Location Map in British Columbia
For the past few years, I have been following the developments of Commerce Resources with great interest. Commerce Resources is developing the largest new tantalum and niobium resource in Canada. I have had many conversations with Dave Hodge and his staff. And I am very impressed with Dave’s dedication, vision, goals and plans for his company. He has put in place a very competent and enthusiastic team and is forming important strategic alliances with processors and manufactures of tantalum and niobium materials and products.
David Hodge
President, Director
David Hodge has many years of management experience with publicly traded companies. He has been a director of mineral exploration companies since 1996, and has guided the Blue River Project from its acquisition in 2000 through its current development activities
Capacitor Tape
Although, tantalum and niobium are extremely scarce, we all are dependent on these scarce metals. They are used in electronic devises as capacitors that store electronic charge. Our cell phones, iPods, Blackberrys, laptop computers, GPS products and pacemakers use tantalum capacitors. Tantalum and niobium are used in cutting tools to increase their high temperature strength. These tools are used to machine steel parts that are used in our automobiles. Both tantalum and niobium are resistant to high temperatures and to chemical attack; making them desirable in corrosive chemical processes and in the construction of some high temperature furnaces. Their chemical stability makes them useful for surgical implants.
Niobium is used as an additive to ‘high strength low alloy’ steel and stainless steel that are used for oil and gas pipelines, car and truck bodies, architectural requirements, tool steels, ships’ hulls, and railroad tracks. The addition of niobium doubles the strength and toughness of steel and produces lower weight parts. Niobium and tantalum are also used as additives in the manufacture of super-alloys that are used in jet engines.
The demand for electronic devises and steel and super-alloys is driving a growth rate of 8 -12% for tantalum.
Ores rich in tantalum and niobium primarily occur in Australia, Canada, Brazil and central Africa. Southeast Asia produces tantalum and niobium as a byproduct of tin mining and smelting.
A visit to the tantalum and niobium containing carbonatite rocks by geologists and investors
Commerce Resources has a very unusual carbonatite ore body which will allow them to obtain very high yields from 83%-91% which was confirmed by a test by SGS Lakefield. Carbonatite is a rare igneous intrusion that is made up primarily of relatively soft sodium and calcium carbonate minerals with a smaller quantity of harder silicate minerals
Many other tantalum ore deposits only have a recovery rate of around fifty five percent. Dave Hodge told me that they were fortunate to have their ore bodies close to the surface. That will allow them to use low cost open pit mining techniques to mine the ore. Their cost will also be less than most mines where the tantalite/columbite is in a matrix of harder pegamatic silicate minerals.
Commerce Resource’s 100% owned tantalum-niobium Blue River project is located in eastern British Columbia in the Rocky Mountain Trench near the Town of Blue River. The Fir, Upper Fir and Verity are three main deposits. The primary ore mineral is a solid solution of niobium and tantalum in a sodium-calcium oxide, hydroxide, fluoride mineral. The ore mineral is a solid solution of the minerals pyrochlore (Na,Ca)2Nb2O6(OH,F) and microlite (Na,Ca)2Ta2O6(O,OH,F). There also is a lesser quantity of columbite [(Fe, Mn)(Nb, Ta)2O6], which is a mineral of niobium and tantalum. In addition to niobium and tantalum, the ore contains uranium, thorium and rare earth metals.
Dave Hodge said that Commerce Resources is focused on the development and exploration of its Fir and Verity tantalum and niobium projects, covering 49 square kilometers in British Columbia, Canada and is one of the most active tantalum explorers in North America. Commerce Resources is conducting detailed exploration of its Fir and Verity deposits. Exploration to date at the Fir deposit has outlined an indicated resource of 5.65Mt with 203.1g/t Ta2O5 and 1,047g/t Nb2O5. The Fir is also host to an inferred resource of 6.7Mt with 203.1g/t Ta2O5 and 1,047g/t Nb2O5. Dave said that the Verity deposit, 10 km north of the Fir property, is host to an estimated inferred resource of 3.06Mt with 196g/t Ta2O5, 646g/t Nb2O5 and 3.20% P2O5
TONNAGE
To determine the tonnage of a property, one must focus on the known, then the geologically inferred, and lastly the potential or likelihood for further growth.
| Area |
Resource Category |
Tonnes |
Ta2O5 Grade (g/t) |
Contained Ta2O5 (lbs) |
Nb2O5 Grade (g/t) |
Contained Nb2O5 (lbs) |
| Fir |
Indicated |
5,650,000 |
203.1 |
2,530,000 |
1047 |
13,040,000 |
| Fir |
Inferred |
6,740,000 |
203.1 |
3,018,000 |
1047 |
15,557,000 |
| Verity |
Inferred |
3,060,000 |
196 |
1,320,000 |
646 |
4,360,000 |
Commerce Resources’ summer 2006 exploration program continues to expand the size of the Upper Fir Carbonatite. The ongoing drill program has intersected carbonatite over a north-south strike length exceeding 750 meters. Total thickness of carbonatite, the host rock, in the 17 holes completed during 2006, vary from 12.53 to 105.87 meters. The drilling program is now complete and the company is getting data on the drill cores. When all the drill results have been received, a new and expanded (NI 43-101 compliant) resource estimate will be prepared.
The Upper Fir Carbonatite, located 1,200 meters east of the Fir Carbonatite, was discovered during an exploration program in 2002. Subsequent exploration included geologic mapping, sampling and a soil geochemistry survey. Exploration to date has shown the Upper Fir to be similar in character to that observed at the main Fir Deposit. Dave Hodge mentioned that a wind storm knocked over three trees which exposed the previously unexplored carbonatite rocks of the Upper Fir.
Dave Hodge stated that Commerce Resources has formed a very capable financial and technical team and has developed potential Strategic Alliances with the NAC Kazatomprom/Ulba metallurgical plant in Kazakhstan and Fogang Jiata Metals in China. Their first goal is to develop a saleable 60% tantalum-niobium concentrate. They expect to receive a permit that will allow them to obtain a 10,000 tonne sample from the Upper Fir. This bulk sample will be concentrated to a 60% Tantalum-niobium mixture. This will be done by crushing, gravity separation and flotation. Dave mentioned that they would double the value by producing pure tantalum and Niobium.
Commerce has hired two consulting firms, Mineral Development Advisory Group Inc. and Gartner Lee Ltd., to move the project forward and receive permits. Since the processes they will be using are environmentally friendly, Dave is very confident they will receive the necessary permits. He also said, they “are blessed with great infrastructure. The roads, hydroelectricity and railway lines are already there.” He also said customers of tantalum and niobium metals buy on long term contracts and need the political stability Canada can offer compared to less stable countries in Africa.
If you wish more information go to http://www.commerceresources.com