Nuinsco Resources Limited ("Nuinsco" or the "Company")) today reported that recent work has identified the rare earth mineral ancylite in drill core from the Company's 100%-owned Prairie Lake phosphorus/rare metals project in northwestern Ontario. This discovery is significant due to the fact that ancylite contains higher concentrations of rare earth elements ("REEs") than other minerals containing REEs at Prairie Lake.
"In addition to a high concentration of REEs, the benefits of ancylite are its high specific gravity (~4 gm/cm3) which means that standard, cost-effective dense media concentration can be used and leaching using a proven, safe mild hydrochloric acid solution is a possibility," said Paul Jones, President. "Finding such a highly-concentrated source of REEs that can be easily processed and extracted, in combination with the already recognized significance of phosphorus-bearing apatite and niobium-bearing pyrochlore, enhances the possibilities with regard to Prairie Lake's economic viability."
Ancylite is a strontium-rich REE-carbonate with high concentrations (typically >50wt%) of REOs (Rare Earth Oxides). The ancylite mineralization forms part of a mineral assemblage that includes burbankite (another REE-carbonate mineral), and strontianite (SrCO3). The ancylite was identified in an intersection of ferrocarbonatite in drill hole NP1007 (427.16-429.06m) grading 0.87% REE over 1.9m (see news release issued October 20, 2011). A review of other intersections of ferrocarbonatite at Prairie Lake, for which geochemical assay data are available, has identified another much thicker (~15m) and shallower (160.92-175.85m) zone of potential REE mineralization with REEs averaging >0.6% in DDH NP10-06; the mineralogy of this second zone will form the basis of ongoing mineralogical studies into the REE potential of the Prairie Lake carbonatite complex.
Electron microprobe analyses of the Prairie Lake ancylite, conducted at Carleton University, show REO contents that average 52 ± 2 wt%, which are comparable to those from other carbonatite-hosted zones of rare earth mineralization around the world. However, it is noteworthy that the Prairie Lake ancylite is enriched in neodymium (critical to the manufacture of permanent magnets) relative to other carbonatite-hosted zones of REE mineralization. Ancylite is the major REE-bearing mineral at the Bear Lodge carbonatite (Wyoming), where a measured and indicated resource of 6.8 million tonnes grading 3.75 wt% REO has been established by Rare Element Resources Ltd.
The results reported here are part of ongoing studies into metallurgy and mineralogy of Prairie Lake carbonatite complex mineralization. Additional test work and concentrate production is being conducted by COREM in Quebec City and will aim to optimize mineral liberation, improve apatite flotation technology and upgrade the apatite flotation concentrate. This work is part of ongoing evaluation of the project that also includes studies to develop a resource from the existing 515-630 million tonne Exploration Target Mineralization Inventory ("ETMI") (produced in 2011), development of the opportunity for niobium concentrate production and identification of commercial markets for Prairie Lake phosphorus mineralization including fertilizers and detergents which are the number one and two end-use markets for phosphates worldwide according to Global Industry Analysts, Inc. in its recently published report titled "Phosphates: A Global Strategic Business Report."
About Prairie Lake
Located about 45 kilometres northwest of Marathon, Ontario, Nuinsco's Prairie Lake property covers the entire 2.8 km2 (at surface) Prairie Lake carbonatite complex and is easily accessible from the TransCanada Highway.
The NI-43-101-compliant ETMI (see news release issued October 26, 2011) is 515 - 630 million tonnes grading between 0.09-0.11% Nb2O5 (0.9 to 1.1 kg/tonne) and 3.0-4.0% P2O5 - making Prairie Lake one of the world's ten largest carbonatite-hosted niobium deposits (and in North America second only to the Iron Hill Project in Colorado, USA, in contained tonnes - the grade at Prairie Lake is however greater). The current metallurgical work establishes the project as a substantial, recoverable, phosphorus inventory. The suite of minerals of potentially economic significance also includes tantalum (Ta), uranium (U) and REEs (including lanthanum (La), cerium (Ce), samarium (Sm), neodymium (Nd) and yttrium (Y)). The ETMI was undertaken by Eugene Puritch, P.Eng. and Antoine Yassa, P.Geo of P&E Mining Consultants Inc. of Brampton, Ontario.
All exploration work at Prairie Lake is supervised by Laura Giroux, P.Geo, Senior Geologist, who acts as Nuinsco's Qualified Person under National Instrument 43-101. Ms. Giroux has reviewed and approved the technical contents of this news release. 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: http://www.nuinsco.ca/