In an update on tests conducted by l’Université Laval, Commerce Resources TSXV:CCE reports another stage of progress with completion of crushing, grinding and large-scale flotation. About 1.5 tonnes of material were processed from the company’s Ashram deposit in northern Quebec, now moving towards pre-feasibility. With results meeting expectations, the project advances to a pilot-level hydrometallurgical component.
Last month Commerce announced an important milestone in producing Ashram’s first concentrate of mixed rare earth oxides, showing the deposit’s amenability to different flowsheet approaches.
Laval’s next stage will use flotation concentrate to produce a purified solution containing rare earth elements, which will then be separated into light, medium and heavy rare earths. At the same time, the solution composition will be used to assess a solvent extraction separation pilot circuit using a software model simulator developed by the university. Results will allow further assessment of the economics of separating Ashram’s REEs into individual rare earth oxides.
Funding for the project comes through a $365,000 grant from Quebec’s ministère de l’Économie, de la Science et de l’Innovation.
As work continues, geopolitical developments bring increasing concern about rare earths supply. Trade hostilities between the U.S. and China have led to speculation about how the latter country, by far the world’s biggest rare earths producer, will use its resources as a weapon.
This year the U.S. included rare earths in a list of 35 minerals deemed essential to the country’s economy and defence, as part of a strategy to encourage production of critical minerals at home and among allied countries.
The list also includes tantalum and niobium, which Commerce has delineated at its advanced-stage Blue River project in east-central British Columbia. Back in Quebec, a few kilometres from Ashram, the company also holds an early-stage high-grade niobium project that’s conditionally subject to a 75% earn-in by Saville Resources TSXV:SRE.
