Nuinsco Resources Limited (TSX:NWI) announced today that diamond drilling has begun at its Prairie Lake rare metals project.
The goal of the program is to expand the previously identified 330-360 million tonne mineralized domain outlined in an Exploration Target Mineralization Inventory (ETMI) containing the rare metals niobium and tantalum, as well as rare earth elements (REE) and other minerals.
"With interest in rare metals expanding and world supply tightening, Nuinsco's Prairie Lake project is an increasingly important and valuable asset," said Paul Jones, President. "We have already delineated a significant tonnage hosting not only REEs but rare metals, phosphates and uranium and we have shown that a high-value concentrate can be produced using low-cost flotation. This drill program is designed to increase the known tonnage incorporated in the ETMI as well as to help us better understand the project's mineralization."
The minimum 3,500 metres of drilling (400-600m holes) is aimed at testing the northward extension of the significant mineralized domain outlined in the ETMI (see news release dated January 13, 2010) to depths not evaluated in earlier drilling. The ETMI outlined the enormous mineral endowment of rare metals and phosphorous at Prairie Lake in a domain of mineralized rock which is open in all directions and encompasses just 12% of the Prairie Lake intrusion's surface area.
Other ongoing work includes a study, conducted by COREM, a research laboratory in Quebec City, to further evaluate the mineralogy at the Prairie Lake project. To date these studies have included a round of tests, using flotation, dense media and magnetic separation methods, that demonstrate that it is possible to produce a concentrate containing a suite of rare earth elements and grading up to 23.4% phosphorous oxide (P2O5), which is used in high-value fertilizers. The concentrate also contains 0.17% (1.7kg/tonne) niobium oxide (Nb2O5), a high-value mineral used in steel alloys, superconducting magnets and the aerospace industry (see news release dated February 4, 2010). Additional metallurgical tests will evaluate the potential to produce a rare metal concentrate.
Paul Jones, P.Geol., President of Nuinsco, acts as QP under NI 43-101 and has reviewed and approved the contents of this press release. Readers are cautioned that the potential quantity and grade of the ETMI is conceptual in nature and there has been insufficient exploration to define a mineral resource. It is uncertain if further exploration will result in the discovery of a mineral resource.
Source: Nuinsco Resources Limited