Significant differences this time as the PGM average is about 9g/ton in South Africa and not 6g/ton at Panton.. the Panton project was going to be underground mine whereas the Smokey Hills is Open Cut thus a lot less capital required.
Additionally, the Platinum price is now around us$920/oz verses in 2003 with Panton of about us$600/oz..
At Panton, PLA was going to ship the ore to South Africa for processing, where now, the Smokey Hills project will start off with the ore being processed a couple miles down the road by toll of another already existing and commissioned mill. While the company receives revenue from this toll milling of ore, they will be building their own mill.
There is plenty of risk reduction here compared to the Panton project and I see huge upside in my opninion at only 18 cents a share!
The reef at Smokey Hills currently being drilled is the same reef that has been mined already by many miles - there is a reasonable chance in my opinion that this reef will continue straight through PLA's prospect area. The ground has a lot of sucessful history.
Given many prospects out there in the mining industry, I would have to say that I feel PLA is well advanced and I find it hard to beleive the current market cap given the history of the drilling area and current PGM prices.
PLA Price at posting:
0.0¢ Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held