VANCOUVER, British Columbia, March 21, 2002 (PRIMEZONE) -- William Yeomans, Vice President, Exploration, for Bright Star Ventures Ltd. (CDNX:BSV) is pleased to announce that initial exploration programs for the Tulameen Platinum Project 2002 field season have been finalized. All necessary notices of work have been filed, and permits applied for.
A systematic project-wide geological mapping, prospecting/sampling program will be ongoing during the 2002 season, designed to investigate numerous anomalies generated by the Fall 2001 airborne EM/Mag survey. There are also more advanced areas of the Tulameen Project that will be the focus of concerted field programs as soon as weather permits.
Grasshopper Mountain is a well-researched platinum target. Creeks draining the BSV Grasshopper claims are strong producers of platinum nuggets, and two previous operators mounted drill programs on an 800 metre by 300 metre chromite surface anomaly delineated by Newmont. Both Newmont and Phoenix Gold theorized a correlation between massive chromite and high-grade PGM values.
In 1997, Phoenix Gold drilled nine holes on the above-noted anomaly, in some cases twinning holes previously drilled by Newmont. As a fall 1997 assessment report states, Phoenix geologists sampled visible chromite zones in the drill core, sampling less than 10% of all core available from their program.
In January of 2002, BSV systematically re-sampled all of the Phoenix drill core and discovered significant platinum mineralization in four of these previously unsampled holes. Coarse-grained platinum mineralization was identified that is not necessarily associated with chomite, opening a much larger portion of the property to platinum-hosting potential.
Initial 2002 exploration of Grasshopper Mountain will consist of closely spaced line cutting with attendant soil sampling, to both broaden and define areas of platinum mineralization. Bright Star is confident that the chances of discovering a large platiniferous zone is far greater now than in the past.
BSV will begin its work season on Grasshopper Mountain with a detailed program, including drilling, to investigate one of the Tulameen Platinum Project's most well-known and highly prospective targets.
Details of exploration on other zones within the Tulameen Platinum Project will be released soon.
For information on the company call Mr. Douglas Hickey VP Finance at 1-800-884-3864, or visit our Website at www.brightstar-ventures.com
On behalf of the Board "Reg Handford" President & Director
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