Platinex has entered into an option agreement with Skead Holdings Ltd., with respect to certain claims situated in Churchill, Macmurchy and Asquith Townships, in Ontario (“the Shining Tree property”). Platinex has the right to acquire a 100% - interest in the 133 claim units (5,320 acres or 2,153 ha), subject to a 3% NSR, by issuing $400,000.00 and by incurring property expenditures of $850,000.00 during the ensuing four-year period to April 11, 2012.

A qualifying report has been filed on the property recommending a two phase exploration program.

Judging from evidence of previous results on the Herrick deposit there is a potential to outline a small commercial gold deposit. On a larger scale the bulk of the property may be at the low temperature top of an epithermal system that could well be associated with a world-class gold deposit at depth.

Figure 1:
Abitibi Greenstone Belt

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On a regional scale the property is located within the prolific Abitibi greenstone belt which is renowned for its concentration of world-class gold and Cu-Zn-Ag-Au deposits. The Shining Tree property is underlain by the Larder Lake – Cadillac Break with which many of the world-class gold deposits are spatially associated. The Shining Tree property is also centred on the axis of a regional gravity high signifying an area of thick supracrustal rocks and under-plating by oceanic crust. In the Abitibi these associations appear conducive to the discovery of major gold deposits.

The property is underlain by an Early Precambrian assemblage of WNW trending, steeply dipping felsic to mafic and ultramafic metavolcanic rocks as well as metasedimentary rocks and alkali metavolcanic rocks of Timiskaming age. These rocks are intruded by pre-orogenic feldspar porphyries and hypabyssal diabase dikes and sills of Nipissing Age. The Timiskaming-aged metasedimentary rocks are believed to have accumulated in a regional rift. Later south to north compressive faulting along the axis of this rift is proposed, but has not been documented in the Shining Tree area. Major NNW sinistral wrench faults, including the Michiwakenda Lake Fault which crosses the Shining Tree property, are regional in scale. Related subsidiary parallel shears and possible splays carry significant gold mineralization on the Shining Tree property.

Figure 2:
General Geology

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Bedrock exposures are limited on the property which is principally covered by a thin mantle of Wisconsinan till.

The Platinex Shining Tree property is at the hub of the area known as the Shining Tree gold camp. Numerous old gold workings and showings are located along a north-northwest trend on the property and to the southeast of the property. There are other workings and showings in one or two parallel trends. Minor production has been achieved from one set of workings close to the property boundary.

Low temperature gold-silver mineralization is principally associated with multiple brittle, dilatant (but sometimes ductile) quartz-carbonate veins. Many of these veins are narrow and contain sporadic high gold (silver) values, but are of lower priority.

Figure 3: Vein System Diagram and Platinex Prospecting Click to Zoom

The Herrick gold deposit discovered in 1918 has been developed by a shaft to 94 metres and some 345 m of lateral development on two veins. Very high grade shoots were defined in surface channel sampling, sampling in the shaft, underground on the level at 90 m and in four drill holes by Herrick Gold Mines from 1918 onwards. In 1989 Unocal drilled 11 holes for 1,473 m, cut over 201 channel samples and also took 35 composite grab samples on the two veins to test a stated potential, solely from historic data, of the system to carry 1,732 tonnes per vertical foot at 7.2 g Au /t over a width of 1.8 m and 50% dilution.

Figure 4: Herrick Gold Geology, Drill Holes Click to Zoom

Figure 5: Example Cross Section Click to Zoom

Figure 6: West and Central Gold Zones Click to Zoom

Figure 7: Longitudinal Section, West Zone Click to Zoom

Figure 8: Longitudinal Section, Central Zone Click to Zoom

Unocals’ results confirmed the persistence of the gold mineralization over a 85 metre strike length and expanded the known thickness of the mineralized shear along much of its length. However, the drilling and channel sampling by Unocal identified that certain gold-bearing zones are narrowly confined within the shear zones and carry potentially commercial, high grade, correlative values and other portions contain isolated patches of high gold grades within a broader lower grade shear zone.

Although the tenor of the Herrick Gold Mines drill core and channel sampling was not confirmed completely, the location of the mineralization was confirmed by Unocal. Surface sample gold values of up to 56.5g per tonne /1.0 m (45 samples) were reported. In 1990 Fort Knox Mines performed a small program of channel sampling on surface and in the shaft confirming some of the higher grade mineralization but not all of the higher grade values presented by Herrick Gold Mines.

Platinex has initiated its Phase I program of exploration. To-date work has included: an airborne magnetometer, VLF-EM and radiometric survey which has been completed but not yet interpreted; stripping, channel sampling (58 samples) and core sampling conducted to verify results of previous work on the Herrick, Caswell and Churchill workings; and, a reconnaissance basal till sampling program was carried out with 52 of 77 samples now processed for gold grains by Overburden Drilling Management.

Work by Unocal and Fort Knox Gold on the Herrick vein has been qualified and validated. Furthermore, portions of the Herrick Gold Mines channel samples have been found to be consistent with later sampling. The bulk of the Herrick sample results is unsupported to-date. Over 50 of the processed till samples have returned exceptionally encouraging results returneing more than ten pristine plus modified gold grains and up to 79 gold grains in total, indicating potential for several previously unexplored gold occurrences in bedrock. Significant quantities of modified gold grains in the other samples indicate trends that could also lead to discovery of potentially significant gold mineralization. Follow-up sampling was performed to delineate areas around anomalous till sample sites. The data will be used to guide more detailed basal till sampling to delineate new, gold-rich target areas during the 2010 exploration program.

An 11,500m drilling program is proposed to further evaluate existing and anticipated gold-bearing targets during 2010. The proposed work program will include deeper diamond drilling of the gold zones at the Herrick deposit and testing for the depth continuity of the Ronda gold-bearing zone beneath the Platinex property. Additional till sampling by hand-dug holes, backhoe excavations and reverse circulation sampling is planned to further delineate the gold-in-till anomalies and define targets for subsequent detailed surface prospecting, surface stripping and channel sampling, geophysical surveys and diamond drilling. The proposed budget for Phase II has been increased to $2,200,000.

Figure 10: Location of Shining Tree Properties

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For a better view of the above map, see the large version (4MB). The above map was created by Intierra Mapping.

For the purpose of this property description James R. Trusler is the qualified person.