Mineral explorer Platinum Group Metals Ltd (PTM.TO: Quote) said Thursday it was exploring strategic alternatives including sale of the company. The company said the alternatives it was looking at include building the Project 1 platinum mine using conventional debt and equity, and hedging some of the project in a partnership or transaction involving a minority of the metal flow. For the nine-month period ended May 31, Platinum Group posted a profit, helped by one-time gains from sales of assets. The company reported a nine-month profit of C$42.7 million, or 46 Canadian cents a share, compared with a loss of C$5.2 million, or 8 Canadian cents a share, a year earlier. The company, which has properties in South Africa and Canada, said its results for the period included gains of C$45.6 million from the sale of 18.5 percent of Project 2 and sale of marketable securities of C$2.7 million. Shares of the company closed at C$1.82 Thursday on the Toronto Stock Exchange. (Reporting by Koustav Samanta in Bangalore; Editing by Unnikrishnan Nair)

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