Prophecy Platinum unveils "successful" metallurgy results from Wellgreen

Prophecy Platinum Corp. (CVE:NKL)(OTCQX:PNIKF) unveiled Thursday what it called "successful metallurgical recovery" results of up to 88 per cent copper and 73 per cent nickel from its Wellgreen project, southwest of Canada's Yukon Territory.

The preliminary results are from the first phase of an extensive metallurgical program at Wellgreen, which is a nickel-copper-platinum group elements asset.

The program is focused on producing a nickel-copper-platinum group elements-gold concentrate from the disseminated sulphide, ultramafic mineralized rocks that comprise the majority of Wellgreen's NI 43-101 compliant resource.

So far, a total of 41 rougher and cleaner tests and four locked cycle flotation tests have been conducted at a lab in Vancouver, with results indicating that a bulk concentrate of 5.6% nickel, 6% copper, 3.5 grams per tonne (g/t) platinum, 6.3 g/t pallidum and 0.5 g/t gold can be produced.

These results represent recoveries of 68% nickel, 88% copper, 46% platinum, 73% palladium and 59% gold.
"We are delighted with these preliminary results," said chairman John Lee.
"The follow-up met studies, along with our infill drilling, expansion drilling, and preliminary economic studies in 2012 will continue to de-risk our 100% owned Wellgreen project and advance this highly unique asset towards feasibility."
The company said a 150 kilogram composite blend of the prevalent host-mineralized rocks was crushed to a -10 mesh size and used as the sample for testing.
While the preliminary phase focused on metal recovery from Wellgreen's mineralization of typical representative grade, an additional test was also done using material with a higher calculated head feed grade, the company said, of 0.83% nickel, 0.55% copper, 0.57 g/t platinum, 0.57 g/t palladium, and 0.08 g/t gold.
This test produced a concentrate containing 8.2% nickel, 6.5% copper, 2.9 g/t platinum, 5.6 g/t palladium and 0.6 g/t gold, which represent recoveries of 73% nickel, 88% copper, 38% platinum, 73% palladium, and 62% gold.
The company said both tests show that metals can be recovered from varied Wellgreen mineralization, through "substantially identical flowsheets and common reagents."
The results will be included into the company's upcoming preliminary economic assessment (PEA) for the project, Prophecy said, which is expected in June this year.
For the remainder of the year, the metallurgical program will use samples collected from fresh core and stored in air-sealed containers to avoid oxidation during prolonged lab testing, as opposed to initial testing from newly shaved rocks.
The company also said that more reagent combinations will be used on high grade sulphides to potentially improve nickel and platinum group element recoveries.
In addition, samples are being tested for rhodium, osmium, iridium, and ruthenium as well, with results pending. Specific programs will be developed to recover these elements, the company said.
Prophecy also conducted a flowsheet to produce separate nickel and copper concentrates, which would provide additional downstream marketability for the Wellgreen project, it said. Split stream tests are being performed, with preliminary results expected in the second quarter.
At the project, the company has been diamond drilling on the property using its underground workings as a platform, with a total of 14 holes drilled to date. This represents around 3,000 metres of a planned 9,000 metre underground drilling program throughout 2012. First results are expected this month.

A separate surface drilling program, with up to four surface drills, is anticipated to start in late May, which will focus on infill drilling to upgrade Wellgreen's inferred resource, and exploration drilling to test several soil and VTEM anomalies seen at the eastern and western extensions.

The entire 2012 drilling program is expected to total around 20,000 metres and will be the biggest exploration campaign in the Wellgreen project's history, Prophecy said.

Prophecy Platinum is a Canadian exploration company with projects in Canada, Argentina and Uruguay. Its flagship project is Wellgreen, and it also holds the Lynn Lake project in Manitoba, Canada.