Latest drilling information has been furnished by Commerce Resources for Upper Fir tantalum and niobium deposits up to 2010 end at Blue River, B.C. Another survey by AMEC Americas, an independent expert, also backed this current information.
Using 237 drilling holes, AMEC constructed the revised carbonatite hosted resource model. AMEC compared the results from a few holes of the 2011 drilling with the revised resource model and saw that they were mostly corresponding to the geology anticipated by the model. By early 2013, AMEC will come up with the latest resource estimate report using the results from 2011 and the current survey of 2012 as a base.
The mineral resource update is classified according to 2010 CIM Definition Standards for Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves, whose definition are incorporated by referring to National Instrument (NI)-43-101. There was an increase of 42% in indicated resource tonnage and 37% increase in inferred resource tonnage from the 2011 PEA report. Contained tantalum kilograms increased by 40% in indicated and by 23% in inferred resources, while contained niobium kilograms increased by 25% in indicated and by 21% in inferred resources. Over 86% of tantalum and 82% of niobium were in the indicated resource classification. The increase was due to (a) lowering the bulk mining method block unit value cut-off by getting rid of backfill costs and (b) additional infill diamond drilling. The estimated marketable prices of US$317/kg tantalum metal and US$46/kg niobium metal in oxide products were found reasonable by AMEC in a May 2012 survey.
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