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Blue River ore used to test new mining process

Krupin process could make Upper Fir rare metal deposit more economic, says Commerce Resources
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Image from Commerce Resources shows the location of the Upper Fir carbonatite deposit.

Commerce Resources announced on Friday that a tantalum and niobium sample from its Upper Fir deposit north of Blue River has been successfully processed utilizing the patented Krupin process.

The company says it is working towards acquiring the global rights to the Krupin process. Upon signing of such an agreement, additional data on the process might be made available.

The intent of this agreement would be to further the development of the Upper Fir tantalum and niobium deposit towards production with the incorporation of the Krupin process on site. The company believes that the technology offered by Dr. Krupin is cost advantageous compared to conventional processing approaches.

READ MORE: Proposed Blue River mine gets encouraging results (Jul. 20, 2013)

A sample of Upper Fir Deposit material, totaling approximately 1,300 kg was sent to the Krupin facility in the fall of 2017. The processing took place thereafter and following initial reports of success, the company sent Dr. Axel Hoppe, the chairman of the board, to visit the facility and to evaluate the test results.

Dr. Hoppe reported that the initial test data from the Krupin process was encouraging, with indications of it representing a superior approach of processing a mixed tantalum and niobium concentrate.

“It is expected that applying this technology will offer advantages in lowering the cost structure of the Blue River project in regards to both capital expenditure and operating cost. We look forward to continuing our mutual developments with Dr. Krupin,” Dr. Hoppe said.

About the Blue River project

Commerce Resources staked an initial claim block around the historic Verity and Fir showings north of Blue River in early 2000. By 2006 additions to the property resulted in a contiguous holding from Bone Creek in the south to Moonbeam Creek in the north. This was expanded south of the town of Blue River in 2007, with several peripheral claims added through to 2010.

The Upper Fir carbonatite was discovered at the end of the 2002 season and drilled initially in 2005. From 2006 until 2011, drilling totaling nearly 60,000 m focussed mainly on the Upper Fir carbonatite, proceeding through four resource estimates. The most recent technical report has an effective date of March 18, 2015.

Today, the Blue River project comprises 1,000 square kilometers of mineral claims. Power transmission lines, rail, as well as paved and gravel roads are all adjacent to, or within the property boundaries. Transalta’s 18 MW Bone Creek run-of-river hydroelectricity project, located near the Upper Fir, was commissioned in June, 2011.

According to Wikipedia, tantalum’s main use today is in capacitors for electronic equipment such as mobile phones, DVD players, video game systems and computers.

Niobium is a rare metal similar to tantalum. Its uses include making superconducting magnets.



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