http://www.theaureport.com/pub/na/12740

TCMR: Does your fund have exposure to platinum group metals (PGMs)?

TVDH: PGMs hadn't appealed to us like the true precious metals, gold and silver, but platinum recently became very interesting. In South Africa, where about 75% of the world's platinum production originates, the African National Congress (ANC) recently announced a plan to allow the South African people to benefit more from the proceeds of the mining industry. This plan was more positive than we expected in a mining-sense, but it included nationalizing the platinum industry. If South Africans see platinum as a strategic sector, it could impact price, supply or both moving forward. It could make any non-South African platinum producer very interesting from an investment perspective.

We've looked briefly at Prophecy Platinum Corp. (NKL:TSX.V; PNIKD:OTCPK; P94P:FSE), which is based in the Yukon. It holds a fairly large deposit of decent-grade platinum along with palladium and rhodium. It has a PEA coming out soon. Should the ANC continue with its intentions of nationalizing platinum, we would be very interested in companies like Prophecy moving forward.

TCMR: Do you plan on getting in before the PEA is published by Prophecy or is the ANC issue not going to come fast enough for that?

TVDH: We are going to monitor the situation. It could be days or months before it becomes clear. If the ANC nationalization precedes the PEA, we'll consider an investment before the PEA. If it doesn't, we will have to wait.

TCMR: In addition to the PGMs, Prophecy looks to have about 2 billion pounds (Blb) of nickel and another 2Blb of copper. This could give the company a significant NPV. Is the base metal component critical to the play or are you mostly interested in the platinum?

TVDH: We are interested in the platinum. We have investments in copper and other base metal sectors already. However, the copper is a very nice asset, which would bring down the production and cash costs.