Benton's flagship property is the Bermuda Project located near the town of Marathon, Ontario. The Bermuda property lies directly along strike of Marathon PGM Corp’s deposit, a measured, indicated and inferred resource of 3.41 million ounces TPM (Total Precious Metals = Platinum+Palladium+Gold) and 595 million pounds of copper (MAR PR Oct 2008). In-fill drilling has been completed on the deposit right up to the Benton / Marathon claim boundary.
Benton recently announced that it has agreed to sell Marathon PGM Corporation its 100% owned land package consisting of one mining lease and one claim block covering a total of 329 hectares, adjoining the northern border of the Marathon PGM-Cu Project. The acquisition of this land package will result in the conclusion of the original option and joint venture agreement with Benton over the Bamoos-Claw Lake-Four Dams ('BCF') property and will preserve Marathon’s mineral reserves and ease the development of mining the Main Zone and satellite zones of the Benton land package. In addition, the agreement also allows the Benton lands to be included in the ongoing federal and provincial permitting process for the future Marathon Project. This deal provides Benton with 1.5 million shares in Marathon along with a $300,000 cash payment and a 2% NSR.
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Recent exploration at Bermuda/Bamoos has uncovered significant mineralization over a strike length of 16km. Past and recent work indicates the property has the potential to host large resources of platinum, palladium and gold with base metal credits. Benton has completed 59 drill holes to date north of the Marathon deposit and results thus far show significant drill intercepts very similar to the Marathon deposit. The mineralization has been traced in drilling for more than 1000m strike length and is open in all directions. Results from drilling include 1.74gpt TPM with 0.28% Cu over 29.3m (collared approx. 150m north of the Marathon deposit), 1.25gpt TPM and 0.58% Cu over 102m (collared 400m north of the Marathon deposit), and 1.16gpt TPM with 0.43% Cu over 41.5m and 3.11gpt TPM with 0.41% Cu over 11.6m (collared 450m north of the Marathon deposit). Benton’s newest discovery sits approximately 14km west along strike of the Marathon deposit and recently, trenching and drilling have identified a large copper and precious metal zone termed Area 41. Recent drill intercepts include 61.15m grading 1.23gpt TPM and 0.28% Cu. A third zone that has been discovered by Benton is the Four Dam Zone where 15 drill holes intercepted grades up to 0.67% Cu over 65 metres with anomalous amounts of Ni, Co, PGE’s and Au in an ultramafic at the base of the Proterozoic-aged Coldwell Intrusive Complex. Results for these 15 holes indicate an extensive copper and precious metal system.
