note no two geologic finds will be identical, however it is my belief (and many others) that you can learn from prior finds to help you understand what you are looking at with a new find. here are two articles that were useful to me, as they discuss the worlds most important and prolific platinum mining site. my comments and questions are within the embedded asterisks **** xx *****:

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Ore extraction
The Merensky and UG2 reefs are narrow - typically less than a metre thick.

**** here is the point i am trying to focus on. the platinum and pgm metals are concentrated in a narrow 1 metre thick or less band for the most part, additionally the grades in grams per ton are shockingly low since the metals are so valuable. a little bit of pgm in the ground goes a long way!. yes there are pgms outside the band but the concentration would be focused in a very small area. NOW THINK ABOUT THIS A MINUTE, IF NORONT OR OTHER PLAYERS HAVE A PGM VEIN, SO TO SPEAK, RUNNING THROUGH THEIR PROPERTY, AND IT WAS SIMILIAR IN STRUCTURE TO THE MERENSKY REEF GEOLOGY, WHICH BY THE WAY CONTAINS COPPER AND NICKEL AROUND IT, WOULDN'T YOU ONLY SOMETIMES HIT PGM'S WHEN DRILLING 20 AND 50 METRE STEPOUTS UNLESS YOU ARE EXACTLY FOLLOWING THE VEIN SO TO SPEAK? WHAT ARE WE SEEING AT DOUBLE EAGLE? SO, WHAT DO THE RELEASED DRILL RESULTS MEAN? I LIKE WHAT I AM SEEING IN THE PRESS RELEASES!, rockaur, you can help us understand this better, see the question below please.****

Open-pit methods are used to mine the Platreef, which is much wider than the other reefs, varying between 5 and 90 metres in thickness. Open casting is also used on a smaller scale to exploit the UG2 and Merensky reef where it outcrops.

REFERENCE = johnson matthey article.
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****here is another interesting article****

References

CAWTHORN,RG, MERKLE,RKW and VILJOEN,MJ (2002) Platinum-group element deposits in the Bushveld complex, South Africa. In `The Geology, Geochemistry, Mineralogy and Mineral Beneficiation of Platinum-Group Elements' (Cabri,LJ editor), CIM Spec.Vol. 54, 852pp., 389-429.

MAIER,WD and EALES,HV (1997) Correlation within the UG2-Merensky Reef interval of the Western Bushveld complex, based on geochemical, mineralogical and petrological data. Geol.Surv.S.Africa Bull. 120, 56pp. plus appendices.

by Graham Wilson, 29 October 2006

Chromite, is the principal ore mineral of the metal chromium.

The Bushveld complex **** this is where the merensky reef and the ug2 reef are located**** is the world's largest mafic-ultramafic layered intrusion. It underlies an area of roughly 66,000 km2, rivalled only by the >50,000 km2 of the Dufek intrusion in Antarctica. Diverse igneous rocks of iron- and magnesium-rich compositions host the majority of world's resources of metals such as nickel (Ni), chromium (Cr), vanadium (V) and the six platinum group elements (PGE), of which platinum (Pt) and palladium (Pd) are the best-known. Rhodium (Rh) and gold (Au - the most famous precious metal is not one of the PGE) are often included in estimates of PGE resources on the Bushveld. The lesser PGE are iridium (Ir), ruthenium (Ru) and osmium (Os). The igneous layering exposed in outcrop and drillcore has been minutely studied since Hans Merensky's 1924 discovery of the platinum-rich "reef" of layer that bears his name. Soon after, and somewhat deeper down the igneous stratigraphy, the highest important example of a series of chromite-rich reefs was discovered. It is known as the UG-2 (or UG2) Reef.

****spq/freewest/kwg joint venture has hit massive chromite, here is the press release:
MONTREAL, QUEBEC--(Marketwire - May 2, 2008) - Freewest Resources Canada Inc. (TSX VENTURE:FWR - News) "Freewest" and Spider Resources Inc. (TSX VENTURE:SPQ - News) "Spider" and KWG Resources Inc. (TSX VENTURE:KWG - News) "KWG" are pleased to announce initial results and progress of the diamond drilling program on their jointly owned Freewest Option property (the "Property"), located approximately 15 kilometres southwest of the McFaulds Lake volcanogenic massive sulphide ("VMS") occurrences and approximately 3.6 kilometres northeast of Noront Resources Ltd.'s ("Noront") Eagle One Magmatic Massive Sulphide ("MMS") discovery, in the James Bay Lowlands region of Northern Ontario. Massive chromitite layers in a peridotite sill returned Cr2O3 grades as high as 35.6% over 7.5 metres, other layers show enrichment in Platinum and Palladium as high as 1.0 g/t (Pt + Pd) over 4.3 metres as well as enrichment in Nickel as high as 0.25% Nickel over 3 meters.****

The UG-2 is overlain by a noritic- anorthositic sequence 10-200 m or more thick, capped by the Merensky Reef. Until recently the more complex metallurgy of the UG-2 has slowed down its exploitation relative to the Merensky Reef. It is nevertheless minutely documented: a MINLIB bibliographic search of some 700 mostly public-domain publications on the Bushveld complex included roughly 1 item in 7 describing aspects of the UG-2 (e.g., Maier and Eales, 1997; Cawthorn et al., 2002).

The UG-2 is found in both eastern and western limbs of the complex, and the two famous reefs are destined to be the major suppliers of platinum, in particular, for the forseeable future. The Merensky and UG-2 reefs host some 90% of the world's known PGE reserves and produce roughly 80% of the Pt and 20% of the Pd mined each year. The UG-2 is quite thin, 75-150 cm from top to base, typically with about 7 parts per million by weight of (Pt + Pd + Rh + Au). This is a rich grade, compared with most PGE-bearing deposits, and combined with the great lateral extent of the gently- dipping reefs explains the primacy of the two principal reefs. Furthermore, the Bushveld ores are relatively rich in Pt, whereas elsewhere in the world many deposits show higher proportions of the generally-cheaper Pd. Curiously, the Cr2O3 content is quite modest, generally near 32 weight percent, and without the high PGE "coproduct" value, the UG-2 might not be an economically viable chrome deposit.

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back to my thoughts again, the above info regarding platinum and specifically how some pgm reefs exist in situ may or not have value related to understanding noront and the mcfaulds area. some of the reading on this subject indicates that the ug-2 reef (which has lower pgm in conjunction with high levels of chromite), AND THE HIGHER GRADE PGM MERENSKY REEF WHICH HAS MORE REPRESENTATION OF NICKEL AND COPPER are close together geographically but quite different in what metals are found with the pgm's and the concentrations. DOES THIS GET YOU THINKING?? as such, it may be worth your while to put a lot of effort into understanding the possibilities here. when i first saw the nickel results released last year i thought immediately about the possibility of a new pgm find. to me this would be the best thing that could happen. nickel like we have is awesome if enough tonnage is proven up, add in a major pgm find and...., well, you get the idea. these are only my personal opinions and i may be an idiot so do not take my word for it. do your own research. i keep harping on "do your own due diligence" because that effort is the only way you will be able to make an informed decision related to your investments, we are all solely responsible for our own investment decisions. in that regard jim sinclair has a wonderful quote from jesse livermore on his website right now:

People who look for easy money invariably pay for the privilege of proving conclusively that it cannot be found on this earth. --Jesse Livermore

will our drills turn up worthless dust? or will we find a pgm mine with a major nickel copper resource component? or??? only the drills will tell for sure.

based on my understanding and research i have not sold a single share of noront, or the various other regional plays which were purchased after the double eagle news releases. once again, maybe i am an idiot, or maybe not.

everyone should do their own due diligence.

all the best,

regards,
jsq

ps:
here is a request of our kind friend rockaur: rockaur, once again, thank you for the great modeling to help us further visualize what the news releases mean.
could you model JUST the higher level pgm results from noront double eagle #1 and show us how they are disbursed? is it by any chance similiar to a vein and does it by any chance down dip in one open direction?? or are the high levels of pgm's just sitting in an isolated pod? this would be very helpful to see continuity and any connection to the talked about "ghost bridge" in order to help us understand what may be forthcoming. many thanks.