PNG Copper Inc. announced that assay results have been received from the first three drillholes of the recently completed four-hole drill program at the Doriri nickel-palladium-platinum prospect, Mt Suckling, Papua New Guinea. Drillhole DOD005 intersected a significant 10.25 m (51.80 m-62.05 m) width of nickel-palladium-platinum mineralisation grading 0.56 % Ni, 450 ppb Pd and 40 ppb Pt, including a 2.25 m interval grading 1.19 % Ni, 760 ppb Pd and 40 ppb Pt in the +520 m long Doriri lode. Drillhole DOD005 on Section 10040N was designed to provide a deep (60 m below surface) test below previously completed Costean IV, which assayed 7.00 m @ 0.66 % Ni, 1213 ppb Pb and 57 ppb Pt, and two previously completed cored drillholes (DOD001 and DOD002), both of which intersected the Doriri lode.

Drillhole DOD006 intersected 11.60 m (11.55 m-23.15 m) grading 1.12 % Ni, 430 ppb Pd and 40 ppb Pt, including a 6.35 m (11.55 m-17.90 m) interval grading 1.43 % Ni, 481 ppb Pd and 40 ppb Pt (with a 0.85 m interval grading 2.43 % Ni, 1105 ppb Pd and 49 ppb Pt) and a footwall interval of 0.85 m (22.30 m-23.15 m) grading 1.26 % Ni, 118 ppb Pd and 10 ppb Pt. Drillhole DOD006 on Section 10025N was designed as a shallow test beneath the previously completed Costean III, which assayed 7.00 m @ 0.78 % Ni, 1011 ppb Pd and 92 ppb Pt, to establish the presence of the Doriri lode in the near surface. Drillhole DOD007 intersected 12.10 m (17.10 m-29.20 m) grading 0.93 % Ni, 503 ppb Pd and 45 ppb Pt, including a 2.28 m (23.92 m-26.20) interval grading 1.75 % Ni, 701 ppb Pd and 65 ppb Pt.

A second narrower 1.50 m (38.95 m-40.45 m) interval intersected near the footwall of the Doriri lode graded 0.44 % Ni, 105 ppb Pd and 310 ppb Pt. DOD007 was drilled from the same drill pad as DOD006 on Section 10025N. It was designed to provide a deeper intersection below DOD006 and provide information on the dip of the Doriri lode in this part of the prospect.

The hole (with DOD006) confirmed a 70o dip of the lode towards the northeast. All intersections of the lode were below the base of total oxidation and contained trace amounts of stockwork sulphide minerals hosted in massive magnetite-chlorite rock. Iron concentrations in the Doriri lode (in part indicative of magnetite content) ranged from 10 % to >50 %.

Drill results for holes DOD005, DOD006 and DOD007. Assay results for drillhole DOD008 are pending. Core samples from drillholes were dispatched to Australian Laboratory Services for analysis.

Gold, palladium and platinum analyses have been/will be completed by standard 50 gm lead collection Fire Assay followed by Inductively Coupled Plasma analysis. Nickel assaying (including copper, silver, cobalt and iron) involved/will involve a four-acid digest including hydrofluoric, nitric, perchloric and hydrochloric acids in Teflon tubes. Analyses have been/will be completed by Inductively Coupled Plasma-Optical (Atomic) Emission Spectrometry.

Doriri is a very low temperature accumulation of nickel, palladium and platinum located in the mafic and ultramafic rocks of the Mt Suckling massif in southeastern Papua New Guinea. It is a shear zone-hosted oxide-rich deposit and there is no other documented mineral occurrence with a similar geology. Temperatures of formation of nickel-rich chlorite, rhythmically interlayered with magnetite in the deposit, are in the range 100-220oC, classifying it as an epithermal deposit.

The mineralisation has an average width of 10 m-15 m and has been previously mapped over a strike length of 520 m. It remains open ended in both directions. Mineralisation crops out at the surface and remains open at depth.