(TheNewswire)
Toronto – TheNewswire - March 17, 2022 – Nuinsco Resources Limited (“ Nuinsco ” or the “ Company ”) (CSE:NWI) (CNSX:NWI.CN) (OTC:NWIFF) today announced that mineralogical studies at its Prairie Lake Critical Minerals and phosphate project located near Terrace Bay, Ontario (“ Prairie Lake ” or the “Project” ) indicate that the Project has amongst the world’s highest known light rare earth element (“ LREE ”) content in apatite (see Table 1 below). That most of the LREEs are concentrated in apatite is significant as the Company has already demonstrated that LREEs can be effectively extracted from apatite at Prairie Lake.
Analyses have shown Prairie Lake apatite to contain mean values of 1.54% (13,157 ppm) LREE and, very significantly, 0.33% (2,829 ppm) neodymium oxide (“Nd 2 O 3 ”). The LREE (and Nd 2 O 3 )-rich character of Prairie Lake apatite indicates that there is excellent potential for concentrates to return economically significant neodymium.
“The mineralogical studies commissioned by the Company confirm the presence of highly concentrated LREE content in the single mineral species apatite at Prairie Lake. This may ultimately be significant to the Project’s economics due to the potential to simplify processing and improve recoveries as only one mineral concentrate may need to be produced to liberate all the LREEs,” said Paul Jones, Nuinsco’s CEO. “The demand for the LREE neodymium is forecast to increase dramatically as electric vehicles are increasingly adopted on a global scale. However, neodymium is but one of several economically significant components of the mineralogy at Prairie Lake. Other minerals include widespread niobium, tantalum and phosphate mineralization, in addition to other rare earth elements (“ REEs ”), particularly scandium; all of which will be considered in evaluating the economics of the Project.”
The Project benefits from being in a politically stable jurisdiction; is exceptionally located near to available rail, road, shipping, and power infrastructure; and is ideally placed in North America with respect to current supply chain concerns for critical minerals.
Recent work conducted by the Company has focused on expanding the mineralized intersections in the Southwest (“ SW ”) Area of the Prairie Lake complex. The SW Area is more than one kilometre in length and between 100m and 750m wide and contains an Exploration Target of 435-530 Mt (“ Prairie Lake ET ”) of rock endowed with critical elements of economic interest. Recent mineralogical studies commissioned by the Company have identified a suite of rare earth bearing minerals including apatite, monazite, bastnaesite, carbocernaite/ burbankite, and ancylite, and niobium-bearing pyrochlore in the rocks of the complex. Understanding the mineralogy of the critical element bearing phases is central to obtaining positive results from potential extractive processes that might be applied to exploit the mineralization.
Prairie Lake consists of 46 mineral claims covering an area of ~630 ha. Prairie Lake is superbly located, easily accessed by an all-weather road from the TransCanada Highway located 28 kilometres to the south. The Prairie Lake ET is defined by 59 diamond drill holes.
During the second half of 2021 the Company commissioned a mineralogical study of rock samples from the Prairie Lake complex to develop a more thorough understanding of the mineralogy and to determine the location within the contained minerals of elements of economic interest. The work entailed petrographic examination of the rock samples followed by scanning electron microscope study to confirm identification and produce semi-quantitative data on the approximately 30 mineral species present in the rock, subsequently electron microprobe study was employed to produce quantitative data on REEs, niobium, and tantalum and finally laser-ablation ICP-MS study further refined REE and trace element profiles of carbonate minerals. The results of the study will be used to inform further metallurgical studies leading to refined and optimized processing development for exploiting minerals of economic interest. Previous metallurgical studies have demonstrated the potential to significantly upgrade the phosphate, neodymium, and other REE grades in concentrate. All of this work is now being used to prepare a maiden mineral resource estimate under NI 43-101 and subsequent economic evaluation of Prairie Lake.
Table 1. LREE in Apatite from Global Carbonatites & Related Rocks:
| Carbonatite complex & rock-type | ∑LREE (ppm) | Nd (ppm) |
| Oka, Canada, svite, #OK17 | 31508 | 5120 |
| Prairie Lake, ijolite, #0709@15.8m , (n=9): HGZ | 24955 | 4887 |
| Prairie Lake, svite, #P4@9.45m, (n=3): JSZ | 20425 | 4544 |
| Oka, Canada, svite, #OK13 | 30295 | 4340 |
| Prairie Lake, svite, #0713@92m, (n=12): P10 | 17183 | 3944 |
| Tundulu Hill, Malawi, #M28 | n/a | 3086 |
| Prairie Lake, #1003@493m, (n=9): HGZ | 9759 | 2657 |
| Palabora, South Africa, svite, #PA1 | 6856 | 1840 |
| Kaiserstuhl, Germany, svite, #KA3 | 10397 | 1450 |
| Oka, Canada, svite, #OK7 | 10975 | 1350 |
| Sokli, Finland, svite, #SO1 | 5301 | 1340 |
| Palabora, South Africa, phoscorite, #PA3 | 5207 | 1290 |
| Fen, Norway, svite, #FE5 | 4994 | 1120 |
| Kaiserstuhl, Germany, svite, #KA2 | 7021 | 992 |
| Fen, Norway, svite, #FE4 | 4409 | 990 |
| Siilinjarvi, Finland, svite, #SI2 | 3670 | 962 |
| Sokli, Finland, phoscorite, #SO2 | 3940 | 897 |
| Fen, Norway, svite, #FE2 | 3552 | 768 |
| Siilinjarvi, Finland, glimmerite, #SI1 | 2858 | 759 |
| Sallanlatva, Russia | 4013 | 686 |
| Sukulu, Uganda, svite, #U63 | n/a | 685 |
| Jacupiranga, Brazil, beforsite, #JA2 | 2471 | 610 |
| Tapira, Brazil, #Tag15-4 | 3545 | 458 |
| Jacupiring, Brazil, svite, #JA1 | 1596 | 398 |
| Tapira, Brazil, #Tas27-2B | 787 | 125 |
Abbreviations: ∑LREE = total light rare-earth elements or La+Ce+Pr+Nd+Sm; ppm = parts per million; HGZ = High Grade Zone; JSZ = Jim’s Showing Zone; P10 = P10 Zone; n/a = not available. Sources of date: Hornig-Kjarsgaard (1998) Journal of Petrology, Volume 39; Hogarth (1989), In Carbonatite (K. Bell, editor), Allen & Unwin; Dawson et al. (1996), Mineralogical Magazine, Volume 60; Brigatti et al. (2004) European Journal of Mineralogy, Volume 16.
Prairie Lake ET:
| | SW | Jim's Showing | East | NE | Total |
| REEs | | | | | |
| La (ppm) Lanthanum | 275 - 340 | 295 - 360 | 305 - 370 | 200 - 250 | 280 - 340 |
| Ce (ppm) Cerium | 650 - 790 | 670 - 820 | 670 - 820 | 450 - 550 | 650 - 790 |
| Sm (ppm) Samarium | 55 - 70 | 55 - 70 | 55 - 70 | 50 - 60 | 55 - 70 |
| Nd (ppm) Neodymium | 295 - 360 | 290 - 360 | 320 - 390 | 235 - 290 | 300 - 360 |
| Y (ppm) Yttrium | 85 - 100 | 90 - 110 | 80 - 100 | 135 - 170 | 85 - 100 |
| La+Ce+Sm+Nd+Y (ppm) | 1360 - 1660 | 1400 - 1720 | 1430 - 1750 | 1070 - 1320 | 1370 - 1660 |
| Additional Elements (as oxides) | | | | | |
| P 2 O 5 (%) Phosphate | 3.0 - 4.0 | 3.5 - 4.5 | 2.5 - 3.0 | 2.5 - 3.5 | 3.0 - 4.0 |
| Nb 2 O 5 (%) Niobium | 0.095 - 0.115 | 0.100 - 0.120 | 0.040 - 0.050 | 0.085 - 0.105 | 0.090 - 0.110 |
| Ta 2 O 5 (ppm) Tantalum | 18 - 25 | 25 - 30 | 5 - 7 | 10 - 12 | 18 - 21 |
| Volume - m 3 (million) | 140 - 175 | 12 - 14 | 13 - 16 | 2 - 3 | 170 - 210 |
| Tonnes (million) | 435 - 530 | 35 - 45 | 40 - 50 | 7 - 8 | 515 - 630 |
2 A full description of methodology used to estimate the Prairie Lake Project Exploration Target is contained in the Technical Report dated 30 November 2018 prepared by P&E Mining Consultants Inc. that is filed on SEDAR. The potential quantity and grade of the ET 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. There is no National Instrument 43-101 – Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects preliminary economic assessment in respect of the Prairie Lake ET.
Laura Giroux, P.Geo, Chief Geologist, acts as Nuinsco's Qualified Person under National Instrument 43-101. Ms. Giroux has reviewed and approved the technical contents of this news release.