Prophecy Platinum Appoints Greg Johnson as President and Chief Executive Officer
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwire) -- 11/05/12 -- Prophecy Platinum Corp. ("Prophecy" or the "Company") (TSX VENTURE: NKL)(OTCQX: PNIKF)(FRANKFURT: P94P) is pleased to announce the appointment of Greg Johnson, as President and Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Johnson has over twenty-five years of experience in the exploration and development of large scale projects in the mining industry and, through his global network of contacts, has been involved in raising over $650 million in project financing.
Mr. John Lee, Chairman of the Board and founder of the Company through the initial spin-out from Prophecy Resource Corp, stated, "We are excited to welcome Mr. Greg Johnson to lead the executive management team at Prophecy Platinum Corp. and to take the Company through the next stages of development. Mr. Johnson has the demonstrated experience, expertise and vision that we believe will allow the Company to successfully advance its projects and maximize shareholder value going forward. Along with the recent addition of John Sagman as Chief Operating Officer, we are putting in place a recognized executive management team to lead technical, financial and developmental aspects of the world class Wellgreen PGM-Cu-Ni project in the Yukon."
Prior to joining Prophecy, Mr. Johnson held the position of President and CEO at South American Silver, where he lead the significant advancement and expansion of the Company's two development stage projects in South America - including a world class silver deposit and a major new copper-gold discovery. During this time, South American Silver's market capitalization increased from $20 million to a peak of $350 million.
Previously as a co-founder and executive at NovaGold Resources, Mr. Johnson was a key member of the executive team that led NovaGold from a $50-million market capitalization to more than $2-billion and oversaw the expansion of the company's resource base to over 30 million ounces of gold. Over his 12 years with NovaGold, Mr. Johnson played a prominent role in the acquisition and advancement of three world-class deposits, including the completion of three feasibility studies. For his role in the discovery and advancement of the 40-million-ounce Donlin Creek gold deposit in Alaska, Greg was honoured as a co-recipient of the PDAC's Thayler Lindsay International Discovery Award.
Mr. Johnson began his career with Placer Dome Inc. (now Barrick Gold), where he held various senior roles in domestic and international exploration in projects from early discovery stage to feasibility and operations in Alaska, Canada, Africa, Australia and Russia. Mr. Johnson holds an honors degree in Geology from Western Washington University.
Mr. Greg Johnson, newly appointed President and CEO, stated, "I am excited to join Prophecy Platinum at this point of rapid growth, yet early market awareness for the company. We look to continue to build the technical and management team to successfully advance and grow what is already one of the world's largest undeveloped platinum group metal, nickel and copper deposits at Wellgreen. With its low political risk location in the Yukon and existing development infrastructure, we believe there is excellent opportunity to significantly add shareholder value as we advance the project toward development."
Mr. Johnson was granted 800,000 options at an exercise price of $1.14 per share expiring November 2, 2017.
The Company also advises that it has granted 500,000 options having an exercise price of $1.24 per share expiring October 17, 2017 to its new Chief Operating Officer, Mr. John Sagman.
About The Wellgreen PGM-Nickel-Copper Project
Prophecy Platinum's flagship project is the Wellgreen PGM-Nickel-Copper Project in the Yukon Territory, Canada. Wellgreen is a historic producing project with one of the world's largest undeveloped PGM, Nickel, Copper and Cobalt resources with significant enrichment in rare platinum groups metals such as rhodium (Rh), ruthenium (Ru), rhenium (Re), iridium (Ir), and osmium (Os). The resource remains open to further expansion laterally and at depth, and recent drilling has identified a broad disseminated mineralized zone which may result in an expanded open pittable resource. A recently released Preliminary Economic Assessment study by Tetra Tech Wardrop shows the potential to produce 7 million ounces of combined platinum, palladium and gold, 2 billion pounds of nickel and 2 billion pounds of copper over the life of the mine. The project is road accessible just off the Alaska Highway and as an open pit operation, has the potential to be one of the industry's lowest cost nickel sulphide producers.
About Prophecy Platinum
Prophecy Platinum Corp. is a Canadian based PGM, Nickel and Copper exploration company with projects in Canada and Uruguay. Prophecy Platinum's flagship Wellgreen PGM-Cu-Ni project is located in Yukon Territory, Canada. Prophecy's Shakespeare PGM-Cu-Ni project (fully-permitted) is located in Ontario, and its Lynn Lake project is located in Manitoba, Canada. Further information can be found at www.prophecyplat.com.
Forward Looking Statements: This news release includes certain statements that may be deemed "forward-looking statements". All statements in this release, other than statements of historical facts, including, without limitation, statements of potential mineralization, the estimation of mineral resources, the realization of mineral resource estimates, interpretation of prior exploration and potential exploration results, the timing and success of exploration activities generally, the timing and results of future resource estimates, permitting time lines, metal prices and currency exchange rates, availability of capital, government regulation of exploration operations, environmental risks, reclamation, title, and future plans and objectives of the Company are forward-looking statements that involve various risks and uncertainties. Although Prophecy believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on a number of material factors and assumptions. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include unsuccessful exploration results, changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined, results of future resource estimates, future metal prices, availability of capital and financing on acceptable terms, general economic, market or business conditions, risks associated with operating in foreign jurisdictions, uninsured risks, regulatory changes, defects in title, availability of personnel, materials and equipment on a timely basis, accidents or equipment breakdowns, delays in receiving government approvals, unanticipated environmental impacts on operations and costs to remedy same, and other exploration or other risks detailed herein and from time to time in the filings made by the companies with securities regulators. Readers are cautioned that mineral resources that are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. Mineral exploration and development of mines is an inherently risky business. Accordingly the actual events may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. For more information on Prophecy and the risks and challenges of their businesses, investors should review their annual filings that are available at www.sedar.com.
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Contacts:
Prophecy Platinum Corp.
Chris Ackerman
Senior Manager, Investor Relations
1-800-459-5583
cackerman@prophecyplat.com
www.prophecyplat.com