the AP Zone, as well as metallurgical work and activities related to community relations. All these activities should strengthen confidence in the deposit’s potential and significantly reduce project risk.

“We are very pleased with the results of this initial work, which demonstrate the considerable size of the W2 project and its potential to become a significant mining project,” said Greg Ferron, CEO and President of PTX Metals Inc. “The reported tonnages and grades benefited significantly from the high-quality drilling conducted by Inco, Aurora Platinum, and PTX. We remain confident that confirmation drilling and continued exploration will both improve and expand the deposits.”

Conclusion: An exploration or exploration target model is more common in the Australian mining sector than in Canada, but in our opinion, it’s a very helpful method to estimate the potential of a promising project like W2. In other words: What PTX Metals is publishing today is an internal resource calculation that is not yet NI 43-101 compliant. The reason for this is that PTX does not yet have sufficient drilling results that meet 43-101 standards. However, the results that PTX has not drilled itself largely come from drilling by Inco, formerly Canada’s largest mining company and the world’s largest nickel producer. In this respect, these drilling results can be considered of higher quality than what many exploration companies produce today… So if PTX Metals is able to prove its exploration thesis or confirm the exploration model through confirmation drilling, the market should then, at the latest, recognize what a promising project the company has in W2. And as mentioned before, there are still many structures on the property that haven’t even been tested by drilling!