ACQUISITION, SPIN-OUT: Stillwater bids for Marathon PGM’s platinum assets

TORONTO - Marathon PGM and Stillwater Mining of Billings, MT, have agreed to a transaction whereby Stillwater will acquire all of the outstanding shares of Marathon. Total value of the deal is approximately US$118 million or C$3.55 per Marathon share. Both boards of directors have approved the transaction.

Marathon's PGM assets include the Marathon PGM-copper advanced exploration project in Ontario. The property has measured and indicated resources of 114.8 million tonnes grading 0.775 g/t Pd, 0.228 g/t Pt, 0.083 g/t Au, 0.241% Cu and1.567 g/t Ag. That resource contains 2.95 million oz of palladium and 869,000 oz of platinum as well as 316,000 oz of gold and 618 million lb of copper.

Developing a mine at the Marathon property would boost Stillwater's platinum and palladium output by an estimated 40% within three years.

Marathon's subsidiary Marathon Gold is to be spun out before the takeover. It will remain independent although Stillwater will have a stake in the company.

Stillwater operates two Palladium-platinum mines in Montana. More information is available at www.StillwaterMining.com.