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Every time a teenager listens to
music streaming into their earphones or business managers use
the latest version of their favorite communication device or IT
(information technology) supervisors order the most recent
upgrades to their technology, you can be virtually certain that
the gadgets involved use some form of two metals that few
outside of the mining world have ever heard of, tantalum and
niobium. These two metals have unique attributes that have
made them ideal for advancing technology and one Canadian junior
mining company, Vancouver-based Commerce Resources Corp., is
aggressively advancing their tantalum and niobium project
located in north-central British Columbia.
Commerce's properties lie in the
Rocky Mountain Trench, just west of the highest peaks of the
Canadian Rockies, between the towns of Blue River and Valemount.
Infrastructure in the area is excellent with first-class
highways adjacent to the project as well as major rail service
and abundant power sources. Supplies and personnel are
available in both towns as well as the larger community of
McBride, about one hour distant.
While the company has several
prospective project areas, their attention is focused directly
on aggressively advancing the Upper Fir Carbonatite toward
production at the earliest possible time. Commerce began
drilling at Upper Fir in 2005 and completed 20 HQ diameter holes
in their 2005-2006 program and drilled an additional 18 HQ
diameter holes in 2007. These drill programs outlined a series
of sill-like bodies with up to 100 meters total thickness,
extending for more than 1,000 meters in a north-south direction
and up to 600 meters east-west. The carbonatite remains open
both to the east and south.
By August, 2008, Commerce was able
to release an updated resource estimate prepared by John Gorham,
P. Geol., for the Upper Fir Carbonatite which calculated an
Indicated resource of 14.68 million tonnes with average grades
of 190 grams per tonne (g/t) Ta205 (tantalum) and 1,300 g/t
Nb205 (niobium) within a 38 meter confidence limit. In
addition, Inferred resources were estimated at 19.8 million
tonnes with average grades of 188 g/t Ta205 and 1,612 g/t
Nb205.
In releasing the details of the
estimate, company President Dave Hodge also noted that, "...The
outlook for prices of tantalum and niobium are positive as
inventories continue to deplete due to the increase in consumer
spending on electronics as well as the steel industry." He also
noted that much of the world's present supply comes from
politically and socially unstable areas and, therefore, "...A
premium is put on material derived from conflict-free sources."
While there is no active and open
commodity market for tantalum and niobium, such as there is for
other metals like copper, gold and silver, industry sources
estimate the present price for tantalum to be about US$60 per
pound with ferro-niobium valued in a range between US$7.50-13.50
per pound.
First discoveries of carbonatites in
the Blue River Project area occurred in 1949 by geologist Oliver
French. Some periodic stripping and trenching took place over
the next three decades, but the first serious efforts at
development took place during the 1980s by Anschutz Mining Ltd.
when a diamond drilling program involving over 30,000 meters at
Fir as well as Verity and other ore bodies was accomplished.
However, adverse market conditions prevented further serious
action until 2000, when a new prospecting and sampling program
was initiated by Commerce's present VP Exploration, geologist
Jody Dahrouge of Edmonton, Alberta.
Since that time the company has
conducted exploration stage programs, identified drilling
targets, built a geologic model, conducted its recent and
present drilling programs with infill drilling and bulk sampling
to follow, plus metallurgical testing and economic evaluation.
The company plans to move ahead toward the completion of a
scoping study, pre-feasibility study and then a full feasibility
study, ultimately leading toward a production decision.
Part of that process is receiving
the various approval permits required to proceed, such as
environmental permits, along with others for road construction,
mine construction and, ultimately, a full mining permit. An
important part of the permitting process is keeping area
communities and First Nations people informed on a regular
basis. An example of First Nations involvement has been the
undertaking of archaeological field work in order to insure that
mining activities do not infringe on important aboriginal
sites.
The company continues to actively
drill the project and during a recent visit, we witnessed Hole
#97 being completed, with Hole #100 scheduled to follow
shortly. Drilling is conducted on a continuous basis with crews
operating on a ten-hour shift with clean-up between shifts.
Approximately 300-350 feet of drilling is completed during each
shift and active drilling will be continued until winter weather
conditions - with abundant heavy area snowfalls - set in near
late October. (As an aside, these heavy snowfalls combined with
wonderfully scenic, towering mountains, make the Blue Rive area
one of the world's greatest heli-skiing centers.)
The company plans to release an
updated resource estimate later this year and complete a scoping
during the First Quarter 2009, depending upon the speed of
laboratory assay results from this year's drilling work.
Tantalum has unique attributes that
make it ideal for several purposes. These include an
exceedingly high melting point, high corrosion resistance, ease
of alloy with other metals, high electricity conductivity and,
most particularly, a high capacity to store and release an
electrical charge. It is this last attribute that makes it
ideal for use in capacitors found in computers, mobile phones,
video cameras and other modern technological devices.
Tantalum also has important
applications where operation at high temperatures is required,
such as in jet engines and new technological uses include hybrid
vehicles, hybrid batteries, corrosion resistance and within the
growing field of medical device implantations.
Niobium has similarities to
tantalum, but also has unique applications of its own, such as
rocket assemblies, heart pacemakers, as an additive to glass
making and for various optical lenses. However, the single most
important application for niobium is as an alloy for the
production of steel where an application of two percent niobium
triples the strength of steel can be tripled, making for a
stronger and lighter steel product.
Tantalum is found in many locations
worldwide, but the most important source presently is Australia
where 27% of the world's tantalum is produced. Other important
productive areas include Africa at 23%, Brazil 16%, Asia 14% and
North America at 5%. It is the African portion that is of great
concern to consumers because of unstable social conditions in
that region and, for that reason, new production from a stable,
secure region would be regarded as highly advantageous by the
industry.
In addition to the focus on Blue
River, Commerce is also active in northern Quebec at their "Eldor
Carbonatite Project", located near Ungava Bay. The presence f
tantalum and niobium was first discovered in the area in the
early 1980's when Eldor Resources was exploring for uranium.
With the collapse of that market, activity at Eldor ceased until
2007 when Geologist Dahrouge conducted airborne surveys that
identified anomalies over a 10 km by 4 km oval-shaped body.
The company has conducted additional
exploration work including 26 drill holes averaging 200 meters
during 2008, mechanical trenching and lines of soil sampling.
Results from the 2008 drill program should be available by late
fall and additional drilling is planned for the 2009
June-September drilling season.
Commerce Resources recently with the
naming of Dr. Axel Hoppe s Chairman of the Board of Directors.
Dr. Hoppe is an internationally acknowledged leader in the
tantalum/niobium field and during his tenure as a Director of
H.C. Starck GmbH, that company grew into a leading producer of
tantalum and niobium products. H has also served as a member of
the Executive Committee of the Tantalum-Niobium International
Study Center.
Dave Hodge serves as company
President and Director and has stewarded the Blue River project
from its acquisition in 2000. He has an extensive background in
both public and private businesses and has held senior
leadership posts with regional business associations.
Jody Dahrouge, B. Sci., P. Geo.
serves as both VP Exploration and Director while Shaun Ledding,
B. Comm, also serves as a Director and leads the Commerce
management team in critical areas of corporate finance,
regulatory compliance and marketing.
For further information, contact the
company website at
www.commerceresources.comor direct your inquiries to Chris
Grove, Corporate Communications at
info@commerceresources.com.
Leonard Melman
Oct 1, 2008
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