High grades from last fall’s sampling program have Saville and Commerce looking forward to an upcoming drill campaign.
Disseminated on behalf of Saville Resources Inc., Commerce Resources Corp. and Zimtu Capital Corp.
While preparations continue for this year’s drill program, additional high-grade niobium-tantalum sample assays have arrived from northern Quebec’s Niobium Claim Group. On April 12 Saville Resources TSXV:SRE and Commerce Resources TSXV:CCE reported grades as high as 4.3% Nb2O5 and 700 ppm Ta2O5 from the new project, situated on the latter company’s Eldor property. Saville has signed a 75% earn-in agreement on the claim group, which sits a few kilometres from Ashram, one of the Western world’s most advanced rare earths deposits. Commerce has that project advancing towards pre-feasibility.
The results fall in line with previous high grades from the project’s Miranna area of 4.24% and an especially impressive 5.93% Nb2O5. Previous tantalum assays from Miranna have reached as high as 1,220 ppm, 1,060 ppm and 1,040 ppm Ta2O5.
The Northwest area gave up the richest sample, which reached 16.1% Nb2O5 and 7,540 ppm Ta2O5.
Collected by Commerce last year from the Miranna area, the most recent results show:
- - 4.3% Nb2O5, 240 ppm Ta2O5and 13.4% P2O5
- - 2.75% Nb2O5, 130 ppm Ta2O5 and 7.6% P2O5
- - 2.24% Nb2O5, 290 ppm Ta2O5 and 11.6% P2O5
- - 0.69% Nb2O5, 350 ppm Ta2O5 and 8.8% P2O5
- - 0.75% Nb2O5, 660 ppm Ta2O5 and 14.2% P2O5
- - 1.18% Nb2O5, 590 ppm Ta2O5 and 13.1% P2O5
- - 1.16% Nb2O5, 700 ppm Ta2O5 and 0.65% P2O5
Miranna forms one of three prospective areas, along with the Northwest and Southeast areas. Miranna features a strongly mineralized boulder train which, a geophysical anomaly called the Miranna target suggests, might have its source partly on the property. The data indicates several overlapping boulder trains might also be present, with one possible source in the Southeast area.
Additional work shows the primary host mineral to be pyrochlore, the dominant source mineral for processing niobium and tantalum.
The upcoming drill program will focus on the Miranna target, as well as testing the Northwest and Southeast areas. Contingent on TSXV approval of Saville’s earn-in, the companies plan to file a 43-101 technical report on the project.
Earlier this month Saville closed the second tranche of a private placement totalling $289,700.
In addition to Ashram, Commerce holds the Blue River tantalum-niobium deposit in southeastern British Columbia, which reached PEA in 2011 and a resource update in 2013.