Pele Mountain Resources said in a press release that it had completed a resources estimate at the Eco Ridge Mine Uranium and Rare Earths Project it owns in Elliot Lake, Ontario. The mine is owned 100% by First Canadian Uranium which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Pele Mountain Resources.
The resource estimate which was prepared by Roscoe Postle Associates said that 51.9 million pounds of indicated rare earth oxides were found and about 96.3 million pounds of inferred rare earth oxides were likely to be present. This is besides the 15.2 million pounds of uranium oxide that is indicated and 31.4 million pounds of uranium oxide that is inferred.
The company has 48 surface patents that total an area of 796 hectares in a region that saw considerable uranium mining by Rio Algom and Denison Mines in the 1950 to 1990 period. The main rare earth baring minerals at Elliot Lake are uraninite and brannerite. It is the only mine in Canada which has produced rare earths.
The Pele Mountain Resources company believes that it has great potential to be a uranium mine that produces rare earth oxides as a by product. The same process that recovers the uranium will allow them to recover the rare earth oxides at no extra cost.