Thorunn Howatt
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Nov 19/01) - A serendipitous series of events led an exploration company to find unexpected riches in the Nunavut earth.

"You don't normally find platinum palladium in the massive sulphides so it's a bonus, an absolute bonus," said Starfield Resources spokesperson Tom Brady.

Starfield says it found a large system of massive sulphides, the host rock for nickel, copper and cobalt. It also found platinum palladium at the same Ferguson Lake location.

"We tested by mistake, for lack of better term, an area outside the massive sulphides," Brady said. When the drill core was sent in a combined four-ounce-plus platinum palladium combination over an intersection of .35 metres was found, Brady said.

"So this is a whole new discovery."

The company is now testing 4.3 kilometres of previously drilled core hoping to find similar occurrences of the platinum palladium.

"On Oct. 3, when we got these results back, the focus of the company shifted to look for occurrence of platinum palladium," said Brady.

High-grade platinum palladium is found in a black rock. Nickel and cobalt are used in the manufacturing of metals. Copper is used for pipe and wire. Palladium is used in the automobile industry to make catalytic converters. Platinum and palladium are used to make batteries. They are considered rare minerals valued at about $450 US an ounce.

Even though six months ago the minerals were valued at about $1,000 US an ounce, Brady seemed optimistic about the find. "That has accelerated senior mining company interest in the discovery, which was high to begin with, so we anticipate a takeover in the near future," he said.

Starfield is publicly traded on the Canadian Venture Exchange. The Nunavut Ferguson Lake deposit is its only property. Ferguson Lake is about 400 kilometres north of the Manitoba border. Rankin Inlet is the closest airport.

A month ago the company employed as many as 40 people but right now there is a skeleton crew of only three working at the site.